Zendaya's Disney Rejection: Tom Holland Got the Last Laugh

By Dua Mifsud | Rumour Has It

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The detail that broke the internet over the weekend had nothing to do with a ring or a recoupling. It was this: before Zendaya became the most talked-about woman in cinema, Disney turned her down. Flatly. For a franchise that has since gone on to cast approximately everyone except the people who actually deserved it. The door closed. Then *Spider-Man* happened, and the rest is a love story the entire world has apparently decided to invest in emotionally.

Which brings us to the wedding everyone is still processing — not the Swift one, the other one. Jordyn Woods and Karl-Anthony Towns said their vows, and the guest list was, to put it plainly, a lot. Kylie Jenner attended with Timothée Chalamet, which by itself would have been enough. But the two of them doubled with Hailey and Justin Bieber, making it the most photographed table since the Met Gala seating chart started leaking on DeuxMoi. Four people, two of the most scrutinised relationships in Hollywood, one very significant wedding. Whatever the conversation was over dinner, I would pay real money to hear it.

Ariana Grande, currently mid-tour in London for the *Eternal Sunshine* run, debuted a new collarbone tattoo at the first show — "I do love you," matching boyfriend Ricky Alvarez. The timing is deliberate. It always is with Ariana. You do not get ink on your collarbone at the opening night of a world tour accidentally. She wanted it seen under stage lighting, and it was. Ricky was in the audience. The crowd screamed. The photograph is everywhere.

Meanwhile, the Hercules live-action casting conversation has taken on a life of its own, largely because Susan Egan — the original voice of Megara — went on record saying she wants Tom Holland and Zendaya for the remake. The internet, predictably, agreed with the velocity of people who had already decided this months ago and were waiting for permission to say it. Given that Disney once rejected Zendaya for a franchise role, there would be a particular kind of poetic symmetry in her headlining one of their biggest live-action projects yet. Disney has said nothing. They rarely do. They just let the speculation do the marketing.

The whisper circuit is already moving on to who gets cast first — and whether the announcement, when it comes, arrives before or after the next tattoo.