Backlash Erupts as Gun Violence Groups Slam The Drama Over Misaligned Marketing

So, here comes another A24 movie ready to spark some heated conversations—maybe even more so than usual. The studio's never really been afraid of uncomfortable territory, but with The Drama, it might have bitten off more than it can chew, at least in the opinion of more than a few viewers and advocates. This time out, we're getting a film that wades directly into the messy, endlessly polarizing topic of school shootings, but with a tone that not everyone is buying.

Who's Involved (and Why the Controversy Is Already Boiling)

On the creative side, you've got Norwegian director Kristoffer Borgli bringing together Robert Pattinson and Zendaya as the film's leads—a combo designed to get attention. The premise: Emma (Zendaya) and Charlie (Pattinson) are on the verge of getting married when they start trading confessions about their pasts. Charlie reveals that, as a teen, he was a cyberbully; Emma drops a much heavier bombshell: she once planned a school shooting and actually brought a gun to school. The rest of the movie focuses on how this revelation upends not just their relationship, but their entire social world.

The Backlash You Probably Saw Coming

Unsurprisingly, not everybody thinks this edgy setup is brilliant or responsible. Some critics are calling The Drama out for being too cavalier—essentially, for making a joke or a spectacle out of something deadly serious, especially in the U.S. context.

The group that has come out swinging the hardest so far: March for Our Lives, the gun violence advocacy org started by survivors of the Parkland shooting. As soon as the marketing push for the film began, the group issued a critical statement on Instagram, taking aim at both the content and the tone of the way A24 is promoting things. Here’s how they put it:

'The film may be attempting to engage real questions about accountability and change, but A24’s marketing does not meet it there ... With a subject this serious, especially in the U.S., that conversation cannot begin and end on screen. It has to carry through in how the film is presented. We understand that art can provoke discomfort and use humor to approach difficult subjects. But when something like a school shooting is treated lightly or played for irony, it raises a deeper question: what kind of conversation is this meant to start?'

In other words—not only is the movie itself potentially crossing a line, but the way it’s being packaged for audiences feels dismissive, if not outright offensive, to people who have to live with the reality of these tragedies.

The Stakes, According to Survivors

If you want a sense of just how personal this is, Jackie Corin, who is both a founder of March for Our Lives and a Parkland shooting survivor, spoke to The Hollywood Reporter to further unpack the group's unease. Corin’s whole point: whether or not the filmmakers have the best intentions, portraying something as heavy as an almost-school shooting is not a minor artistic choice. Oversimplify, joke, or aim for edgy irony, and you risk flattening the real-world trauma behind the headlines. She put it something like this:

'Gun violence, particularly in schools, is not just another dramatic device. Art has the capacity to deepen public understanding and create emotional clarity and awareness, but it can also flatten and distort reality, especially when it leans on shorthand or tries to make something more palatable than it actually is. With something like a near school shooting, even small tonal choices can shift whether a story feels productive or dismissive.'

Translation: this is not a time for cute irony or clever jokes—if you’re going to tackle this subject, you’d better earn it.

The Main Players

• Cast: Zendaya (Emma), Robert Pattinson (Charlie)
• Director: Kristoffer Borgli
• Plot in a nutshell: Two people, one week away from their wedding, have everything blown up by a secret that’s way, way darker than anyone expected.

What Now?

The bottom line: A24’s The Drama hasn’t even hit theaters yet, but the arguments about whether it’s bold art or just plain insensitive are already in full swing. Whether you’re eager to see what all the fuss is about, or you think the movie’s premise is a terrible idea, expect plenty of debate when this one lands.