On Monday, editors on The Boston Globe’s Living/Arts team received an unusual request: Would we mind holding our daily TV Critic’s Corner column so an ad could run in that space in print, right next to the Love Letters romance advice column?
The ad in question turned out to be a mock engagement announcement for the characters Robert Pattinson and Zendaya play in the upcoming A24 movie “The Drama,” which is directed by Kristoffer Borgli (“Dream Scenario”).
Robert Pattinson filming “The Drama” in Boston.
Jessica Rinaldi/Globe Staff
The movie filmed in Boston in fall 2024, and the stars were spotted around town (their respective partners, Suki Waterhouse and Tom Holland, also visited the area). There haven’t been many details released about the movie yet, and the plot description available is simply “Days before their wedding, a couple’s relationship is shaken when one partner discovers unsettling truths about the other.”
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But the Globe ad, which appears in print as a straightforward engagement story (complete with a photo credit listed as “image courtesy of the happy couple”) reveals more details.
The announcement comes courtesy of Mr. and Mrs. Roger Harwood of Baton Rouge, La., who are announcing the engagement of their daughter, Emma Harwood, to Charlie Thompson, whose parents are Mr. and Mrs. Alan Thompson of London, England. We also learn that Mr. Harwood is a decorated military veteran.
Zendaya’s character is listed as a 2017 honors graduate of Boston University, where she earned a B.A. in English, and works in a fictional bookstore called “Mission Books.” She’s a 2013 graduate of Portside High School, though it’s hard to tell where that’s supposed to be.
Pattinson’s character is apparently a 2004 graduate of Eaton College, who went on to get a PhD in Art History from Tufts University. He’s the director of the fictional Cambridge Art Museum. Per the Tufts site for their art history program, they only offer a master’s program: “Because Tufts only offers an MA, students receive more faculty attention than they would at universities that also offer a PhD.”
The engagement announcement closes with the line “The couple will wed on April 3, 2026,” which is the date the movie opens next spring. A movie industry source confirmed that the ad only appeared in The Boston Globe, since the movie filmed here and is set here, and that the ad includes details about the movie that had not yet been made public.
An ad for the upcoming movie “The Drama,” purporting to be an engagement announcement, ran in The Boston Globe on Dec. 9, 2025.Boston Globe
Lisa Weidenfeld can be reached at [email protected]. Follow her on X @LisaWeidenfeld and Instagram @lisaweidenfeld.
