If your social media accounts have not been plastered with steamy clips cut from the new “Challengers” movie trailer, are you even going online? You may have been, at the very least, a witness to a bunch of unfortunate “jealous Tom Holland” memes this past week.
The past four years have revealed that Zendaya is not the child star we all used to love and dote upon. It was evident again recently from the first look at her upcoming film ‘Challengers’. The star has, without a doubt, grown into a beyond-talented young woman who has shown that she has what it takes to perfectly execute roles in films with mature themes. She is one of the few child stars who aged gracefully as they pursued acting even into their adulthood.
Anticipated to be a spectacular movie, ‘Challengers’ is Zendaya’s upcoming movie that follows her tennis prodigy character Tashi Duncan and her life that takes a turn as she finds herself caught in a love triangle with two fellow male players in her teen years.
The trailer for the movie was released this week, and it has initiated nothing short of pandemonium on the Internet, owing to its sexy scenes starring Zendaya, Mike Faist, and Josh O’Connor. Keep scrolling to read everything we know about the highly anticipated film!
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‘Challengers’: Meet The Main Crew
Directed and produced by Italian filmmaker Luca Guadagnino, ‘Challengers’ was filmed from the month of May last year to June this year and is set to release in two months or so. The movie was produced by MGM and is set to be distributed by the same. Pascal Pictures that is, ‘Spider-Man: No Way Home’ producer Amy Pascal will also be a producer on this film. Zendaya herself has been revealed to be a producer on this film too!
Director Luca Guadagnino seems to be putting out yet another movie that has all his signature elements of sensuality and multi-layered characters. Known for his past work on movies such as ‘Call Me By Your Name’, ‘Bones and All’, ‘A Bigger Splash’, and ‘Suspiria’, Luca was once nominated for an Academy Award and has received numerous other accolades.
Moving on to Zendaya, we are all aware of her success in the entertainment industry that bloomed when she was a child star. However, over the years, Zendaya has furthered her acting career and has a lot of huge roles under her belt, such as Rue Bennett from Euphoria, MJ from the Spiderman sequels, Mari Jones from Malcolm & Marie, and Anne Wheeler from The Greatest Showman.
She became the youngest recipient of the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series with her performance on the hit show ‘Euphoria’. Zendaya, in this movie, plays the protagonist role of Tashi Duncan, a tennis prodigy who unfortunately has to quit tennis due to a serious injury.
Zendaya is part of an exciting, sexy love triangle in this movie with the characters of actors Mike Faist and Josh O’Connor. Mike Faist is an actor known and awarded for his role as Connor Murphy in the Broadway musical ‘Dear Evan Hansen’. He also starred in Steven Spielberg’s ‘West Side Story’ two years ago, for which he received a BAFTA nomination. He plays the role of Art Donaldson, who eventually becomes Tashi’s husband and faces Patrick in a ‘challenger’ tennis match.
Josh O’Connor is yet another talented young actor and is famed for his role in the Netflix series ‘The Crown’ for which he bagged a Primetime Emmy Award and a Golden Globe Award. Josh plays the role of Patrick, who ends up as Tashi’s ex and faces her husband Patrick in a ‘challenger’ game.
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What Is The ‘Challengers’ Movie About?
Director Luca called this tennis rom-com “beautiful complex” when he talked to IndieWire last year. He said the movie is fairly fizzy and sexy, centered around the world of tennis.
The official logline of the movie says that the movie follows “three players who knew each other when they were teenagers as they compete in a tennis tournament to be the world-famous grand slam winner and reignite old rivalries on and off the court.”
The movie is a sports rom-com that follows three tennis players, their intense teen love triangle, and its aftermath. According to the trailer, the protagonist is Tashi Duncan, a tennis prodigy who enamors two fellow male players. Tashi is seen admired by the two after they see her play, making claims that Tashi could make her family millionaires! The trailer suggests that the three got to talking and had a threesome in the early stages of their relationship by revealing some steamy scenes where Tashi is seen kissing both Patrick and Art.
The trailer then picks up its pace, revealing that the great prodigy Tashi injures herself gravely, putting an end to her tennis career. Scenes change and it is revealed that Tashi is coaching her husband, Art, a tennis champion on a losing streak. The trailer displays the words “Years have passed”, and “Her past has not”, indicating that she is still caught in the tennis world and the love triangle drama she faced as a teen.
The trailer then reveals that Tashi directs her husband Art, who was going through continual losses, into participating in a Challenger event, which is the basic stage of the professional tour. The story takes a turn here, as Art has to play against Tashi’s former love interest and his former best friend, Patrick. The question remains if Art manages to win against Patrick and if his marriage stays intact even after Tashi comes into contact with her ex again.
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‘Challengers’: Trailer And Release
The trailer for ‘Challengers’ has already gone viral due to obvious reasons, racking up millions of views across several YouTube channels.
Watch the steamy trailer below!
The much-awaited movie is set to premiere at this year’s Venice Film Festival, an annual film festival that takes place in the country of Italy. However, the official release date for the U.S.A. is 15th September, although it was previously announced to be scheduled to release in August this year. France will not see a theatrical release of ‘Challengers’ but will only have access to it through Amazon Prime Video.
