‘Challengers’ Star Zendaya Says “It’s Very Odd” Her Kissing Scenes Get A Lot Of Attention: “I Have Noticed That, With Me Specifically”

WARNING: SPOILERS AHEAD!

Zack Sharf Digital News Director SPOILER ALERT: This article contains plot details for “Challengers,” now playing in theaters. All Tashi Duncan wanted was great tennis. At the end of Luca Guadagnino’s buzzy tennis drama “Challengers,” the camera freezes on Tashi (Zendaya) as she screams “come on!” following a match point volley for the ages between competitors Patrick Zweig (Josh O’Connor) and Art Donaldson (Mike Faist). The volley got so intense that it ends with Art leaping over the net and falling into Patrick’s arms.

his new film, “Challengers,” co-starring Zendaya and “West Side Story” star Mike Faist, he’s showing a whole new side of himself.O’Connor plays tennis pro Patrick, one-third of a love triangle with Tashi (Zendaya), a tennis pro poised for greatness before an injury relegates her to coaching, and Art (Faist), another well-to-do tennis pro. Tashi eventually marries Art, and Patrick comes back into their lives years later, kicking off tensions and connections, including a racy threesome.Reviews have described “Challengers” as sexy and steamy, something O’Connor is still surprised he was chosen for.“If you were making the movie, you wouldn’t cast me,” O’Connor recalled telling screenwriter Justin Kuritzkes in an interview for The Wall Street Journal.

SPOILER ALERT: This article contains details about Challengers.

have been on a globetrotting press tour to get the word out about Italian director Luca Guadagnino’s original film, which opened in 3,477 locations in the US and Canada.“We’re obviously very, very happy with the number,” said Kevin Wilson, who heads theatrical distribution for Amazon Studios and MGM. “Looking at the audience who showed up, it’s really encouraging.

Josh O’Connor is best known to most audiences for his Emmy-winning performance as a young King Charles in seasons three and four of "The Crown." But for his new film, "Challengers," co-starring Zendaya and "West Side Story" star Mike Faist, he’s showing a whole new side of himself. O’Connor plays tennis pro Patrick, one-third of a love triangle with Tashi (Zendaya), a tennis pro poised for greatness before an injury relegates her to coaching, and Art (Faist), another well-to-do tennis pro.Tashi eventually marries Art, and Patrick comes back into their lives years later, kicking off tensions and connections, including a racy threesome.

according to IMDB’s Box Office Mojo.The Post called the romantic sports drama starring Zendaya and Mike Faist, “artful, addictive and deceptive.”The flick, which centers around a tennis champion who stages a comeback with the help of his former tennis prodigy wife, could enjoy a $15 million opening weekend, according to the Hollywood Reporter.The Christian drama “Unsung Hero” was in second place, taking home $3.65 million.The movie, which was also released on Friday, is based on the true story of the Smallbone familyof Grammy-winning musicians and details the hardships they endured emigrating from Australia to the United States in the 1990s.“Civil War,” which The Post bashed as “a torturous, overrated movie without a point,” landed in third, with an over $1.9 million take.In just over two weeks after its premiere, it became the independent production company A24’s second-highest-grossing film, beating out its other high earners such as “Lady Bird” and “Hereditary.”“Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire,” which was released on March 29, was in fourth place, with sales of $1.76 million.The horror film “Abigail” took fifth, with $1.49 million in earnings.

Selome Hailu When Justin Kuritzkes began writing what later became the hottest love triangle of the year, there was no star power involved. Though he was already an accomplished playwright and novelist (and the husband of Celine Song, the writer-director who provided last year’s buzziest love triangle with “Past Lives”), “Challengers” was Kuritzkes’ first screenplay and began as a document on his computer that no one was paying him to finish. But in 2021, “Challengers” appeared on the Black List, an annual roundup of the most popular unproduced scripts in Hollywood, which helped him sell it to producers Amy Pascal and Rachel O’Connor.

Selome Hailu “I’m watching tennis as we speak — Djokovic,” Zendaya tells me during one of her first interviews about “Challengers.” It’s July 11, 2023. The 27-year-old actor is watching Wimbledon on TV while preparing for SAG-AFTRA to go on strike, which would leave her unable to attend her film’s Aug. 30 world premiere at the Venice Film Festival.

A central scene in director Luca Guadagnino’s Challengers wasn’t in Justin Kuritzkes’ original script.

As an actress and executive producer, Zendaya is already a multi-hyphenate, but she’s not quite ready to climb into a director’s chair.  IndieWire reports (via The New York Times) that the “Challengers” star needs more time before she directs her first project. But when that day comes, Luca Guadagnino will say, “I told you so.” READ MORE: ‘Challengers’ Review: Zendaya Rules This Love Triangle “I’m overly conscious of everything else around me,” Zendaya told the publication in an interview for Guada’s new tennis drama, in theaters today.

Jazz Tangcay Artisans Editor In order to deliver authenticity to every ace, volley, serve and rally, the stars of Luca Guadagnino‘s tennis drama “Challengers” each trained for up to six hours a day for three months on the court. In the film, two former friends and double partners Patrick Zweig (Josh O’Connor) and Art Donaldson (Mike Faist) face off in a challengers match years after falling out over their pursuit of Tashi Duncan (Zendaya). Brad Gilbert, tennis coach to Andy Murray and Coco Gauff, worked extensively with the actors to make sure they could convincingly become sports stars.

Amazon MGM Studios’ Challengers, starring Zendaya and directed by Luca Guadagnino, made $1.9M in previews, a figure $100K shy of what Universal’s Cocaine Bear did. The tennis sexy romcom is hoping to open to $15M for the weekend.

Saltburn.”Like Emerald Fennell’s shapeshifting mystery, “Challengers” is, at once, artful, addictive and deceptive. The salivating viewer believes it’s one thing, becomes sure it’s another and then leaves with a different theory altogether.There are more similarities.

Zendaya, Josh O’Connor and Mike Faist are talking Challengers.

Rebecca Rubin Senior Film and Media Reporter Game, set… but there’s not much of a match. “Challengers,” a steamy tennis drama starring Zendaya and directed by Luca Guadagnino, is poised to lead the domestic box office without much in the way of competition. The film, from Amazon MGM, is projected to collect $12 million to $15 million from 3,400 North American theaters in its opening weekend.

Zendaya is a woman on-the-go these days and she admits that no city currently feels like her true home.

Zendaya is promoting her new movie Challengers in the Big Apple!

Zendaya has said that she believes it is “very odd” that she is always asked about kissing her male co-stars in interviews.The actor, who is currently promoting her latest film Challengers, appeared on the Jake’s Takes podcast when the issue of the “abnormal amount of attention” to her kissing scenes was raised by host Jake Hamilton.“I have no idea. I don’t know if it’s because they want it to be, like, a viral thing, I don’t know.

From almost all accounts, it seems like Italian filmmaker Luca Guadagnino has another hit on his hands with “Challengers,” a new tennis drama from MGM Studios that’s actually more of a love-triangle romance bundled into the sports genre. Starring Zendaya (Marvel’s “Spider-Man” franchise and the “Dune” series), Josh O’Connor (“Dr.