Challengers

Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, Pascal Pictures

Amazon MGM Studios 

Running time

131 minutes

Release date 

04/26/2024

Description

From visionary filmmaker Luca Guadagnino, Challengers stars Zendaya as Tashi Duncan, a former tennis prodigy turned coach and a force of nature who makes no apologies for her game on and off the court. Married to a champion on a losing streak (Mike Faist – West Side Story), Tashi’s strategy for her husband’s redemption takes a surprising turn when he must face off against the washed-up Patrick (Josh O’Connor – The Crown) – his former best friend and Tashi’s former boyfriend. As their pasts and presents collide, and tensions run high, Tashi must ask herself, what will it cost to win.

Genres

Drama

Rating

R for language throughout, some sexual content and graphic nudity

Starring

Zendaya as Tashi Duncan

Josh O'Connor as Patrick Zweig

Mike Faist as Art Donaldson

Jake Jensen

Directed By

Luca Guadagnino

Produced By

Amy Pascal, Luca Guadagnino, Zendaya, Rachel O'Connor

Executive Produced By

Bernard Bellew, Lorenzo Mieli, Kevin Ulrich

Written by

Justin Kuritzkes

Produced by

Luca Guadagnino, Rachel O'Connor, Amy Pascal and Zendaya

Cinematography

Sayombhu Mukdeeprom

Edited by

Marco Costa

Music by

Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross

Zendaya stars as Tashi and Josh O’Connor as Patrick in director Luca Guadagnino’s CHALLENGERS An Amazon MGM Studios film © 2024 Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Pictures Inc. All Rights Reserved.

Zendaya as Tashi in CHALLENGERS, directed by Luca Guadagnino, a Metro Goldwyn Mayer Pictures film.

Director Luca Guadagnino on the set of CHALLENGERS, a Metro Goldwyn Mayer Pictures film.

Mike Faist stars as Art and Josh O’Connor as Patrick in director Luca Guadagnino’s CHALLENGERS An Amazon MGM Studios film © 2024 Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Pictures Inc. All Rights Reserved.

Mike Faist stars as Art and Zendaya as Tashi in director Luca Guadagnino’s CHALLENGERS An Amazon MGM Studios film © 2024 Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Pictures Inc. All Rights Reserved.

(L to R) Mike Faist as Art, Zendaya as Tashi and Josh O’Connor as Patrick in CHALLENGERS, directed by Luca Guadagnino, a Metro Goldwyn Mayer Pictures film. Credit: Metro Goldwyn Mayer Pictures © 2023 Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Pictures Inc. All Rights Reserved.

Director Luca Guadagnino discusses Challengers

“There were so many things that made me want to do this movie.”  

“Certainly, my complete worship of producer Amy Pascal is one of the most important reasons! The second reason was a very brilliant script by Justin Kuritzkes that had a great voice — it was so humorous and piercing. And the premise of the story — people who are complicated and who never really want to put things in place but in fact make things more complicated for themselves — was even better."

“The complications of a relationship fascinate me” 

“Relationships come with control over the other, but at the end of the day, they also come with control within yourself. Those were elements that for me were very important. I didn’t know anything about tennis, but my job as a filmmaker is to study and discover things I didn’t know before. It was a great opportunity for me to understand how the dynamic of desire, and the dynamics of control and self-control, are mirrored in the beauty and athleticism of the game of tennis.”

“It’s about three kids who spend a big chunk of their youth tangled together, and then as they become adults and try to find the people from their past, it gets messy. Because life is messy.”

“Years before shooting this movie I met Zendaya at an event, and I spent the evening sitting beside her and was fascinated by this young woman who could command the gaze of multitudes and yet be so completely real and graceful.” 

“It would be very easy to make Tashi into a one-sided character, simply a woman of strong will” 

“But Zendaya does the opposite — she brings a sense of control and a sense of power, while at the same time she developed a lot of sense of fragility within that strength that Tashi exhibits. It’s a self-definition.” 

“Zendaya is a great actor, and a wonderful producer as well here — she does everything in her way to try and excel.”

“I conceived of the whole story to be as much ‘entertainment’ as possible — and when I use that word, I mean it as an art, as something pure: I want audiences to be amused by watching imagery on screen; that for me is the highest and purest form of cinema."

Producer Rachel O’Connor discusses Challengers

“When we first talked to Luca about directing the movie, Luca said, ‘I don’t know much about tennis, but I know a lot about desire.’”  

“Tashi Duncan is a very powerful, fierce, uncompromising, competitive, ambitious woman, and Zendaya brought a humanity and relatability to that” 

“Even if a woman doesn’t walk through the real world like Tashi, Zendaya makes you understand where all of that comes from. This was the first time for Zendaya playing a mother and a wife, an adult character who has that kind of arc. And it was truly effortless for her to make that leap as an actress.”

Zendaya discusses Challengers

“Luca wanted the world of the film and the emotions to be very real and compelling,”

“Luca has such a great way of looking at each character in CHALLENGERS through such an empathetic lens, seeing them as human. He is so good at pulling nuances and human aspects of a character out so that they’re vulnerable and relatable.”

“From the initial conversations I had with Amy and Luca, it was very clear that we were all on the same page with our vision for the film — it should still be humorous and have a levity to it, even as it deals with life situations that are nuanced and characters who have pain inside of them."

“Tennis in this film is really just a metaphor for power, and power dynamics amongst people who lean on each other, maybe a little bit too much.”

“Tashi’s first love is tennis — that was the thing that gave her strength and power and made her who she is.” 

“I can identify with that, because I have found so much of my identity through my work. The moment when, because of an injury, Tashi is no longer able to do the one thing that she feels defines her, she has to find a way to redefine herself. She’s doing her best to control everything, and to be in control of her emotions, to get what she wants and needs out of life, but I’m not sure she knows what it leads to. I think there’s a lot of women that will see themselves in Tashi.”

Josh O’Connor discusses Challengers

“Patrick and Art are both very talented, both equally competitive. Patrick is more of a sort of raw talent, a messy tennis player, and Art is a very clean, graceful player — and then Tashi is just above and beyond both of them.”

Amy Pascal discusses Challengers

“I can’t imagine any other filmmaker making this movie” 

“It’s about the complicated compromises people make, and the circuitous routes we take that are really the only way you can do things. It’s about wanting to be great. It’s about the friendship between two men, and how complicated that is as they both love a woman, and they both love each other.”

“We see Tashi when she’s starting out as a teen and as she grows into a woman in her early thirties. As a performer, to balance all those phases is amazing. The performance that Zendaya gives is nuanced and funny, complicated, loving, strong, and tough.”

Justin Kuritzkes discusses Challengers

“There is not a filmmaker like Luca. He has such a distinctive visual style, but more exciting, he intrinsically understands what makes people tick.”

“I had not been much of a tennis fan, but my family is full of tennis fans.” 

“Watching Serena Williams and Naomi Osaka in the finals together, there was a controversial call about Williams receiving coaching from the sidelines. I had never heard of that, but it clicked with me as an intensely cinematic situation.” 

“That idea then started brewing in my head.” 

“Then, parallel to that, I became a legitimate tennis fan and began watching what are called ‘Challenger’ events, which are in the lower tier in the world of pro tennis tournaments. I thought it would be an interesting place for two guys who hadn’t seen each other in a long time to meet again.”