For Zendaya, it was ‘scary’ making ‘Challengers.’ She still wants ‘more movies’ like it.
In Zendaya’s erotic drama “Challengers,” tennis is the new sex.
The movie (in theaters Friday) follows a messy love triangle between bright young tennis stars, all chasing a very specific kind of high: that rare moment when two players fully lock into the game, entwined in a romantic tango of sorts on the court.
It’s an intoxicating feeling described by her wunderkind character, Tashi Duncan. But while making the movie, Zendaya never reached such nirvana.
“I never got that good!” she humbly says with a laugh, speaking by phone earlier this week. Since filming wrapped in 2022, “I haven’t really picked up a racquet. I went once just to hit a few balls and see if I could still do it. And you know what? I wasn’t too bad. I thought it would have all just gone out the window, but there was a little something there.”
Zendaya's Tashi Duncan may appear 'very strong' – but the 'Challengers' character is more complex
Taking place over 13 years, “Challengers” tracks Tashi as she falls in and out of relationships with Patrick (Josh O’Connor) and Art (Mike Faist), best friends competing for her attention on and off the court. The sweaty, sultry film has made headlines for its three-way kiss and so-called villain Tashi, a tennis prodigy who turns to coaching after she’s sidelined by a career-ending injury in college.
The character is a world-class manipulator and motivator as she pits the red-blooded, well-to-do guys against each other. But her passion for tennis – and insatiable desire to win – stems from her modest background.
“For Tashi, there is no other thing to fall back on,” Zendaya says. “Her parents can’t afford what the boys can; there’s not that luxury of just knowing you’re going to be all right either way. Also, she’s never given herself a moment to grieve the effects the injury has had on her life. She immediately just sucks it up and moves on. And I think that’s an experience a lot of women feel, and a lot of Black women as well: not having the time or the space to just feel, and having to present to the world as very strong all the time.”
Zendaya, 27, was already attached to the project when producer Amy Pascal sent the script to director Luca Guadagnino (“Call Me By Your Name”), who was drawn to “this idea of the game of love and eroticism, portrayed through the game of tennis,” he says.
The Italian filmmaker has been long-fascinated by Zendaya’s career, from her start on Disney Channel’s “Shake It Up” to her two-time Emmy-winning role on HBO’s “Euphoria.” He likens her to an Old Hollywood star, whose “sheer personality and power can command the gaze of millions of people. She has a natural gift, combined with a sense of gracefulness and hard work.”
She’s a producer on “Challengers,” too, which added “a level of fun,” Guadagnino says. “Zendaya has this curiosity and commitment to the art of filmmaking; she’s invested in the process beyond merely acting in it.”
Zendaya, who has roughly a decade of producing credits under her belt, says she felt “free to suggest and bring in ideas. I got lucky that Luca is extremely collaborative, so whether I had a producer title or not, he would be open to working together. You don’t always get that.”
For the actress, it was also about championing original stories, at a time when non-franchise films struggle to break through if they aren’t named “Barbie” or “Oppenheimer.” The R-rated, midbudget “Challengers” comes from first-time screenwriter Justin Kuritzkes (husband of “Past Lives” director Celine Song), and it's a test of Zendaya’s star power after her appearances in the “Dune” and “Spider-Man” film series.
"We need to make more movies like this," Zendaya says. “It’s kind of scary because this is an original screenplay and those can be difficult to get people out to see. I hope that we can continue to have more variety (in Hollywood) and get people engaged with different kinds of films."
Through her 'tenniscore' red-carpet looks, Zendaya wants to 'pay tribute' to Black sports icons
“Challengers” has already drawn feverish attention online for its fashion, from Tashi’s sapphire party dress to her “I Told Ya” slogan tee, inspired by a shirt John F. Kennedy Jr. wore in the 1990s. Although Zendaya herself is a style icon, she gives full credit to the movie’s costume designer, Jonathan Anderson.
“These characters are intertwined through clothes,” Zendaya says. “There’s a lot of T-shirts that start with me and end with Josh’s character, or the boys share T-shirts sometimes. There’s this ever-present thing of them being connected while they’re with the other person.”
Zendaya and her longtime stylist, Law Roach, have always loved telling stories through fashion, with jaw-dropping looks that frequently reflect her current projects. Promoting “Challengers,” the dynamic duo has been leaning into so-called “tenniscore”: polo dresses, neutral colors and stilettoes spiked through tennis balls.
“We’ve been having a lot of fun with tennis looks,” Zendaya says. “But it’s also important to us that there’s a storytelling element; that it doesn’t just feel like glitz and glamour the whole time. So (we decided) to pay tribute to iconic figures.”
Last week, she and Roach recreated a 1998 Vogue shoot by tennis legends Venus and Serena Williams, in which she wears a near-identical black-and-white gown with beaded braids. (Afterward, “Law got a nice message from Venus,” Zendaya says.) They also collaborated with sports brand On for a replica of tennis whites worn by Althea Gibson, the first Black player to compete at Wimbledon in 1951.
“That was a special look, just paying homage to her work as a Black woman,” Zendaya says. “And then obviously, Venus and Serena have been massive inspirations, just to me in life. Law had seen that (Vogue) image and was like, ‘We should recreate this.’ We just did it in our hotel room, but it felt like a special thing. They’ve been so supportive of the film.”