The tennis scenes in Zendaya-led Challengers are the sex scenes: director wanted to show ‘back and forth’ of love triangle

The love triangle between Zendaya, Josh O’Connor and Mike Faist is the focus of Luca Guadagnino’s Challengers, not the tennis

Actors and director share their thoughts on the interactions between the characters, and their takeaways from what was potentially a career-changing experience

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(From left) Mike Faist, Zendaya and Josh O’Connor in a scene from Luca Guadagnino’s film Challengers. Actors and director share their thoughts on the love triangle between the three characters. Photo: AP

Published: 5:15pm, 26 Apr 2024

How sexy can a qualifying tennis tournament be? When the on-court drama involves Zendaya, Josh O’Connor and Mike Faist, the answer turns out to be quite a bit more than your average US Tennis Association singles match in Luca Guadagnino’s Challengers.

The film, directed by Guadagnino from a script by playwright Justin Kuritzkes, may have the appearance of a sports movie. Much of the action happens in between baselines. There are break points and short shorts.

But in Guadagnino’s film, what is being volleyed is not just a fuzzy little yellow ball.

“The ball is the ephemeral, invisible force of desire,” says Guadagnino, the director of Call Me By Your Name and Bones and All. “I wanted to show desire going back and forth.”

Director Luca Guadagnino on the set of Challengers. Photo: AP

The result, by a score of about six-love, is the love triangle of the year. Challengers, which Amazon MGM Studios releases in cinemas on April 26, takes the melodrama of the threesome and gives it a breathless, bi-curious spin.

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