.png)
Writer:Justin Kuritzkes
Stars:ZendayaMike FaistJosh O'Connor
Challengers Full Movie Review
The official synopsis from Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer for Challengers reads: “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, Tashi’s strategy for her husband’s redemption takes a surprising turn when he must face off against the washed-up Patrick – 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.”
Zendaya also opened up to ELLE about how the role of Tashi is different from any character she’s ever played before. “I felt like it was a good step into a more, I guess you could say, ‘grown-up’ role and into that next phase,” Zendaya said in an interview conducted prior to the SAG-AFTRA strike. “It was a little bit scary to take on, which I think is a good feeling. To be like, ‘Ooh, can I do this?’ You could run from that feeling and stay safe and comfortable, or you can go, ‘You know what, f**k it.'”
Tashi is a complicated woman, and Zendaya had to dive deep into the character’s roots to get a sense of who she was playing. “I still don’t understand the decisions she makes, and we had so many conversations about the psychology of her and why she is that way,” the actress continued. “What was important to me was that she was unapologetic about it. Sometimes characters who are messy and conflicted and wield power over other people are reserved for [actors] who don’t look like me, so when I get an opportunity to play a character like that, I’ma take it!”
For Josh O’Connor’s Zendaya told the actor that he’s nothing like his character. “Our characters are horrific,” Josh told Zendaya. “We are all the puppet masters at different moments.” Zendaya added that “there’s a villain-esque quality there to all of the characters.”
The film’s director previously revealed to that Challengers is a “completely different film” from his last project Bones and All. He called Challengers a “fairly fizzy, sexy movie about the world of tennis.”
