A ‘sizzling’ movie that sent viewers hearts racing when hitting the big screen is now available to stream for free in the UK.
After the huge success of his 2017 coming-of-age romantic drama Call Me By Your Name, Italian director Luca Guadagnino garnered international attention again last year with his film Challengers.
Written by Justin Kuritzkes, the movie stars Zendaya as Tashi Duncan, a former tennis prodigy who turned her attention to coaching after suffering a career-ending injury.
In the years since, she’s helped turn her husband Art Donaldson into a mediocre player into a world-famous grand slam champion.
But after he faces a string of losses, Tashi forces him to play a challenger event – which is close to the lowest level of tournament on the pro tour.
It’s here that he comes face-to-face with Patrick Zweig (The Crown’s Josh O’Connor) – a once-promising player who was also his former best friend and his wife’s ex.
As the film synopsis teases, what ensues ‘reignites old rivalries on and off the court’.
At the time of its release, the film grossed $96million (£71million) worldwide and was labelled a ‘sexy romp’.
‘Playful, sexy and compelling, this is one of the best films of the year, with sensational performances from its three leads,’ NME wrote in its review.
‘Smart, seductive and bristling with sexual tension, Challengers is arguably Luca Guadagnino’s most purely pleasurable film to date,’ The Hollywood Reporter wrote.
‘Challengers is visceral, exhilarating, & sexy: power dynamics shift with the force of tectonic plates & tennis matches are staged like action scenes,’ Screen Rant added.
Another called it a ‘seductive feast for the senses’.
In its review, Metro also said Challengers was ‘the film that finally serves up Zendaya’s star quality to an audience in the most undeniable way’ – marking her play an adult character for the first time after starring on the Disney Channel and in Euphoria and Spider Man.
‘Zendaya gives us a nuanced, adult performance…she will undoubtedly attract those younger fans, persuading them to visit the cinema…however older film fans should absolutely seek out the movie too, for a sexy, entertaining watch and the satisfaction of seeing an actress come into her own,’ it added.
Meanwhile viewers also lapped up the story, which one said was a ‘charged exploration of ambition, power, jealousy, and desire’.
This week Challengers was added to BBC iPlayer, allowing UK viewers to now watch the movie for free.
Following its release, the film was also nominated for four Golden Globes including best motion picture (musical or comedy) – winning best original score.
Speaking to Variety ahead of the its release, Zendaya spoke about being drawn to play the lead character.
‘I’d never seen a character like Tashi. And if I had seen a character like Tashi, it definitely wasn’t someone like me playing them,’ she admitted.
But, she added: ‘I just like to do things that stretch and push me.’
The actress also detailed undertaking a boot camp to learn tennis with her two co-stars.
‘I didn’t know anything about tennis, to be honest. So, I just threw myself in there,’ she explained.
‘I’ve pretty much seen every video, every match that’s online, every compilation, every interview. It became my thing. Anytime I wasn’t at work, I was watching something. My Instagram became full of tennis stuff. I’m learning how to play tennis, and I’m seeing like these little kids on Instagram — like, 10 — absolutely professional. I’m like, “Wow, I’m terrible!” It really is one of those sports that anyone who’s really great at it, they start so young. I was obviously very intimidated by the fact that I was stepping into something I really didn’t understand.’
However, she said her dance background helped her ‘mimic’ playing tennis.
‘It became about fitting the movement and trying to match that as much as possible. We had incredible doubles who are really talented tennis players. We found someone that matched my build and I shadowed her. I watched her footwork. I would record videos, endlessly, of us side-by-side, and try to sync up my feet, my hands — just get it as close as possible to what she looks like. That became my focus.’
She added: ‘It felt like summer camp. We’d wake up — Mike, Josh and myself on these three courts side-by-side — and we’d just practice for however many hours, and then we’d go and work out, and then we’d have a break, and we’d come back and the second half of the day was rehearsal. It was such a great time of learning a new skill.’
Challengers is streaming on BBC iPlayer.
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