Italian writer-director Luca Guadagnino is no stranger to coming of age films. If you want a cinematic sexual awakenings set to the backdrop of a sun-kissed Mediterranean paradise, he's your man. Just look at his Desire trilogy, from I Am Love, to the brilliant A Bigger Splash and perhaps his most famous film of all, Call Me By Your Name.
Guadagnino’s next project in the director's chair, Challengers, takes on a tortured love-triangle in the tennis world. It stars two actors with a big buzz around them at the moment; Zendaya (Euphoria) and Josh O’Connor (who won an Emmy for portraying Prince Charles in The Crown) and Mike Faist (fresh from his Broadway in West Side Story).
What’s the big idea?
The trailer has unfortunately done that annoying thing where it seems to reveal pretty much everything that’s going to happen in the movie.
We’re introduced to a young Tashi Duncan (Zendaya), a Serena Williams-esque tennis prodigy. She makes friends with two other tennis players, Patrick (O’Connor) and Art (Mike Faist) and it looks like they get involved in a menage a trois.
But Tashi’s plans for world domination are thwarted when she injures herself. The trailer time jumps from this point, and it's clear that the incident has forced Tashi to quit the sport, instead devoting her time to coaching and making her now-husband, Art, a Grand Slam champion.
And while Art is struggling with the game, Tashi gets him to play a Challenger event, which is seen as the lowest level of tournament on the pro tour. But who should pop back up into their lives from across the net? Yep, you guessed it: it’s Patrick, Art’s former best friend and Zendaya’s ex-boyfriend. The official synopsis reads: “As their pasts and presents collide, and tensions run high, Tashi must ask herself what it will cost to win.”
What else do we know?
Justin Kuritzkes wrote the screenplay for the film, while Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross will be scoring the soundtrack. Zendaya will also be jumping into a producer chair for this production, too.
When is it out?
The film will hit cinemas on 15 September.
