his new film, “Challengers,” co-starring Zendaya and “West Side Story” star Mike Faist, he’s showing a whole new side of himself.O’Connor plays tennis pro Patrick, one-third of a love triangle with Tashi (Zendaya), a tennis pro poised for greatness before an injury relegates her to coaching, and Art (Faist), another well-to-do tennis pro. Tashi eventually marries Art, and Patrick comes back into their lives years later, kicking off tensions and connections, including a racy threesome.Reviews have described “Challengers” as sexy and steamy, something O’Connor is still surprised he was chosen for.“If you were making the movie, you wouldn’t cast me,” O’Connor recalled telling screenwriter Justin Kuritzkes in an interview for The Wall Street Journal.
Zendaya Says It’s ‘Refreshing’ and ‘Scary’ Breaking Away From High School Roles, but Admits ‘I Wish I Went to School’ in Real Life Instead of Just Acting
09.04.2024 - 15:23 / variety.com
Zack Sharf Digital News Director Zendaya‘s most prolific roles to date in HBO’s “Euphoria,” which won her two Emmys for outstanding lead actress in a drama series, and three of Marvel’s “Spider-Man” films have something in common: High school. But she’s leaving the classroom behind for her new film, Luca Guadagnino’s “Challengers,” which casts Zendaya as a tennis phenom and finds her at one point during the movie playing a mother in her early 30s. “I’m always in a high school somewhere,” Zendaya recently told Vogue magazine about her career thus far.
“And, mind you, I never went to high school.” The actor said breaking away from high school roles in “Challengers” was “refreshing. And it was also kind of scary, because I was like, ‘I hope people buy me as my own age, or maybe a little bit older, because I have friends that have kids, or are having kids.'” Zendaya never went to high school herself. Her career took off when she was the 14-year-old star of Disney Channel’s “Shake It Up,” which led into another Disney hit, “K.C.
Undercover,” and then an entire acting career that had no time to slow down for a proper classroom education. “I have complicated feelings about kids and fame and being in the public eye, or being a child actor. We’ve seen a lot of cases of it being detrimental,” Zendaya told Vogue.
Zendaya tennis movie ‘Challengers’ scores at weekend box office
have been on a globetrotting press tour to get the word out about Italian director Luca Guadagnino’s original film, which opened in 3,477 locations in the US and Canada.“We’re obviously very, very happy with the number,” said Kevin Wilson, who heads theatrical distribution for Amazon Studios and MGM. “Looking at the audience who showed up, it’s really encouraging.
Zendaya Says She’s “Not Quite Confident Enough” To Direct Yet, But Luca Guadagnino Thinks Otherwise
As an actress and executive producer, Zendaya is already a multi-hyphenate, but she’s not quite ready to climb into a director’s chair. IndieWire reports (via The New York Times) that the “Challengers” star needs more time before she directs her first project. But when that day comes, Luca Guadagnino will say, “I told you so.” READ MORE: ‘Challengers’ Review: Zendaya Rules This Love Triangle “I’m overly conscious of everything else around me,” Zendaya told the publication in an interview for Guada’s new tennis drama, in theaters today.
‘Challengers’: Mike Faist Had to Eat Up to 10,000 Calories a Day and Gain 30 Pounds to Transform Into a Tennis Star
Jazz Tangcay Artisans Editor In order to deliver authenticity to every ace, volley, serve and rally, the stars of Luca Guadagnino‘s tennis drama “Challengers” each trained for up to six hours a day for three months on the court. In the film, two former friends and double partners Patrick Zweig (Josh O’Connor) and Art Donaldson (Mike Faist) face off in a challengers match years after falling out over their pursuit of Tashi Duncan (Zendaya). Brad Gilbert, tennis coach to Andy Murray and Coco Gauff, worked extensively with the actors to make sure they could convincingly become sports stars.
Jessica Lange Says ‘Corporate Profit’ Is Overwhelming Hollywood and ‘So Much of the Industry Now Is Not About the Creative Process’
Zack Sharf Digital News Director Jessica Lange spoke critically of present-day Hollywood during a recent interview with Vulture, saying “there should be a law against it” when the topic came up about Warner Bros. Discovery axing already-shot movies like “Batgirl” and “Coyote vs. Acme” for tax write-off purposes.
Anne Hathaway Says ‘The Princess Diaries 3’ Development ‘Is in a Good Place,’ but ‘There’s Nothing to Announce Yet’
Zack Sharf Digital News Director It’s been well over a year since news first broke that Disney was moving forward with “The Princess Diaries 3.” Anne Hathaway can’t reveal any details, but she did assure fans in a recent V magazine interview that development continues on the long-anticipated sequel, and the intention remains to get it off the ground. “We’re in a good place,” Hathaway said. “That’s all I can say.
Angelina Jolie’s Axed ‘Cleopatra’ Was a Love Affair Epic That Had ‘Elements of a Political Thriller With Assassinations and Sex’: It ‘Was Almost Made’
Zack Sharf Digital News Director Angelina Jolie‘s scrapped “Cleopatra” movie was part romance epic and part “political thriller with assassinations and sex,” according to the movie’s original screenwriter Brian Helgeland. The Oscar-winning actor was set to play the Egyptian queen in a tentpole for Sony Pictures that once courted director David Fincher to helm. It never got off the ground.
‘Challengers’ Star Zendaya Says “It’s Very Odd” Her Kissing Scenes Get A Lot Of Attention: “I Have Noticed That, With Me Specifically”
Zendaya wonders why her kissing scenes get a lot of attention when she’s just doing her job.
Amy Winehouse Biopic ‘Back to Black,’ ‘Civil War’ Stay Atop U.K., Ireland Box Office
Naman Ramachandran Studiocanal’s Amy Winehouse biopic “Back to Black” stayed atop the U.K. and Ireland box office for the second consecutive weekend with £1.8 million ($2.3 million), according to numbers from Comscore. The film now has a running total of £6.3 million.
‘A Knight’s Tale’ Director Reveals Axed Sequel Ideas and Says ‘Netflix Tested’ One ‘Idea Through Their Algorithms, Which Indicated It Would Not Be Successful’
Zack Sharf Digital News Director “A Knight’s Tale” director Brian Helgeland revealed in a career retrospective interview with Inverse that his efforts to make a sequel to his 2001 medieval action-comedy classic were apparently thwarted by the Netflix algorithm. “When we finished ‘A Knight’s Tale,’ we were already thinking about making the sequel as a pirate film,” Helgeland said. “The plot revolved around Count Adhemar (Rufus Sewell) kidnapping Jocelyn (Shannyn Sossamon) and taking her to Constantinople.
Zendaya Wears Her 'I Told Ya' Shirt From 'Challengers' While Attending NY Screening
Zendaya is promoting her new movie Challengers in the Big Apple!
Zendaya says “it’s weird” that people keep asking her about kissing male co-stars
Zendaya has said that she believes it is “very odd” that she is always asked about kissing her male co-stars in interviews.The actor, who is currently promoting her latest film Challengers, appeared on the Jake’s Takes podcast when the issue of the “abnormal amount of attention” to her kissing scenes was raised by host Jake Hamilton.“I have no idea. I don’t know if it’s because they want it to be, like, a viral thing, I don’t know.
Final ‘Challengers’ Trailer: Luca Guadagnino Sexy Tennis Love Triangle Stars Zendaya & Opens This Weekend
From almost all accounts, it seems like Italian filmmaker Luca Guadagnino has another hit on his hands with “Challengers,” a new tennis drama from MGM Studios that’s actually more of a love-triangle romance bundled into the sports genre. Starring Zendaya (Marvel’s “Spider-Man” franchise and the “Dune” series), Josh O’Connor (“Dr.
Zendaya Bares Midriff in Cutout Dress at 'Challengers' L.A. Press Day
Zendaya is showing some skin with her latest look on the Challengers press tour!
‘Challengers’ Review: Zendaya Rules This Love Triangle
Based on the marketing, you might think “Challengers” is at its core, a tennis movie and, well, it sort of is. The film is certainly set in the world of tennis, you can’t deny that, and at one point, Zendaya’s character Tashi Duncan remarks, “We’re always talking about tennis.” The sport is at the center of her life.
Jerrod Carmichael Regrets Criticizing Dave Chappelle to the Press, Says He’s ‘More Important Than Ever’ and ‘I Want Him to Focus His Genius’ Away From Trans Jokes
Zack Sharf Digital News Director Jerrod Carmichael appeared on a recent episode of “The Breakfast Club” (via Rolling Stone) and said: “I deeply regret saying anything about Dave Chappelle to the press. I want to say that I’m sorry for that.” Carmichael previously gave interviews to Esquire and GQ in which he criticized Chappelle’s legacy of making jokes about transgender people. Carmichael now noted that his frustration with Chappelle had only to do with the comedian repeatedly making jokes about the same topic and not the morality of the jokes themselves.
‘Challengers’ Premiere: Zendaya Calls Luca Guadagnino “Brilliant” & Josh O’Connor Says Working With Director Was “A Real Treat & An Honor”
Zendaya not only stars in Luca Guadagnino‘s Challengers but is also a producer in the film written by Justin Kuritzkes.
James Gandolfini Reprised Tony Soprano in 2010 to Help Recruit LeBron James to the Knicks — the Video Footage Has Debuted Online After 14 Years
Zack Sharf Digital News Director “The Sopranos” fans got thrown a curveball in 2021 when Edie Falco revealed for the first time on an Atlantic podcast that she once reunited with James Gandolfini to reprise Tony and Carmela Soprano for a bizarre clip set two years after the events of the series finale, which infamously ended with a cut-to-black that left Tony’s fate in the balance. The purpose of the clip was to help the New York Knicks basketball organization lure LeBron James to the team. Gandolfini and Falco shot the “Sopranos” reunion in 2010 as James was becoming a free agent after his contract with the Cleveland Cavaliers expired.
Zendaya Serves Up Blunt Bangs & a Cheeky Outfit During 'Challengers' Photocall in London
Zendaya is switching up her look in the midst of promoting her new movie Challengers!
‘Spider-Man’ Producer Admits ‘Neither Kevin Feige Nor I Knew Who’ Zendaya Was When Casting Her as MJ: We ‘Felt Really Stupid’ When We Found Out
Zack Sharf Digital News Director Zendaya was already a big star when she was cast as MJ in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, starting with 2017’s “Spider-Man: Homecoming.” By that point in her career she had already amassed a huge following as the star of two Disney Channel hits, “Shake It Up” and “K.C. Undercover,” plus popped up in Beyonce’s “Lemonade” film and was a runner-up on “Dancing With the Stars.” None of that apparently registered for “Spider-Man” producer Amy Pascal. “To be honest with you, neither [Marvel Studios president] Kevin Feige nor I knew who she was,” Pascal admitted in Vogue magazine as part of its Zendaya cover story.