Luca Guadagnino is rounding out the cast of his next movie,Challengers, which delves into the sport of tennis. PerDeadline, final negotiations are in place for Zendaya to star in the lead role, with the film also starring Josh O’Connor and Mike Faist. MGM recently picked up the rights to the project with Rachel O’Connor of Pascal Pictures producing. The script comes from Justin Kuritzkes.
Challengerswill followZendayaas Tashi, a tennis player turned coach who has taken her husband, Art, and “transformed him from a mediocre player into a world-famous grand slam champion. To jolt him out of his recent losing streak, she makes him play a ‘Challenger’ event — close to the lowest level of tournament on the pro tour — where he finds himself standing across the net from the once-promising, now burnt-out Patrick: his former best friend and Tashi’s former boyfriend.”
Currently, Guadagnino is wrapping up production on his next projectBones and All, with Timothee Chalamet and Taylor Russell. The filmmaker prioritizedChallengersas his next project after he was impressed with the screenplay. Similarly, Zendaya was pretty quick to enter talks for the lead role after she was “instantly intrigued” by the story. With Guadagnino and Zendaya on board, studio interest followed with MGM ultimately picking up the rights.
Related:Here’s Why Zendaya’s MJ is the Best Leading Lady of All the Spider-Man Franchises
Zendaya Is More Popular Than Ever
Zendaya’s casting in any project is going to draw attention to it, given her place in modern pop culture. The acclaimed actress has impressed critics and viewers with her role as Rue in HBO’sEuphoria, a show that has only grown in popularity since its first season. The show also earned Zendaya an Emmy and was recently given a renewal for season 3. She has also spoken about her portrayal of a flawed character has made viewers more empathetic.
“I thinkthe overall themes have always been empathy,” Zendaya explained. “This idea that it’s important to understand and live a little bit of life in someone else’s shoes, and have a greater sense of understanding for someone’s backstory and what it is that got them to this point and who they are. And I think if we can, you know, bear with Rue, and get through the darkest points, and we can do that with her, and she’s a fictional character, maybe, you know, we can do that with real people, I think. So it’s really, to me, the overall compelling ideas, just the idea of we are not… you know, we’re not the worst mistake we’ve ever made. That is not the end-all, be-all, and the definitive answer for who we are as people.”
On the big screen, Zendaya also was recently seen in the blockbuster hitSpider-Man: No Way Home. The movie has smashed many records as one of the most successful films of all time, and its profits continue to climb as the film is still playing in theaters. Zendaya must have certainly been fielding a lot of offers, so something aboutChallengersmust have really piqued her interest.
Challengersdoesn’t yet have an official release date, but production is slated to start in March.
