The Dune star opened up about how the cast came together through intensive physical training.
Director Luca Guadagnino’s upcoming drama Challengers promises to turn up the heat, with Zendaya at the heart of a love triangle which involves betrayal, life-altering injuries and a lot of tennis.
The Dune star opened up about bonding with co-stars Mike Faist (West Side Story) and Josh O’Connor (The Crown), who play her character Tashi’s husband Art and his former best friend Patrick respectively.
All three are pro tennis players, though Tashi gives up the sport to coach Art after a serious knee injury.
“We did have our own version of tennis school,” Zendaya explained on the Challengers red carpet. “We did many many weeks of tennis training together.”
But the training didn’t end there.
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She added: “[Tennis training was] followed by workouts together, followed by rehearsals together, so it allowed us the time to really, I don’t know, not just bond, but really communicate and understand these characters more and talk and figure it out.
“And also, I feel like we created our little bubble, our little group.”
All the training and bonding certainly seems to have paid off, with the trio’s chemistry really coming through in the Challengers trailer, which teases just how intense the world of pro sport can be, particularly when there’s more than a title at stake.
Challenger premieres in cinemas on Friday 26th April 2024.
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