Luca Guadagnino teams up with Zendaya for a sports drama film
Challengers is a sports dramedy film produced by Pascal Pictures. The film is directed by acclaimed Italian filmmaker Luca Guadagnino, whose previous works include Call Me by Your Name, Suspiria, and Bones and All. Playwright and novelist Justin Kuritzkes pens the screenplay for Challengers in his first major feature project. Sayombhu Mukdeeprom, a frequent collaborator with Guadagnino, is the film’s principal cinematographer. Both Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross compose the film’s score, after they collaborated with Guadagnino on Bones and All (2022).
Actress and singer Zendaya, known for her roles in Euphoria and the Dune films, takes the lead role as Tashi Donaldson, an ex-pro tennis player turned coach for her husband. Her on-screen star tennis player husband, Art Donaldson, is portrayed by Mike Faist. Josh O’Connor (The Crown) plays Art’s opponent, and Tashi’s former lover, Patrick Zweig.