We were able to attend the Challengers press conference this past weekend and got some great insight into the film. Justin Kurtzkites talked about the inspiration to write the story around tennis. You can check out that full article of that here for more. Zendaya also took the time to talk about the process of joining the film and bringing the characters to life.

I believe I was still shooting Euphoria at the time.  And it’s one of those things where everybody knows that, like, especially when I’m working, it’s really hard to, like, get me to do anything else, other than focus on what I’m going to do tomorrow on set. And so we kind of had like a mock table read at my agent’s house. And I just fell in love with the script.  I mean, it was brilliant.  And it also made me very nervous as something to tackle because of, I think, how complicated these characters are. I think because of, also, you know, I couldn’t define what kind of movie it was.  Like, it was funny.  It was so funny, but I wouldn’t say it was a comedy.  But there was drama.  But I wouldn’t say it was just a drama.  You know?  And it had tennis, but it wasn’t like a sports movie.  So I think that feeling that it was kind of just like everything at once in this beautiful way was terrifying, but equally exhilarating and exciting.  

Zendaya goes on to talk about the character of Tashi Duncan and how she approached this as an actress.

And it was a character that I feel like I had never read before, and never seen before.  And she scared the shit out of me.  So I was like, “Maybe I need to do this.”  You know?  And I think being able to be, you know, a part of it in a creative sense, and, you know, hopefully be in service to the characters and our, you know, incredible team here, and help in any way I can to help bring that to life, and then, you know, hearing that Luca had read it and was interested in doing it was like a dream, because I was such a fan of his work for so long.  

We also got a bit of an insight into Zendaya and Luca’s relationship and how they met. Zendaya also dived into their creative process to bring Tashi to life on the screen.

we had met once at a Fenty dinner. And he was so kind and so sweet to me.  He helped me get vegetarian options cause I couldn’t speak Italian.  I loved him then.  But I, you know, I had been hoping to work with him in some capacity.  So the idea that it would be this was, I mean, magical.  And we sat, and we talked over Zoom.  And I understood that he understood the kind of movie we wanted to create.  He understood these characters in such a deep sense down to, like, you know, we were joking about what kind of lotion she would, you know, use before she goes bed at night.  You know what I mean?  these are these little details that I’m like, “Oh my gosh, you know this woman.  You get her.  You see her.”  And he had that same instinct for a lot characters.  So it just felt like an obvious yes for me.  

The amount of passion that Zendaya seems to have for the project and the character has us more excited for Challengers. Our full review will be dropping this Thursday morning so stay tuned for that once it drops and make sure to follow us.

Challengers opens in theaters on April 26th.