Josh O'Connor and Zendaya Drop Hints about Luca Guadagnino's 'Challengers'

Luca Guadagnino's latest movie was approaching its intended release date when the strikes in Hollywood prompted a delay that will now see the "Call Me By Your Name" director's film hit screens next April. But a just-published pre-strike interview with stars Josh O'Connor and Zendaya gives fans anxious for a taste a few morsels to chew over, AV Club reported.

Explaining that "the studio... decided not to go with a fall premiere since none of the actors can promote it," AV Club noted that O'Connor and Zendaya made the movie sound like it will be well worth the wait, stocked with characters who are complicated, scheming, sexy, and fit.

In an interview with VMan, the co-stars also described a moviemaking experience in which a sense of family and artistic collaboration reigned.

O'Connor recalled that while making one of his first films, he and the rest of the cast "all lived under this one roof... and we cooked for each other. Some days I was like holding the boom; other days, I was behind the camera." It was an arrangement, O'Connor said, that their "Challengers" director, Guadagnino, "would have loved."

Indeed, things in the delayed "Challengers" sound similarly crowded. VMan relayed the log line description of the film as a "'psychological and deeply emotional' thriller," and sketched the film's plot as follows: "...O'Connor take[s] on the role of Patrick, a once-promising, but now burnt-out professional tennis player, caught up in a tumultuous love triangle with his former friend, Art (Mike Faist), and ex-girlfriend, Tashi (Zendaya)."

O'Connor in a threesome with Mike Faist and Zendaya sounds almost as riveting as his pairing with Paul Mescal in "The History of Sound," a gay WWI-era romance that was to have been helmed by "Moffie" director Oliver Hermanus – a movie that, alas, seems to have disappeared into development hell.

Zendaya seemingly agreed with Guadagnino's love of a keeping close company on a film shoot, telling her co-star, "I think we built our own community. We had rehearsal time, and we had time to talk about it. How was that for you? Because I really enjoyed it. I feel like we don't get that often anymore."

O'Connor recalled that he "lived on a farm and worked on that farm for months before filming" the acclaimed gay romance "God's Own Country," but when it came to "Challengers," he focused on the quality of the dialogue, saying, "that script – just the script – is so delicious," before adding, "but then the director makes a big difference. Sometimes you just have that link with someone, and you're like, 'I'm just going to follow your lead.'"

Zendaya also sang Guadagnino's praises, reflecting, "I think one thing he's really good at is thinking about the script within the script – carving out things I didn't see about the characters. We talked about it a lot on set, but there are so many layers there. And I think he's good at finding that nuance, you know?"

"Yeah, Luca just brings something out," O'Connor agreed. "It's not just a tennis movie or a movie about a love triangle, it's psychological, it's emotional, it's grief, it's everything."

Working together on the film, the cast and director found moments to get to know each other better. And what is more intimate among movie actors than fessing up to your favorite films? O'Connor remembered feeling a need to impress Guadagnino, and citing "'Accattone,' which is a brilliant but niche Italian movie. And Luca looked really impressed, and I thought, 'Well done, Josh.'"

"And, of course, my favorite film is 'Superbad,'" O'Connor admitted. "And Luca loves 'Superbad' – everyone loves 'Superbad," he said.

The "Challengers" co-stars also appreciated the physical preparation that went into playing tennis champions.

"The big thing about the physicality stuff is – and I give credit to Luca on this – but it doesn't matter who you are or how little you may care about how you look if you're in really good shape, it does affect your confidence," O'Connor said. "I'm so glad we did all that training, and we got to spend time together."

"Yeah, it was our summer camp," Zendaya enthused.

Perhaps unsurprisingly for a director whose last film – the Timothee Chalamet-starring "Bones and All" – was a romance centering on a pair of cannibals, the characters O'Connor and Zendaya play in "Challengers" are, they agreed, "horrific" – O'Connor's word – and "terrible," as Zendaya described them. The "Euphoria" star added that "there's a villain-esque quality there to all of the characters."

"They are so terrible," O'Connor said, picking up on Zendaya's word. "And we just released the trailer this week, and a few of my friends were like, 'Oh my god, it's so nice to see you smiling in a film.' And I was like, 'Oh god.' If they think they can see the real Josh with an American accent, this is not it. I am not like this, I promise."

Zendaya tempered that assessment with the observation that, in real life, "You can come back and see people from a different perspective, which I think is the point of what we do, you know? Hopefully, it makes people human. They're messy, and they make bad decisions (or complicated decisions), and I think it's our job to let people see different versions of themselves or people that they love in that way."

Actors are naturally upbeat when talking about their upcoming projects, but O'Connor was especially excited about "Challengers," sharing that, based on the preview alone, a friend with strong opinions – "he'll be the first one to say, 'I hate this movie. You're terrible in this film'" – gave an early thumbs up, saying, "Josh, this movie is incredible."

O'Connor went on to make a bold prediction: "And I definitely felt this at the time, but it's one of a few movies I could watch again and again and again."