Jeremy Allen White as Kerry Von Erich in ‘The Iron Claw.’ Photo: A24.
Preview:
Jeremy Allen White is attached to a new Netflix limited series.
He’ll star in and produce ‘Enigma Variations.’
The project adapts a book from ‘Call Me by Your Name’ writer André Aciman.
Because he clearly doesn’t have a busy enough schedule as it is, Jeremy Allen White is adding yet another project to his growing To Do list.
The actor, who appeared in ‘Shameless’ but has gone on to wide acclaim starring in FX series ‘The Bear,’ is now, per Variety, attached to a new limited series for Netflix called ‘Enigma Variations.’
It’ll draw from the eponymous André Aciman novel, which was published in 2017.
Aboard as main writer, showrunner and executive producer is Amanda Kate Shulman, who last worked on Prime Video’s fantasy series ‘The Wheel of Time.’
Male Actor in a Comedy Series, Jeremy Allen White, ‘The Bear’ 30th Screen Actors Guild Awards, Show, Shrine Auditorium, Los Angeles, California, USA – 24 Feb 2024. Credit: Photo by Christopher Polk/Shutterstock for SAG.
Here’s your official logline for the book…
The novel charts the life of a man named Paul, whose loves remain as consuming and as covetous throughout his adulthood as they were in his adolescence.
Whether the setting is southern Italy, where as a boy he has a crush on his parents’ cabinetmaker, or a snowbound campus in New England, where his enduring passion for a girl he’ll meet again and again over the years is punctuated by anonymous encounters with men—whether he’s on a tennis court in Central Park or on a New York sidewalk in early spring.
Paul’s attachments are ungraspable, transient, and forever underwritten by raw desire. Ahead of every step Paul takes, his hopes, denials, fears, and regrets are always ready to lay their traps. Yet the dream of love lingers. We may not always know what we want. We may remain enigmas to ourselves and to others. But sooner or later, we discover who we’ve always known we were…
What else has André Aciman written?
(L to R) Timothée Chalamet and Armie Hammer in 2017’s ‘Call Me by Your Name.’
Aciman, an Italian-American writer born in Alexandria, Egypt. A distinguished professor at the Graduate Center of the City University of New York, he’s also had quite the career as a writer.
His novels also include ‘Eight White Nights,’ ‘Harvard Square’ and ‘Find Me,’ but the most famous in adaptation terms is 2007’s ‘Call Me by Your Name.’
More recently, he’s been filming the Bruce Springsteen pic ‘Deliver Me from Nowhere’ (as Springsteen) and ‘The Bear’s fourth season will be with us at some point this year.
Nicknamed “Pedunkee Mufkin” (translated as Punky Muffin) by his father and also nicknamed “Stinky” by Ahsoka Tano, was a male Hutt and the son of Jabba the Hutt.
What’s Rotta’s story? During the Clone Wars, he was secretly kidnapped by the Confederacy of Independent Systems, which was orchestrated by Count Dooku with help from Ziro, Rotta’s great-uncle. The plot was meant to discredit the Jedi Order and scuttle negotiations between the Galactic Republic and the Hutts, but the Jedi were able to rescue him.
He was later kidnapped and rescued again. We do have to wonder what fate will befall him in the new movie, but the choice of White to provide his voice points to him being more of a grown character this time around.
White joins a cast that includes Pedro Pascal, who will be the titular Mando/Din Djarin, Sigourney Weaver (in a mystery role) and Johnny Coyne, who reprises his relatively small role of an Imperial warlord.
The movie is jetting on to screens on May 22nd next year.
When will ‘Enigma Variations’ be on Netflix?
Given White’s in demand schedule, we’d figure it’ll take a while for this to come together.
Jeremy Allen White as Bruce Springsteen in ‘Deliver Me From Nowhere.’ Photo: 20th Century Studios.
He’ll play a man who becomes a social media vigilante.
Uwe Boll’s in the director’s chair.
There was a time when Armie Hammer was one of the hottest rising stars around. After a few years paying his dues, he scored a notable role in David Fincher’s ‘The Social Network’ playing (thanks to some effects trickery and an assist from Josh Pence) both entitled twins Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss.
Then came the seeming flame-out. In February 2021, woman identified as Effie reported Hammer to the police, alleging that he had been physically abusive during an on-and-off relationship that spanned four years, and that he had violently raped her in 2017. Hammer vehemently denied her allegations.
Allegations against Hammer first exploded on social media via an Instagram account run by the initial accuser. Other women soon joined with their own allegations on social media, creating a flurry of viral headlines, including accusations of cannibalistic and BDSM fetishes that women said were used as a smokescreen for emotional and physical abuse.
Armie Hammer arrives on the red carpet of The 90th Oscars® at the Dolby® Theatre in Hollywood, CA on Sunday, March 4, 2018. Credit/Provider: Matt Petit / A.M.P.A.S. Copyright: A.M.P.A.S.
It torpedoed Hammer’s career and the work began to dry up –– Disney went as far as minimizing his presence in trailers for 2022’s Poirot movie ‘Death on the Nile’ and he’s had little opportunities since, pleading poverty (despite coming from a very wealthy family) and saying he’s had to take jobs outside the industry.
But following a lengthy probe, Los Angeles prosecutors in 2023 declined to charge the actor with any crime, and now it appears he’s being offered acting roles again.
During a recent podcast interview, Hammer said that his acting career has picked up so much that he’s started to turn jobs down:
“My dance card’s getting pretty full. That first job that I turned down after four years of this shit, I mean, it was the best feeling I’ve ever had.”
Boll is putting together a new movie called ‘The Dark Knight’ –– no, nothing to do with Batman, though it shares some similar themes with DC’s brooding hero (and it’s a weird coincidence that one of Hammer’s pre-scandal jobs was as Batman in George Miller’s cancelled ‘Justice League’ movie.)
Armie Hammer in 2015’s ‘The Man from U.N.C.L.E.’ Photo: Warner Bros. Pictures.
Boll’s latest, based on his own script, will see Hammer playing a man named Sanders, who takes justice into his own hands as he sets out to hunt down criminals.
While his crusade transforms him into a social media sensation and a hero in the eyes of the public, the local police chief sees him as a menace to society and aims to take him down.
Here’s what Boll told Variety about the new film:
“The story of ‘The Dark Knight’ couldn’t be a more current topic, and I’m excited to bring it to life with this excellent cast.
Producer Michael Roesch, meanwhile, was quick to point out that they’re not making a Batman pic:
“Our movie is very different from Chris Nolan’s movie, so there is no danger of confusion.”
No, Batman is only the story of a man named Bruce Wayne, who takes justice into his own hands as he sets out to hunt down criminals. His (caped) crusade transforms him into a folk legend in the eyes of the public, but the police (beyond one friendly commissioner) aren’t always so sure. Completely different. Will “Sanders” have wonderful toys? The people demand to know.
Boll intends to start filming later this month in Croatia.
He’s a man who will go to any lengths to promote his work, including getting in the boxing ring to take on critics. His movies rarely seem to score great reviews, but he keeps on churning them out –– ‘The Dark Knight’ will mark his 37th film.
Though shooting is kicking off soon, Boll has yet to set a date –– or indeed a distribution home yet.
Armie Hammer arrives on the red carpet of The 90th Oscars® at the Dolby® Theatre in Hollywood, CA on Sunday, March 4, 2018. Credit/Provider: Michael Baker / A.M.P.A.S. Copyright: A.M.P.A.S.
(L to R) Daniel Craig and Drew Starkey in ‘Queer’. Photo: A24.
It’s James Bond like you’ve never seen him before. Three years after hanging up his tux as 007, Daniel Craig stars for director Luca Guadagnino in an adaptation of the William S. Burroughs novella ‘Queer,’ written in the 1950s but not published until 1985. Craig is impressively lustful and sad as William Lee, who has fled drug charges back in New Orleans by escaping to Mexico City, where he indulges in drugs, sex, and drinking with the town’s other queer expats.
Guadagnino, with ‘Call Me By Your Name’ and this year’s very sexy ‘Challengers’ among his many cinematic explorations of desire, is a perfect filmmaker to tackle Burroughs’ semi-autobiographical tale, which also reunites him with ‘Challengers’ screenwriter Justin Kuritzkes. But while Craig’s performance and a lot of the early going in ‘Queer’ is fairly absorbing — if somewhat slow-moving and repetitive — the film’s latter half is marred by a change in tone that’s perhaps suited to Burroughs’ hallucinatory text but doesn’t make the transition to the screen successfully.
Story and Direction
Director Luca Guadagnino attends the Los Angeles Premiere of Amazon MGM Studios’ ‘Challengers’ at Regency Village Theatre on April 16, 2024 in Los Angeles, California. Photo by Eric Charbonneau/Getty Images for Amazon MGM Studios.
Independently wealthy but in the grip of both alcohol and heroin addictions that have driven him to the relatively relaxed confines of Mexico City, William Lee spends his days and nights indulging in both, as well as casual sex among the bars and nightclubs of the city. He has a friendly rapport with the other queer expats in town, particularly Joe Guidry (Jason Schwartzman) and John Dumé (Drew Droege), but he’s lonely and looking for a real connection.
He thinks he may have found it when he meets Eugene Allerton (Drew Starkey), a beautiful ex-Navy serviceman who has found his way down to Mexico but whose sexual leanings – and level of interest in Lee – remain a mystery (Allerton is based on Lewis Marker, who was apparently the love of Burroughs’ life). Nevertheless, an enraptured Lee pursues him until the two finally become lovers, although Eugene quickly turns cold toward Lee and insists he doesn’t want to be tied down in a relationship. Lee alternates between courtly gentleman and needy parasite, finally convincing Eugene to accompany him on a trip to South America. It’s there that Lee wants to find a rumored drug that induce telepathy in humans – a metaphor for Lee’s increasingly desperate desire for human communication beyond words.
Set in a meticulously crafted recreation of a fantastical Mexico City circa the late ‘40s/early ‘50s – where the searing sun gives away to painterly sunsets over the dusty, weatherbeaten buildings and streets (kudos to DP Sayombhu Mukdeeprom and production designer Stefano Baisi for their sterling work at Italy’s Cinecittà studio) – ‘Queer’ is a study in shifting tones. The music alternates between a plaintive, piano-and-string-driven score by Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross and anachronistic, jarring needle drops like Sinead O’Connor’s version of Nirvana’s ‘All Apologies’ and New Order’s ‘Leave Me Alone.’ The scenes shift from sweaty, graphic, yet tender sex between Lee and Eugene to harrowing shots of Lee calmly sitting alone, preparing and injecting heroin and drinking a beer while it takes effect.
Drew Starkey in ‘Queer’. Photo: A24.
Loneliness and dissolution hang over Lee like a shroud, yet his infatuation with Eugene is rather inexplicable – aside from a pretty face, the young man is an enigma who is often rather cruel to the older man who wants to care for him. That creates an imbalance in the relationship that’s offset by the tenderness and hunger of their sex scenes, a love-hate scenario that’s exacerbated by their third-act trip into the Amazon.
It’s here, where Lee and Eugene are introduced to the native plant ayahuasca (also known as yagè) and its psychedelic properties by the strange Dr. Cotter (Lesley Manville) at her jungle compound, that ‘Queer’ leaves behind its just-slightly surreal environs for a bizarre extended sequence that plays like a combination of Ken Russell’s ‘Altered States’ and David Cronenberg’s take on Burroughs’ ‘Naked Lunch.’ Any pretense at reality is left behind as the two perform a dance that ends with their bodies literally merging – but as Eugene repeats a line from earlier in the film, “I’m not queer, I’m disembodied,” it seems apparent that even the drug’s mystical properties can’t give Lee the spiritual and emotional union he’s looking for.
This is where the viewer may disconnect themselves from ‘Queer,’ with only a coda in the last scene (after what seems like multiple endings) channeling the same emotional pull as earlier in the film. There is also a more direct blurring of Lee and Burroughs’ lives that may not register with every viewer either. But by then ‘Queer’ feels disembodied itself, searching for an identity that it can’t quite define.
The Cast
(L to R) Daniel Craig, Drew Starkey and Lesley Manville in ‘Queer’. Photo: A24.
It’s all about Daniel Craig. This is his first major leading role outside of James Bond and Benoit Blanc in years, and he takes it far past anything he’s done onscreen before. Not only does Craig fully commit to the film’s explicit sex scenes, but his portrayal of William Lee is all impulse and raw nerve endings – Lee’s hunger for the sensations brought on by drugs and sex is as palpable as his painful longing for a true connection with another human being. His slight Southern accent (much less pronounced than that of Blanc in the ‘Knives Out’ films), casual stroll, and glittering eyes – full of both hurt and desire – paint a vulnerable portrait of a dissolute, aging man that’s about as distant from 007 as one could imagine.
Jason Schwartzman is physically unrecognizable as Lee’s friend Joe Guidry, with his thick beard and physique, and the character (channeling Allen Ginsberg) acts as both a grounding force and comic relief for the film. Drew Starkey’s Allerton is less interesting, but that’s more due to the script than anything else, which renders him literally a pretty face. And then there’s the great Lesley Manville, who’s acting in a very different film as the over-the-top Dr. Cotter and is almost unrecognizable herself.
Final Thoughts
Daniel Craig in ‘Queer’. Photo: A24.
Luca Guadagnino has cornered the market on the intense expression of desire, the fleshy, visceral nature of sex, and the grisly truth of body horror in his various films, sometimes even combining all three to delirious effect (the underrated ‘Bones and All’ would be an example of the latter). ‘Queer’ meanders but still manages to be captivating for much of its first two-thirds, thanks to Craig’s performance and passion.
It’s only when Guadagnino takes the film into the jungle that he loses control of his narrative, and while he kind of regains it at the end, it’s not enough to re-engage the viewer and make the film end on a truly powerful note. Luca Guadagnino has made two incredibly horny films this year, and ‘Queer’ is the lesser of the pair – if the more sobering.
‘Queer’ receives 6 out of 10 stars.
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What is the plot of ‘Queer’?
American man of leisure, alcoholic, and drug addict William Lee (Daniel Craig) idles in Mexico City among other gay men who have fled south, where he meets an enigmatic young man (Drew Starkey) with whom he becomes doggedly obsessed.
Who is in the cast of ‘Queer’?
Daniel Craig as William Lee
Drew Starkey as Eugene Allerton
Lesley Manville as Dr. Cotter
Jason Schwartzman as Joe Guidry
Henrique Zaga as Winston Moor
Ariel Schulman as Tom Weston
David Lowery as Jim Cochran
(L to R) Director Luca Guadagnino and producer Amy Pascal attend the Los Angeles Premiere of Amazon MGM Studios’ ‘Challengers’ at Regency Village Theatre on April 16, 2024 in Los Angeles, California. Photo by Eric Charbonneau/Getty Images for Amazon MGM Studios.
(Left) Director Luca Guadagnino attends the Los Angeles Premiere of Amazon MGM Studios’ ‘Challengers’ at Regency Village Theatre on April 16, 2024 in Los Angeles, California. Photo by Eric Charbonneau/Getty Images for Amazon MGM Studios. (Right) Christian Bale as Patrick Bateman in ‘American Psycho.’ Photo: Lionsgate Films.
Preview:
‘Challengers’ director Luca Guadagnino is aboard a new adaptation of ‘American Psycho.’
‘The Bourne Ultimatum’s Scott Z. Burns is writing the script.
Christian Bale starred in the 2002 adaptation.
While he has brought us several outstanding original movies (most recently the successful ‘Challengers,’) Italian director Luca Guadagnino has also tried his hand at adapting novels or remaking classic films with a new spin.
And while the newly-announced plan to tackle a fresh take on Bret Easton Ellis’ novel ‘American Psycho’ could fall into both categories, it sounds, according to Deadline as though Guadagnino is aiming to take a new crack at the book rather than going the remake route.
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What’s the story of ‘American Psycho’?
Christian Bale as Patrick Bateman in ‘American Psycho.’ Photo: Lionsgate Films.
Ellis’ novel, which was published back in 1991, ‘American Psycho’ is set during the Wall Street boom of the late 1980s.
It follows wealthy young investment banker Patrick Bateman. In his mid-20s when the story begins, Bateman narrates his everyday activities, from his grooming routine, his recreational life among the Wall Street elite of New York… and his forays into murder by night.
Because, as the title suggests, Bateman is a serial killer, one who has been offing rivals, colleagues and women, his murder spree becoming increasingly brutal and sadistic.
The book was a sensation in its day but fueled huge debate over its grisly violence and misogynistic attitudes –– even with a satirical bent.
Co-writer/director Mary Harron adapted the book in 2000 with Christian Bale as Bateman, which became something of a divisive cult hit itself. A sequel, ‘American Psycho II: All American Girl’ was quickly pumped out featuring none of the same creative team but couldn’t match the impact.
Who else is working on the new ‘American Psycho’?
Christian Bale as Patrick Bateman in ‘American Psycho.’ Photo: Lionsgate Films.
With Lionsgate long wanting to take a new stab at adapting the novel, it also has Sam Pressman, the son of Edward R. Pressman, producer of the original film, aboard.
The director’s next film to be released, ‘Queer’ (adapted from the William S. Burroughs novel), stars Daniel Craig and Drew Starkey, and will be in theaters on December 13th after receiving plenty of plaudits on the festival circuit.
When would the new ‘American Psycho’ movie be on screens?
With no casting or shoot date in place yet, we’re going to have to wait to find out when this one will be released.
(L to R) Director Luca Guadagnino and producer Amy Pascal attend the Los Angeles Premiere of Amazon MGM Studios’ ‘Challengers’ at Regency Village Theatre on April 16, 2024 in Los Angeles, California. Photo by Eric Charbonneau/Getty Images for Amazon MGM Studios.
(L to R) Writer Justin Kuritzkes, producer Amy Pascal, Josh O’Connor, Zendaya, Mike Faist, director Luca Guadagnino, producer Rachel O’Connor and Mike Hopkins, SVP of Prime Video and Amazon MGM Studios, attend the Los Angeles Premiere of Amazon MGM Studios’ ‘Challengers’ at Regency Village Theatre on April 16, 2024 in Los Angeles, California. Photo by Eric Charbonneau/Getty Images for Amazon MGM Studios.
Preview:
Zendaya, Mike Feist and Josh O’Connor were among the talent attending the ‘Challengers’ press conference.
Zendaya talked about how her dance background helped with her tennis training.
Director Luca Guadagnino outlined the lengths he went to for the movie’s final sequence.
Luca Guadagnino (‘Call Me by Your Name’, ‘Bones and All’) is a director known for his grasp of sensuality and complicated, grown-up stories of relationships. And his latest, ‘Challengers’ marries that sensitivity with the competitive world of tennis, where curdled personal and professional jealousy causes issues for one woman and the men who share an attraction to her –– at the cost of their own formerly deep friendship.
‘Challengers’ stars Zendaya (‘Dune: Part Two’) as Tashi Duncan, a former tennis prodigy turned coach and a force of nature who makes no apologies for her game on and off the court.
Married to a champion on a losing streak (Mike Faist, ‘West Side Story’), Tashi’s strategy for her husband’s redemption takes a surprising turn when he must face off against the washed-up Patrick (Josh O’Connor, ‘The Crown‘) –– his former best friend and Tashi’s former boyfriend.
As their pasts and presents collide, and tensions run high, Tashi must ask herself what it will cost to win.
(L to R) Josh O’Connor, Zendaya and Mike Faist attend the Los Angeles Premiere of Amazon MGM Studios’ ‘Challengers’ at Regency Village Theatre on April 16, 2024 in Los Angeles, California. Photo by Stewart Cook/Getty Images for Amazon MGM Studios.
The movie marks Guadagnino’s latest and potentially most mainstream crossover movie, with a script from relative newcomer Justin Kuritzkes and ‘Spider-Man’ veteran Amy Pascal among its producers.
Moviefone recently attended a virtual press conference for ‘Challengers.’ Taking part were stars Zendaya, Faist and O’Connor alongside director Guadagnino, producer Pascal and writer Kuritzkes.
Here are 10 things we learned from the press conference, edited for clarity and length.
1) Writer Justin Kuritzkes was Partly Inspired by a Particular Moment in Tennis
Writer Justin Kuritzkes attends the Los Angeles Premiere of Amazon MGM Studios’ ‘Challengers’ at Regency Village Theatre on April 16, 2024 in Los Angeles, California. Photo by Stewart Cook/Getty Images for Amazon MGM Studios.
Kuritzkes says he wasn’t much of a sports fan before writing the script, but one moment during a televised tennis game gave him the initial kernel for ‘Challengers’, which hinges on a couple of dramatic games.
Justin Kuritzkes: I just happened to turn on the US Open and it was the final between Serena Williams and Naomi Osaka. And there was this very controversial call from the umpire where he accused Serena Williams of receiving coaching from the sidelines. I had never heard of this rule, but Serena was saying, ‘That didn’t happen. I would never do that.’ Immediately this struck me as this intensely cinematic situation where you’re all alone on your side of the court and there’s this one other person in this massive tennis stadium who cares as much about what happens to you as you do, but you can’t talk to them. For whatever reason, it just clicked in my mind: What if you really needed to talk about something, and what if it was something beyond tennis? What if it was something that was going on with the two of you, and what if it involved the person on the other side of the net? How would you have that conversation and how could you communicate the tension of that situation using the tools that are specific to film? So yeah, that was really where it all started for me.
2) Amy Pascal Wanted to Produce the Film Because it Was a Grown-Up Concept
Producer Amy Pascal attends the Los Angeles Premiere of Amazon MGM Studios’ ‘Challengers’ at Regency Village Theatre on April 16, 2024 in Los Angeles, California. Photo by Eric Charbonneau/Getty Images for Amazon MGM Studios.
Pascal was given the script by her producing partner Rachel O’Connor and knew it was something she wanted to shepherd to screens.
Amy Pascal: It is very rare that commercial movies are about adult relationships and about sex. I was sick of it, so I thought it was high time that people kiss in movies and more, and there was no better director to bring that to life than Luca.
3) Pascal Convinced Kuritzkes to Let Her Option the Script with One Compelling Offer
(L to R) Director Luca Guadagnino and producer Amy Pascal attend the Los Angeles Premiere of Amazon MGM Studios’ ‘Challengers’ at Regency Village Theatre on April 16, 2024 in Los Angeles, California. Photo by Eric Charbonneau/Getty Images for Amazon MGM Studios.
Pascal brings enough of a heavyweight reputation thanks to her years in the business, which you think might be enough for most people. But thanks to her history with the ‘Spider-Man’ movies, she also had a secret weapon…
Pascal: I think what really locked it, and I don’t think Zendaya knows this, but I’ll say it now, is we promised we’d get her to do it. I said, I know there’s a lot of other producers, but I know Z personally and I will get her to do this movie, and that is why Justin chose us, I’m certain.
4) Luca Guadagnino Loved the Script –– But Had to be Cajoled to Read it at First
Director Luca Guadagnino attends the Los Angeles Premiere of Amazon MGM Studios’ ‘Challengers’ at Regency Village Theatre on April 16, 2024 in Los Angeles, California. Photo by Eric Charbonneau/Getty Images for Amazon MGM Studios.
Guadagnino said he’d wanted to work with Pascal for a while, so the script was a tempting one… Even if she had to keep at him to read it, since he was already busy on another film.
Luca Guadagnino: Amy and I, we have been courting each other for many years now. There is a sort of an unspoken love story between the two of us! But when Amy sent me the script I was working on something else, and she was calling me every half hour to ask me if I was reading it or not. Eventually I had to read it while working. The script was fantastic. The characters were amazing. The structure was so cinematic that I just immediately, instinctively felt that the company of Amy, the company of Zendaya and the company of Justin, the artistic endeavor that we could all gather together in this would be fantastic. So, I think I said I was in immediately.
5) Zendaya was convinced to do the film after a table read
Zendaya attends the Los Angeles Premiere of Amazon MGM Studios’ ‘Challengers’ at Regency Village Theatre on April 16, 2024 in Los Angeles, California. Photo by Eric Charbonneau/Getty Images for Amazon MGM Studios.
Zendaya is a busy actor, and obviously is offered a lot of scripts these days. So the producers decided to go an extra step to convince her to join ‘Challengers’.
Zendaya: We had a mock table read at my agent’s house and I just fell in love with the script. I mean, it was brilliant. It also made me very nervous as something to tackle because of, I think, how complicated these characters are. Also, I couldn’t define what kind of movie it was. It was funny. It was so funny, but I wouldn’t say it was a comedy. There was drama, but I wouldn’t say it was just a drama. It had tennis, but it wasn’t like a sports movie. So I think that feeling that it was just everything at once in this beautiful way was terrifying, but equally exhilarating and exciting.
6) Mike Faist thought he’d blown his chance to appear in the film.
Mike Faist attends the Los Angeles Premiere of Amazon MGM Studios’ ‘Challengers’ at Regency Village Theatre on April 16, 2024 in Los Angeles, California. Photo by Stewart Cook/Getty Images for Amazon MGM Studios.
Faist, who broke out big in Steven Spielberg’s adaptation of ‘West Side Story’ admits he needs prodding from his agents to read scripts. But he loved the ‘Challengers’ screenplay when it was sent to him to read at home in Ohio and immediately agreed to a Zoom meeting with Guadagnino, which led to a screen test.
Mike Faist: They flew me to London to meet with Zendaya, and we did a screen test there. I remember I left the screen test, and I was walking around London, and I actually felt like it went atrociously wrong. I thought, “Oh, okay. Well, I did not book that at all.” Then Luca gave me a call and he said, “Mike, where are you? Come back, have lunch with me.” We sat down and had lunch and we just chatted some more and got to know each other.
7) Josh O’Connor initially worried he wasn’t up to the challenge of his role.
Josh O’Connor attends the Los Angeles Premiere of Amazon MGM Studios’ ‘Challengers’ at Regency Village Theatre on April 16, 2024 in Los Angeles, California. Photo by Stewart Cook/Getty Images for Amazon MGM Studios.
O’Connor, who plays strong-headed but down-on-his luck player Patrick Zweig, was concerned he didn’t have the chops to play such a complicated character, despite winning awards for playing ‘The Crown’s Prince Charles.
Josh O’ Connor: I’d read the script before. But then when Luca asked me about doing it initially, Patrick was, I thought, beyond my reach. I felt like this was a character that was so confident, so front-footed, so comfortable in himself, even though he has, as we all do, fears and insecurities. But really he completely lives life to the full and is very accepting of his flaws. All those things seemed like a reach and Luca very brilliantly accepted that and made me feel comfortable around that.
8) Zendaya found one of her own skills helped her with learning to look like a tennis pro.
The actor recalls having trouble with the tennis training, and that even when she thought her skills had clicked in, she couldn’t remember them.
Z: I’d be, Yeah, I got this. Okay, and then you come in the next day, and you can’t recreate it and you’re, ‘Damn, back to square one.’ I once said, ‘I want to try to see what it feels like to return a serve. Someone hit me a real one.’ The way that thing flew by me so fast, and at the time I still had glasses, so I couldn’t even see the dang thing!
But she figured out that something she was already skilled at might help.
Z: At some point I realized, “Okay, my approach has to be different because whatever this is, isn’t working.” So I said, “Okay, well, let me approach it like choreography. I’m a dancer, so let me dance this thing out.”
9) Faist and O’Connor developed a close bond before shooting and enjoy joking about their connection on and off screen.
(L to R) Josh O’Connor, writer Justin Kuritzkes and Mike Faist attend the Los Angeles Premiere of Amazon MGM Studios’ ‘Challengers’ at Regency Village Theatre on April 16, 2024 in Los Angeles, California. Photo by Stewart Cook/Getty Images for Amazon MGM Studios.
It’s clear from hearing them talk about it that Faist and O’Connor are good friends. But that doesn’t stop them having fun at each other’s expense. Such as when they’re asked to define how they developed the toxic bromance between Art and Patrick in the movie and Faist answers: “Well, we hate each other.”
JOC: Mike does this joke sometimes and sometimes he follows it up with the punchline of, “Just kidding. We’re great friends.” But in the UK last week we did an interview where he committed so much to this joke that it sounded like I bullied him. It was extraordinary.
(L to R) Josh O’Connor, Zendaya and Mike Faist attend the Los Angeles Premiere of Amazon MGM Studios’ ‘Challengers’ at Regency Village Theatre on April 16, 2024 in Los Angeles, California. Photo by Eric Charbonneau/Getty Images for Amazon MGM Studios.
MF: Josh genuinely in the middle of the interview, was screaming at me, “Please tell them that you’re joking!”
10) Luca Guadagnino and his team worked hard crafting the kinetic final tennis sequence.
The movie jumps back and forward in time, but hinges on one particular climactic match between Faist’s Art and O’Connor’s Patrick. Guadagnino and his team knew that would need a lot of preparation to make work on the different emotional and physical levels.
LG: We rehearsed the dramatic part of the movie many, many, many days. Then we were on the court every day, few hours watching the points, understanding how those sports action had to be reflective of the dynamic between the characters. We understood that the final sequence, the final moment, had to be basically a silent sequence or a non-dialogue sequence, that was going to be very clear to everyone in the audience, to understand the emotional ramp up that had to be built there. It took a long time in the conception, planning and shooting. I think that sequence, the last 10 minutes, took us eight days to shoot, more or less, which is incredible.
‘Challengers’ is in theaters on April 26th.
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What is the plot of ‘Challengers’?
Art (Mike Faist) and Patrick (Josh O’Connor) are college tennis players with dreams of turning pro who both unexpectedly fall for fellow player Tashi (Zendaya). Patrick ends up dating her, but as their careers take different paths, it’s Art and Tashi who eventually get married. Yet Tashi’s plan to snap Art out of a losing streak and get him to the U.S. Open are disrupted by the return of Patrick, as tensions sexual and otherwise run high.
There have been justified complaints for quite some time now that adult-oriented films are hard to find in the mainstream marketplace. ‘Challengers’ could go a long way toward rectifying that. This three-hander from director Luca Guadagnino – known for sensual, voluptuous, emotion-charged efforts like ‘Call Me By Your Name’ – is an intense, erotically infused character study of three college tennis players and their 13-year journey both together and apart.
‘Challengers’ is not a particularly explicit film – save for one bracing scene of full-frontal male nudity in a locker room – but it is a highly sexual one, as desire hangs like a constantly threatening storm cloud over the lives of Tashi (Zendaya), Art (Mike Faist), and Patrick (Josh O’Connor). What makes this film so fascinating and irresistible is seeing how that physical desire overlaps with all three players’ emotional needs and differing levels of ambition to become champions. These are fully-fleshed out characters in a fleshy and sumptuous morality play, heighted by ravishing cinematography and a typically outstanding score from Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross.
‘Challengers’ doesn’t tell its tale in linear fashion, opening in 2019 and the flashing back 13, 12, and eight years (in addition to “the day before” at one point). When we first meet our three leads, it’s at a tiny little nothing tennis tournament – the Phil’s Tire Town Challenge – in New Rochelle, New York. Tashi and Art are married with a child and travel with an entourage that includes her mother, plus Art’s physical conditioning therapist and a security guard. Judging by where they stay and how they travel – not to mention the giant billboard we spot for a luxury car that features both — the couple are quite wealthy.
Patrick, on the other hand, pulls into town for the open and sleeps in his car when his credit card doesn’t work at the local fleabag motel. He’s hungry, unshaven, and smells. He appears to have zero money, counting on the nominal fee he’ll earn for just appearing at the tournament to get him through until he wins the championship money. It quickly becomes clear that Art is a wildly successful pro looking to find his game again – with the help of Tashi, who’s also his coach — before attempting to get back into the U.S. Open, while Patrick is perhaps an even better player who just hasn’t had the right breaks.
As the movie progresses, we skip back in time to find out how these three came together and eventually (sort of) split apart. Art and Patrick, we learn, have been bunkmates since they were 12 and have gone through tennis camps and academies together. They’re like brothers and perhaps a little more: when they first meet the beautiful, poised, sharp-beyond-her-years Tashi at a mixer for young players – who both are absolutely smitten by – they confess later to her in their hotel room that it was Patrick who taught Art the art of sexual self-gratification.
Tashi’s amusement at this and apparently instant understanding of the boys’ relationship – Patrick is more confident, outgoing, and even arrogant, while Art is reserved, shy, and lacks his pal’s confidence – allows her to easily bend the two to her will in that room, even if things don’t go quite as Art and Patrick initially fantasize. But it’s Patrick who ends up dating Tashi, and while all three remain friends, it’s clear that Art is secretly, painfully in love with her, while the relationship between Tashi and Patrick is more transactional in nature (“Are we talking about tennis?” he says at one point as they get hot and heavy in his room. “We’re always talking about tennis,” Tashi replies).
The blurred, constantly intersecting lines of their professional and personal lives – as both Tashi’s career and her relationship with Patrick come to an abrupt end, driving her into the willing arms of Art and cleaving the two young men’s bond in two – form the meat of the narrative in ‘Challengers,’ leading back to Phil’s Tire Town Challenge and why it’s so important for Art to beat his former friend once and for all. But all three know each other well enough to keep manipulating each other right up to the end, with their dysfunctional desires and ambitions fueling each of them in different ways.
Guadagnino, who spent a few years in the horror genre recently with his overripe ‘Suspiria’ remake and the underrated cannibal love story ‘Bones and All,’ has fashioned perhaps his best, most complete, and most accessible film to date here. Channeling the flavor of ‘Call Me By Your Name,’ he shoots his three leads and most of the movie’s action in stark, intimate fashion, relying largely on close-ups of their faces – the two men literally drip sweat onto the camera during the final set of their climactic match — and bodies, whether it be O’Connor’s hairy, muscular legs, Faist’s narrow, pale ones, or Zendaya’s sleek flanks. All three fill the screen impressively, drawing the viewer into their psyches often without saying a word.
But aside from the electricity and sense of nerve endings sparking to life that the leads generate in proximity to each other – especially during their initial hotel encounter — there’s an intense physicality to the movie overall. In one final sequence, the director and ace cinematographer Sayomphu Mukdiphrom somehow shoot the match from the perspective of the tennis ball itself as it frenetically spins through the air. This is backed impressively by Reznor and Ross’s pulsating score, which channels ‘80s dance music and heightens the subtle emotional intensity present under all the physical action.
Zendaya has been impressive in just about all of her big-screen work to date (we’ve never watched ‘Euphoria’), but ‘Challengers’ provides her (thanks to Justin Kuritzkes’ detailed screenplay) with perhaps her best character to date. Enigmatic and alluring when we first meet her, Tashi stays that way even as the more complex nature of her character comes to the fore. Relentless as a player – she mows down her competition with the same ferocity that the actor’s Chani cut down Harkonnen soldiers in ‘Dune: Part Two’ – she is forced to pivot when her career comes to a shattering end. And pivot she does, making Art the avatar for her ambitions whether he wants to be or not.
Does Tashi love Art? It’s difficult to say. But it’s clear that she’s drawn more strongly to the reckless, cunning Patrick, even all these years later. It’s also clear that she sees right through both men, and the fact that they are each flawed in their own way allows her to exert control over them. Tashi doesn’t let anyone push her around or stand in her way – life’s too short, especially when you’re a young woman whose career goes out of your control – and she’ll do whatever she can to steer things her way.
Patrick, of course, is the wild card in all this, although even his outward appearance as a struggling tennis bum masks a different reality that Tashi reminds him about. A constant smirk tugging at his mouth and always threatening to turn into a sneer, Patrick refuses in many ways to grow up but also does his best not to play into Tashi’s games. Josh O’Connor, best known as Prince Charles on ‘The Crown,’ plays this entitled young American with just the right amount of curdled privilege.
The third part of this triangle is Art, with Mike Faist following up his outstanding breakout in ‘West Side Story’ with another superb performance. Art has the talent, but doesn’t quite have the same drive as either Tashi or Patrick, and one gets the sense that he wants to focus on other things beside just hitting a ball back and forth on the court. Yet he is just as capable as manipulation as either one of them, even if he’s clumsier at it.
If ‘Challengers’ has a flaw, it’s that the rest of the characters more or less disappear into the background. We meet Tashi and Art’s daughter – who seems like an inconvenience more than anything else – and Tashi’s mother, but they’re barely in the mix. There are really just three people in this movie, but they’re enough to carry it for its (slightly overlong) running time.
A crowd-pleaser, a sports movie, a romantic drama, and an arty character study all at the same time, ‘Challengers’ finds director Luca Guadagnino putting aside the more esoteric pretensions of his recent genre output while still making a movie that is intensely adult, sensual, and immersive. Justin Kuritzkes’ script, the insistent Reznor/Ross score, and the award-caliber work by his three leads all help make ‘Challengers’ a winner whether tennis is your game or not.
‘Challengers’ receives 9 out of 10 stars.
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What is the plot of ‘Challengers’?
Art (Mike Faist) and Patrick (Josh O’Connor) are college tennis players with dreams of turning pro who both unexpectedly fall for fellow player Tashi (Zendaya). Patrick ends up dating her, but as their careers take different paths, it’s Art and Tashi who eventually get married. Yet Tashi’s plan to snap Art out of a losing streak and get him to the U.S. Open are disrupted by the return of Patrick, as tensions sexual and otherwise run high.
Two women, Nic (Annette Bening) and Jules (Julianne Moore), brought a son and daughter into the world through artificial insemination. When one of their children reaches age, both kids (Josh Hutcherson and Mia Wasikowska) go behind their mothers’ backs to meet with the donor (Mark Ruffalo). Life becomes so much more interesting when the father, two mothers and children start to become attached to each other.
David (Jesse Plemons), a struggling comedy writer fresh off from breaking up with his boyfriend, moves from New York City to Sacramento to help his sick mother. (Molly Shannon) Living with his conservative father and much-younger sisters for the first time in ten years, he feels like a stranger in his childhood home. As his mother’s health declines, David frantically tries to extract meaning from this horrible experience and convince everyone (including himself) that he’s “doing okay.”
Jessica (Jennifer Westfeldt), a Jewish copy editor living and working in New York City, is plagued by failed blind dates with men, and decides to answer a newspaper’s personal advertisement. The advertisement has been placed by ‘lesbian-curious’ Helen Cooper (Heather Juergensen), a thirtysomething art gallerist.
In 1980s Italy, a relationship begins between seventeen-year-old teenage Elio (Timothée Chalamet) and the older adult man (Armie Hammer) hired as his father’s research assistant.
The true story of the 1973 tennis match between World number one Billie Jean King (Emma Stone) and ex-champ and serial hustler Bobby Riggs (Steve Carell).
Two modern-day cowboys (Heath Ledger and Jake Gyllenhaal ) meet on a shepherding job in the summer of ’63, the two share a raw and powerful summer together that turns into a lifelong relationship conflict
A gay cabaret owner (Robin Williams) and his drag queen companion (Nathan Lane) agree to put up a false straight front so that their son (Dan Futterman) can introduce them to his fiancé’s conservative moralistic parents (Gene Hackman and Dianne Wiest).
The true story of Harvey Milk (Sean Penn), the first openly gay man ever elected to public office. In San Francisco in the late 1970s, Harvey Milk becomes an activist for gay rights and inspires others to join him in his fight for equal rights that should be available to all Americans.
The tender, heartbreaking story of a young man’s (Alex Hibbert, Ashton Sanders, and Trevante Rhodes) struggle to find himself, told across three defining chapters in his life as he experiences the ecstasy, pain, and beauty of falling in love, while grappling with his own sexuality.
Filmmaker Luca Guadagnino is coming off a string of buzzy features, including critical favorites “Call Me by Your Name” and “Suspiria.” Now, he’s reportedly circling a project with the potential to earn some similar raves.
Variety has the scoop that Guadagnino is in talks to direct a new adaptation of literary classic “Lord of the Flies,” which is being shepherded by Warner Bros. If he takes the gig, Guadagnino would also produce, alongside producing partner Marco Morabito.
This latest adaptation has been in the works for a while now, with Warner Bros. reacquiring the rights to the William Goldman novel in 2017. The studio was also behind the last most recent movie version of the book, the 1990 film directed by Henry Hook.
Back in 2017, the initial plan for the project was to re-center the story on a group of girls, rather than the group of boys featured in the original story. That idea was ultimately abandoned, however, and the trade says that Guadagnino and his fellow filmmakers “plan to develop a story that stays true to the text but with a contemporary, ultra-kinetic feel.”
We’re definitely curious to see how Guadagnino and co. handle the familiar tale. Stay tuned.
While discussing the prospect during a recent Vulture interview, the actor shared that there have been “really loose conversations” about a followup. He then expressed his concerns — namely, that any sequel won’t be able to “match up with the first.”
The 2017 romantic drama starring Hammer and Timothée Chalamet did certainly set a high bar. Among its accolades was an Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay. Hammer described the project to Vulure as “a perfect storm” (a good one) and suggested they should perhaps “leave that alone.”
“If we do make a second one, I think we’re setting ourselves up for disappointment,” Hammer said.
That doesn’t mean he’s unwilling to reprise his role, though. Director Luca Guadagnino already has an idea for the story, and Hammer indicated an “incredible script” could sway him.
“If we end up with an incredible script, and Timmy’s in, and Luca’s in, I’d be an asshole to say no,” he said.
We don’t know yet what story a “Call Me by Your Name” followup would tell, especially considering the André Aciman novel it’s based on doesn’t have a sequel. The author is, however, writing one, as he tweeted in December. Prior to that, Guadagnino told USA Today that he and Aciman were “conceiving the story” and it would take place five or six years after the events of “Call Me by Your Name.”
We’ll see if a sequel does indeed happen — and whether or not it can allay Hammer’s doubts.
While the director of Oscar winner “Call Me By Your Name” has already shared his idea for a sequel, the author of the book on which the film was based has announced that he’s currently writing a follow-up of his own.
In a tweet shared on Monday night, André Aciman revealed the exciting news.
“I would actually love a sequel to Call Me by Your Name,” the author said. “In fact I am writing one.”
That statement seems to be a direct response to previous comments from “Call Me” screenwriter James Ivory, who took home an Oscar earlier this year for adapting Aciman’s novel. In an interview with The Film Stage just last week, Ivory said that he didn’t want to be involved with a potential big screen follow-up, and claimed that Aciman “laughed at the idea” of making a sequel. Guess Aciman isn’t laughing anymore.
Director Luca Guadagnino has a very specific vision for a second “Call Me” movie, and it’s currently unclear if he discussed the idea with Aciman, or if the two projects will be entirely separate. Maybe Aciman is writing the screenplay, and not a novel?
Maybe Ivory will change his tune, too. We’ll see. Whatever the outcome, we predict this film will also get plenty of awards season love — and possibly give fans a new fruit to lust over.
