Colin Farrell is circling the lead in ‘Sgt. Rock.’
Luca Guadagnino is attached to direct the movie for DC Studios.
Daniel Craig was previously considering the idea.
It looks like it’s all change in the ranks for ‘Sgt. Rock,’ though depending on who you believe, not such a big change.
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While word arrived back in November that Daniel Craig was looking to reunite with his ‘Queer’ director Luca Guadagnino for a very different project –– the adaptation of the militaristic DC Comics title –– there have been conflicting reports of how far Craig got in the process.
DC Studios co-chief James Gunn, for example, shot down the idea that the actor was actively in consideration, merely that he was floated as a potential lead.
Here’s what Gunn and co-president Peter Safran said recently:
“You know, we never met with Daniel. We never really even announced ‘Sgt. Rock.’ ”
Still, it would appear that the process of finding a main man for the ‘Rock’ role has been ongoing no matter what the DC bosses say, and Deadline reports that Colin Farrell is now circling the part.
Farrell, of course, is fresh off of winning a clutch of awards for another DC-related project, the TV spin-off of ‘The Batman’ called ‘The Penguin,’ focused on the criminal character.
According to Deadline’s sources, he’s looking to board ‘Sgt. Rock’ but will first have to figure out his busy schedule (more on that below).
Created by Robert Kanigher and Joe Kubert, the character first debuted in the 1959 DC issue ‘Our Army at War’ as a WWII soldier who served in the infantry. The character gained steam in 1977 when he received his own comic book series; it ran until July 1988.
Rock’s talent includes shooting down German fighter planes with a single submachine gun and tossing grenades with great accuracy. When he’s without a gun, he’s a great street fighter, and can survive gunshots. He’s a calm guy with heart, but also has a “combat antenna” able to detect an incoming enemy siege. There was also a toy series in the 1980s for Sgt. Rock around the time G.I. Joe was soaring in comic books and on TV.
Who else is working on ‘Sgt. Rock’?
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.
Though Craig is not reuniting with Guadagnino for this new project, the director has recruited someone he’s worked with before: screenwriter Justin Kuritzkes. Which, given that he collaborated with the director on both tennis love triangle drama ‘Challengers’ and the Craig-starring William S. Boroughs ‘Queer’ suggests this is coming together quickly.
And the prolific director has been busy –– he already has Amazon MGM Studios’ Julia Roberts and Andrew Garfield thriller ‘After the Hunt’ making its way through post-production release later this year on October 10th.
What else is Colin Farrell working on?
Colin Farrell as Oswald “Oz” Cobb in Max’s ‘The Penguin.’ Photo: Macall Polay/HBO.
Farrell, is, of course, an actor in demand, and he has a few projects lined up in the coming months.
He’ll be filming the second season of twisty Apple TV+ drama ‘Sugar’ this year.
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Plus, assuming he’s ready to put himself back into the prosthetics for the character –– something he’s said he definitely needs time away from –– Farrell may well be preparing for a new season of ‘The Penguin.’ There’s also the chance he’ll be back in for ‘The Batman’ sequel.
The story for that one follows a high-stakes gambler who decides to lay low in Macau after his past and debts catch up with him. Along the way he encounters a kindred spirit who might just hold the key to his salvation.
Production Asia occurred last summer, with Rowan Joffe adapting the script based on the novel by Lawrence Osborne.
Beyond that, the picture is murkier despite a big confident announcement from Gunn and Safran. A movie based on Batman villain Clayface is in development and recently landed ‘Speak No Evil’ director James Watkins to call the shots.
Batman himself is likely to return in ‘The Brave and the Bold,’ but that has experienced some scripting and director delay issues.
On the small screen, things are healthier, with the likes of the animated ‘Creature Commandos’ already out and a new season of ‘Peacemaker’ on the way. We also know that ‘Green Lantern’-based series ‘Lanterns’ is now filming.
When will ‘Sgt. Rock’ be on screens?
With no official commitment to the movie yet, there is zero information about a release date for the movie at this time.
(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.
Mark Ruffalo in ‘Dark Waters.’ Photo: Focus Features.
Preview:
Mark Ruffalo is joining the cast of ‘Crime 101’.
Chris Hemsworth is co-starring in the movie.
Bart Layton is directing.
Don Winslow’s work has been the source for movies before, including 2007’s ‘Bobby Z’ and 2012’s ‘Savages’.
Yet right now, there is a feeding frenzy for his literary output, with a variety of movies and shows in development based on his books, including war on drugs tale ‘The Border’ and ‘City on Fire’, which has a script by ‘Challengers’ Justin Kuritzkes and ‘Dune: Part Two’ actor Austin Butler aboard to star and produce.
Add to the list Winslow’s novella ‘Crime 101’, which is in development with Chris Hemsworth starring. And his old Marvel pal Mark Ruffalo is now in talks to join him in the police thriller.
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What’s the story of ‘Crime 101’?
Chris Hemsworth in ‘Spiderhead.’ Photo: Netflix.
Winslow’s latest chronicles a string of high-level jewel heists up and down the Pacific Coast Highway that have gone unsolved for years, mostly because the perpetrator has lived by a strict code he calls “Crime 101”.
Police attribute the thefts to the Colombian cartels, but Detective Lou Lubesnick’s gut says it’s the work of just one man. Now the lone-wolf jewel thief is looking for that fabled final last score, and Lou breaks all the rules of the perp’s idea.
There are no details yet as to which roles the two stars could be playing, but we could picture Hemsworth (who is also one of the movie’s producers) as the thief and Mark Ruffalo as the cop.
Pedro Pascal was originally looking to star with Hemsworth, but his busy schedule has forced him to bow out.
Bart Layton, who most recently made 2018’s ‘American Animals’ is aboard to direct, working from his script, which has seen contributions by ‘Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy’s Peter Straughan.
Where else can we see Mark Ruffalo and Chris Hemsworth?
(L to R) Chris Hemsworth and Mark Ruffalo in ‘Thor: Ragnarok’. Photo: Marvel Studios.
Ruffalo is coming off his fourth Oscar nomination for ‘Poor Things’ and is busy filming HBO limited series ‘Task’, the latest small screen drama from ‘Mare of Easttown’ creator Brad Ingelsby.
He’ll be back as FBI agent/magician Dylan Rhodes for the third ‘Now You See Me’ movie and before that, he has Bong Joon Ho’s sci-fi comedy drama ‘Mickey 17’, which stars Robert Pattinson, due on January 31st next year.
Hemsworth will next be seen as the charismatic and villainous Dr. Dementus in ‘Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga’, which just hit theaters. Later this year, he’ll be heard as the voice of Orion Pax (who will become Optimus Prime) in animated prequel ‘Transformers One’, out on September 20th.
When will ‘Crime 101’ be in theaters?
Amazon MGM Studios have yet to set a release date for this one, though Deadline reports that it’s being aimed at a theatrical opening next year.
(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.
