Tennis is a sport best played one-on-one—”singles”—or between two teams of two—”doubles”—so, naturally, things get a little messy when three hit the courts.
But who says a little three-way mess is a bad thing? It can be fun, it can be thrilling, and it can be very, very sexy, especially in the upcoming film Challengers, a steamy love triangle romance set in the world of professional tennis.
From director Luca Guadagnino (Call Me By Your Name, the upcoming Queer with Daniel Craig) comes a movie that aims to be one of the hottest hits of the fall featuring mega-star Zendaya, The Crown‘s Josh O’Connor, and West Side Story‘s Mike Faist.
O’Connor stars as Patrick with Faist as Art, two young tennis players whose friendship is served in the ace in the form of rising women’s tennis star, Tashi, played by the radiant Zendaya.
Without giving too much away, the first Challengers trailer sure seems to imply that, after being invited to their hotel room, Tashi beds both guys at once—could we have another Y Tu Mamá También on our hands?
From there, it looks like Tashi and Patrick begin a relationship, leaving Art in the cold. But, after an incident on the court leaves Tashi out of the sport for good, we jump to years later when she’s now married to Art—and his coach.
Now, Tashi is training Art to compete in a Grand Slam tournament that will see him going head-to-head with her old lover and his former best friend, Patrick. In the words of Marie Kondo: “I love mess!”
Since it was announced, Challengers has been described as a “queer romance,” so we’ve been eager to see just how gay it really is. Does the queerness run deeper than the implied three-way? The jury’s still out, but it certainly doesn’t hurt that all three hot, young stars have played notable queer roles in the past: Zendaya in Euphoria, O’Connor in God’s Own Country, and Faist in the stage version of Brokeback Mountain, currently playing in London.
Related:
Sweaty male bonding but gratefully no tap dancing in the new musical adaptation of ‘Brokeback Mountain’
The latest adaptation of Annie Proulx’s novella brings musical interludes to this haunting story of gay heartache.
Whatever the outcome, filmmaker Guadagnino hasn’t really steered us wrong yet, and we’re excited to see he’s working with a script from author-playwright Justin Kuritzkes, who also adapted William S. Burroughs’ 1985 novel Queer for the director’s next project.
Check out the sexy trailer for Challengers below, which hits theaters everywhere September 15:
Related:
Meet the heartthrob set to play Daniel Craig’s lover in new film from ‘Call Me By Your Name’ director
‘Outer Banks’ star Drew Starkey is set to play Craig’s much younger obsession in ‘Queer.’
Louis
How I wish the lead actress had been someone other than Zendaya. I’ve just yet to see her in anything where she’s shown any range. She just always comes across the same – one note vocal delivery and constant “chip on my shoulder/woe is me” expression. The Spider-Man films, Dune Pt 1, Greatest Showman, the OA. I haven’t watched Euphoria specifically because she is in it and my exposure to her other work has made me want to avoid it.
Darson
Thank you. And I fast forwarded thru her parts on Euphoria and it was still fine.
Cam
This sounds more like a throwback to the movies that got people to go to them by promising queer content when actually it was just implied, or in the category of “homoerotic” .
The trailer makes this look like the typical hetero love triangle.
Diplomat
There’s zero gay in this flick. Boring actors. Couldn’t care less. WTF Queerty.