"The tennis is the sex" in Challengers, says Josh O’Connor
According to Challengers' Zendaya, "Not having the release is a good thing sometimes"
Luca Guadagnino is a director with a sense for sensuality, and Challengers promised to be one of his sexiest films yet. Just look at the trailer, which bumps along to Rihanna’s “S&M” as Zendaya invites her “two little white boys” to join her in bed. On that tease alone, it would seem that Challengers is promising an explicit good time.
Except tease might be the more accurate word, because according to Josh O’Connor, Challengers’ sex is more… metaphorical? “The tennis is the sex,” he explains in an interview with Empire. “Those moments are so sexy. The film is dealing with the tension before and after. The sex they’re all desperate for is on the court.”
In other words, if you were desperate for actual intercourse on your screen, you may be out of luck. Isn’t that always the way: the tennis is the sex, the cannibalism is the sex, the not eating the peach is the sex. When will the sex be the sex? Not this time around. Nevertheless, “What Luca’s really good at is finding sensuality and desire,” says Zendaya, who plays tennis champion Tashi Duncan. “There’s so much in just glances. The tension builds. Not having the release is a good thing sometimes.”
Speaking of not having a release, Challengers won’t be having one this year. The film has been delayed due to the SAG-AFTRA strike, and is now set to premiere in April 2024. Guadagnino’s movie is one of the few to have pulled out of the Venice Film Festival, which will go on sans Hollywood stars but will reportedly feature an appearance from Woody Allen.
For his own part, Guadagnino believes that the Challengers script, bereft of sex though it might be, will win an Oscar, as he told Fantastic Man last year. (The screenplay was written by Justin Kuritzkes.) He is also aware that people have thoughts about him not showing sex in his films. “I think there’s a shallowness in what he’s saying, and a self-seriousness that I find disappointing. Because I would never put myself in the position of saying something about the artistic perspective of someone else,” he said in response to Ocean Vuong’s criticism of Call Me By Your Name. “It’s not about liking the film or not; that’s another story. I think to complain about not literally showing sex—it’s a little bit of a narrow way of looking at that movie.” We’ll try to broaden our perspective before Challengers.