Hello, I'm Luca Guadagnino and I'm the director and one in every of the producers of “Challengers”. In this sequence, we see the 2 male characters from Challengers – Patrick Zweig, played by Josh O'Connor, and Art Donaldson, played by Mike Faist – once they are of their early 20s. And they’re superb tennis players. We meet them at Stanford, where Art is studying while Patrick is completing his training to turn out to be knowledgeable tennis player. This scene specifically represents a moment and the evolution of their friendship that by some means got sidetracked because a 3rd person joined their duo, namely Tashi Duncan, played by Zendaya. And what we see is largely some kind of rivalry game between these two boys over Tashi. But at the identical time there’s also a jealousy that ignites the connection. Because these two guys are probably jealous of one another too, and not only of Tashi. “I think it makes me an honest man. You don't believe me?” “No, I just – I'm not sure how she feels about all this. I don’t want you to get hurt.” The character of Tashi is a type of invisible presence, but a really deep presence within the scene. “Did she say something to you?” to learn the grammar of their behavior and their behavior together. And we just cut to it as we realize that the manipulation game that Art placed on the table was discovered by Patrick. So we cut to a kind of reverse shot, extreme close-up , during which Patrick hugs in an ambiguous way And so there’s a type of constant battle between the 2, to the extent that they argue but take care of one another. When the sugar gets on Patrick's cheek, Art takes it with the hand, a really nice gesture of kindness – and really intimate, I’d say, but at the identical time also they are very tense. And I believe it's about being jealous of one another, but at the identical time wanting one another to act out try, and Josh and Mike achieve this beautifully within the sequence.
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