{"id":78927,"date":"2023-06-21T13:10:46","date_gmt":"2023-06-21T13:10:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/graziamagazine.com\/?post_type=articles&#038;p=234972"},"modified":"2023-06-21T13:24:45","modified_gmt":"2023-06-21T13:24:45","slug":"challengers-movie-release-date","status":"publish","type":"articles","link":"https:\/\/graziamagazine.com\/us\/articles\/challengers-movie-release-date\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018Challengers\u2019 Is the Collaboration of the Century, Delivering a Steamy M\u00e9nage \u00e0 Trois and a Touch of Tennis"},"content":{"rendered":"<figure id=\"attachment_234975\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-234975\" style=\"width: 1024px\" class=\"wp-caption alignfull -width\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignfull-width size-full wp-image-234975\" src=\"https:\/\/graziamagazine.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/Challengers-Zendaya.jpeg\" alt=\"Challengers-Release-Date\" width=\"1024\" height=\"576\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-234975\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Challengers via Metro-Goldwyn-Meyer pictures.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Who in the culture do we have to thank for finally giving us the much-needed genre of the complicated, queer menage a trois?\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">First, there was the British post-war love triangle <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">My Policeman<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"> starring <a href=\"https:\/\/graziamagazine.com\/us\/articles\/harry-styles-my-policeman-premiere\/\">Harry Styles<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/graziamagazine.com\/us\/articles\/harry-styles-emma-corrin-my-policeman-premiere\/\">Emma Corrin<\/a> and David Dawson.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Now, the powers that be have delivered us a rompy new spectacle guaranteed to be the collaboration of the century, with Luca Guadagnino\u2019s latest haunting romance <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Challengers<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"> bringing a whole new meaning of \u201clove\u201d to the game of tennis.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">The official synopsis goes something like this: <a href=\"https:\/\/graziamagazine.com\/articles\/zendaya-auburn-bob\/\">Zendaya<\/a> leads the cast as Tashi, a <a href=\"https:\/\/graziamagazine.com\/articles\/serena-williams-retirement\/\">Serena Williams<\/a>-esque tennis prodigy bound to become a grand slam champion before a cruel act of fate sees her eschew that ambition and instead coach her husband Art (Mike Faist) a tennis pro on a losing streak through a challengers tournament against his former lover, <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/graziamagazine.com\/articles\/emma-corrin-the-crown-deleted-scene\/\"><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">The Crown\u2019<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">s Josh O\u2019Connor.\u00a0<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Yet, the recently released trailer for the pseudo-sports drama proves that this story has much more camp, lust and risqu\u00e9 double entendres than initially anticipated.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Oh, and most likely a crying <a href=\"https:\/\/graziamagazine.com\/articles\/zendaya-tom-holland-date-night-london\/\">Tom Holland<\/a> because this trailer embodies exactly what the Italian auteur does best: serve steamy sexual tension that makes us question our fraught relationships.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><em>Watch the trailer for <\/em>Challengers <em><a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=MDnVk5jIJr0\" target=\"_blank\">here<\/a> and below:<\/em><\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"CHALLENGERS | Official Trailer\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/MDnVk5jIJr0?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<h5><b><i>What Is the Movie Challengers About?<\/i><\/b><\/h5>\n<p>At its core, <em>Challengers<\/em> explores the art of seduction and the games played in relationships against the backdrop of a <a href=\"https:\/\/graziamagazine.com\/articles\/bella-hadid-us-open-outfit-2022-corset\/\">US Open<\/a>-like tournament with montages of our sweat-dripping, bicep flexing and Gatorade-slinging protagonists.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt&#8217;s hyperkinetic,\u201d Guadagnino described at a red carpet premiere for his most recent film, the cannibal love story <a href=\"https:\/\/graziamagazine.com\/us\/articles\/timothee-chalamet-taylor-russell-bones-and-all-premiere-looks\/\"><em>Bones and All<\/em><\/a>, noting that the Zendaya, O\u2019Conner and Faist\u2019s characters are &#8220;beautifully complex and really fucked-up people.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>As the trailer revealed, the plot of the film will take place over two time periods, including one where our protagonists are Adidas-wearing teenagers rising through the ranks of the American Tennis Association.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cTashi Duncan is going to turn her whole family into millionaires, she\u2019ll have a fashion line, a foundation,\u201d O\u2019Conner\u2019s Patrick says of Zendaya\u2019s character, who doesn\u2019t sound too dissimilar to the star\u2019s off-screen persona.<\/p>\n<p>In this period, Tashi\u2019s relationship with her then-boyfriend Patrick is renewed thanks to the addition of his childhood best friend Art (Faist). As we see in the trailer, Tashi\u2019s meteoric abilities on the court enchant both men, with their fanboy behavior leading to a steamy threesome in a hotel room one night.<\/p>\n<p>The trailer leaves room for imagination (and more of these scenes to be unveiled during the film), but does a masterful job of supplanting Tashi as an almost power-hungry dominatrix who receives gratification from controlling Patrick and Art\u2019s lives.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignfull-width size-full wp-image-234976\" src=\"https:\/\/graziamagazine.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/Challengers-Release-Date.gif\" alt=\"Challengers-Release-Date\" width=\"572\" height=\"322\" \/><\/p>\n<p>After an on-court accident, Tashi is left residing on the sidelines. Fast forward several years (and a chic bob haircut) later, Tashi is left coaching her now-husband Art in a challengers tournament against Patrick.<\/p>\n<p>The result? Scenes of a shirtless O\u2019Conner and Faist in a sauna together, Zendaya serving her best &#8220;wasp&#8221; drag in Hamptons-chic buttons down \u2014 along with delivering the line of the century: \u201cI\u2019m taking such good care of my little white boys\u201d \u2014 and a delicious love triangle we can\u2019t wait to sink our teeth into.<\/p>\n<p>With the trailer soundtracked to Rihanna\u2019s &#8220;S&amp;M,&#8221; we have every belief this R-rated romance will be the \u201csexy comedy\u201d Guadagnino is promising it will be.<\/p>\n<p>Of course, it would be remiss of us to avoid mentioning Guadagnino has tapped the one and only <a href=\"https:\/\/graziamagazine.com\/us\/articles\/loewe-spring-summer-2023\/\">Jonathan Anderson<\/a> for the costuming of the film. Sadly, Anderson\u2019s costume design has refused us the opportunity to see Tashi in a <a href=\"https:\/\/graziamagazine.com\/us\/articles\/zendaya-women-in-film-awards-red-carpet-loewe-gold-breastplate-dress\/\">LOEWE breastplate dress<\/a> or <a href=\"https:\/\/graziamagazine.com\/us\/articles\/and-just-like-that-filming-carrie-bradshaw-pigeon-clutch\/\">JW Anderson pigeon purse<\/a>, however, it has delivered a dosage of understated quiet luxury apparel. A treatment we hope will be available to purchase upon the film\u2019s release on August 11.<\/p>\n<p>Indeed, Anderson\u2019s costuming \u2014 which we already believe Tashi\u2019s blue dress may deserve a spot in the <a href=\"https:\/\/graziamagazine.com\/us\/articles\/kaia-gerber-alaia\/\">Academy Museum of Motion Pictures<\/a> \u2014 is another genius stroke from Guadagnino that ties his cinematic universe of eclectic indie heartthrobs together.<\/p>\n<p>All that\u2019s left is for Zendaya to walk the LOEWE runway \u00e0 la <a href=\"https:\/\/graziamagazine.com\/us\/articles\/alexa-demie-taylor-russell-ultimate-fashion-it-girls\/\">Taylor Russell<\/a> in the maison\u2019s Spring\/Summer 2023 collection. And for us to get a front-row seat to the film\u2019s premiere, of course.<\/p>\n<p><em>Challengers will be released in theaters on August 11.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":42674,"featured_media":78939,"template":"","format":"standard","categories":[23,17,16],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v18.5 (Yoast SEO v20.4) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Challengers: Zendaya Is a Star in New R-Rated &#039;Sexy Comedy&#039;<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Zendaya, Josh O&#039;Conner (The Crown) and Mike Faist (West Side Story) lead this raunchy R-rated &quot;sex comedy&quot; from Luca Guadagnino\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/graziamagazine.com\/us\/articles\/challengers-movie-release-date\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta 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