Before you come at me: I’ve seen the thirst trap TikToks about Drew Starkey as the erratic Rafe in Netflix’s Outer Banks. I know he’s been White Boy of the Month for a select group since 2020.
Sure, Outer Banks has a cast of overly attractive adults playing teenagers ripping off The Goonies. It’s terrific television due to how outrageously good-looking the cast is…and every viewer has their own personal favorite.
For many, that is Drew Starkey’s reckless, violent and unstable Rafe Cameron. If you search “Rafe Cameron edit” on TikTok, there are a multitude of videos with millions of likes. His Outer Banks clips alone have been repurposed and replayed billions of times.
While Drew Starkey made a name for himself as a heartthrob in the industry, he’s on his way to becoming a serious actor. This time, he’s in the same league as Daniel Craig in Luca Guadagnino’s Queer.
The film — which received a nine-minute standing ovation at this year’s Venice Film Festival — is the most daring movie of either actor’s career. Famous for his portrayal of LGBTQ relationships, Guadagnino’s Call Me By Your Name is a highly regarded film for this generation.
You already know who Daniel Craig — AKA 007 — is…but with the serious buzz around Starkey, everyone’s wondering: who the hell is he and — more importantly — is he single?
What is Queer About?
Queer is a historical romance drama that follows American expat — William Lee — in 1940s Mexico City as he falls in love with a younger man — Eugene Allerton. The film is based on a short novel that was written in the 50s by William S. Burroughs and published in 1985.
The book is semi-autobiographical and tracks Lee as he travels through South America and Mexico in search of sexual gratification and drugs. Lee — played by Daniel Craig — grows infatuated with fellow drug-addict, Allerton, who is played by Starkey.
It’s a complex, controversial novel for many reasons: mainly being that the novel came out during the rampantly homophobic 80s. This won’t be an easy love story to consume by any means.
The film debuted at Venice Film Festival on September 3, 2024 to rave reviews. Many are saying it’s the best performance from either actor. And there’s already Oscar buzz for Craig.
As the film ended in Venice, Guadagnino was met with chants of “Luca! Luca!” His recent success with Challengers starring Zendaya, Josh O’Connor, and Mike Faist was another amazing homoerotic blockbuster.
But there’s another pressing fact that’s becoming increasingly prevalent: Drew Starkey is about to become the people’s princess.
If you thought the thirst traps were bad when Drew Starkey starred as deranged sociopath Rafe Cameron…wait till you see Eugene Allerton in Queer.
The ladies have been swooning over his red carpet outfits, his press circuit quips, and steamy photos of him during this era. And while the film’s release date has not yet been set, I’m sure theaters will be packed.
His appearance at Venice Film Festival already stirred up internet memes, with his blue suit giving people PTSD flashbacks to last year’s Harry Styles — Don’t Worry, Darling — SpitGate drama.
He has all the makings for the next Hollywood heartthrob that we’ve been yearning for. Yes, Brad Pitt may be old and a terrible person…but there is a whole new wave of young, handsome actors to usher in.
So, while we gear up for the Drew Starkey inevitable renaissance, let’s answer the question we’re all here for:
Is Drew Starkey Single?
People ship the entire Outer Banks cast together…but don’t let it confuse you. Essentially, no one in the cast is dating in real life anymore.
Since his 2022 appearance in Hellraiser, Starkey has been linked to fellow co-star Odessa A’Zion. With multiple Instagram appearances on each other’s accounts, it looked like the pair were an item….until recently.
Neither A’Zion nor Starkey had confirmed their relationship in the first place…so fans are safe to assume that Drew Starkey is single until proven otherwise.
By now, you’ve seen the photos of Taylor Swift smashing away breakup rumors as she walked into the first Chiefs game of the season. You’ve also seen the photos of Swift and Travis Kelce — our very own American Royal Family — at the US Open with Travis’s $450 Gucci bucket hat that wouldn’t stay still. Swift is not the first but the latest and most famous star who has transformed sports stadiums into her runway.
In the midst of fashion week, it’s notable that Swift’s most public appearances aren’t a front row seat at exclusive shows or attendance at the hottest parties. But in her new arena: literal arenas. And now that she’s back to being besties with the controversial Brittany Mahomes, one thing is clear: WAGs are back.
The term WAG reached peak popularity back in the days of 2000s magazines. The acronym — which stands for “Wives and Girlfriends” — refers to the significant others of high-profile athletes. And, since it was coined during that toxic era, it was belittling at best and derogatory at worst. But now, a WAG renaissance is in full swing. And helmed by one of the most influential women in the world, WAGs are as powerful and popular (if not more so) as their sporty SOs.
The WAG Comeback
The 2024 Super Bowl drew a record number of viewers — and many of them can be chalked up to Taylor Swift. All season, fans tuned in to see her at the KC Arrowhead Stadium and ticket sales for the Chiefs home games skyrocketed. So when the Super Bowl came around, as many eyes were on Swift as they were on Kelce. Some have even called him the first nepo boyfriend.
But Swift wasn’t the only WAG at this year’s Super Bowl. Swift’s aforementioned bestie Brittany Mahomes — wife of Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes — was also in attendance. And on the 49ers side of the stands, Miss Universe Olivia Culpo was supporting her now-husband (though this was before she went Bridezilla) running back Christian McCaffrey alongside TikToker Allison Kucharczyk, the wife of defensive end Isaac Rochell.
Other football WAGs are proof that sometimes, the partner in the stands is the more famous one — no matter what these sports guys might say on a podcast. Take Olympic gymnast and mightiest to ever compete in the sport, Simone Biles. Biles’ husband Jonathan Owens is on the Green Bay Packers, yet she’s America’s sweetheart. Watch out Owens, one wrong move and Zac Efron is famously waiting in the wings to treat Simone right. Another prominent face in the football stands is one we’re used to seeing on TikTok, Alix Earle. Earle is dating Dolphins receiver Braxton Berrios but there’s no doubt who the breadwinner is in that relationship.
Across the pond in the UK, England’s football team were one penalty kick away from winning the Euros — ouch. And though they didn’t end up bringing it home, the true victory was the WAG style we got along the way. I mean, the image of Tolami Benson — girlfriend of Bukayo Saka — wearing a custom Three Lions branded motorcycle jacket with her boyfriend’s number on it will be on my moodboard forever.
This is the epitome of WAG-dom. It gives the same energy that Victoria Beckham gave in the peak of David Beckha’s career. On the nose, supportive, but also eye-catching enough to remind us that she’s a star too. And as we’ve seen with the Beckhams — although David’s career is mostly over — Victoria’s fashion and beauty line are staples in the industry. Sports careers are fleeting, WAGs are forever.
The Euros WAGs all understood the assignment. Their social media posts were the most engaged of the entire season. Other UK football WAGs include Love Island alum Dani Dyer (dating right winger Jarrod Bowen), entrepreneur Katie Bio (longtime girlfriend of centre-forward Ivan Toney and mother of their two kids) and content creator Aine May Kennedy (dating midfielder Conor Gallagher). It takes us back to the old days seeing Cheryl Cole and Victoria Beckham in the stands wearing custom graphic tanks.
The US Open and Wimbledom have also been WAG city. Tennis is indeed fueling the WAG renaissance. Content creators are often seen at tennis matches. But recently some of the biggest names on TikTok and Instagram are taking tenniscore to the next level by dating the athletes who are at the top of their game. Morgan Riddle is dating top-ranked American male Taylor Fritz, aka the hearttrob of tennis. Ayan Broomfield is giving Zendaya’s Tashi Duncan a run for her money as a former collegiate player and girlfriend to fan favorite Francis Tiafoe. And Paige Lorenze is living her country club dream as Tommy Paul’s girlfriend.
We can’t forget the ultimate WAG movie of the year: Challengers. In Challengers, most people focused on the tennis, the tension, and the almost-threesome. I focused on how Zendaya’s character girlbossed her way from tennis prodigy to the ultimate WAG. And it wouldn’t be a Zendaya film if the fashion wasn’t a character all in itself. From her cashmere sweater ot her Chanel espadrilles, her WAG era reeked of quiet luxury. Perhaps that’s part of the appeal of the WAG. They’ve built their brands on their aspirational lifestyles and have adopted quiet luxury personas to elevate their status.
That’s why WAG boxes have become a playground for brands in the same way that the NBA tunnel is its own runway. It’s no surprise spectators at games have become the stars. We should have seen this coming since the Kardashian-Jenner clan love dating athletes and are often spotted showing off the latest trends as they perch courtside ready for their closeups. Brands have finally clued in, partnering with WAGs for sports coverage and styling them in their logos.
The feminization of sports culture
Thanks to prominent WAGs, many women have found an accessible entry point into sports culture. Game night is no longer simply boys night. From the fashion to the hopes fans will catch a glimpse of their favorite stars in the stands, I say it doesn’t matter what gets you to watch the game, it just matters that the culture feels inclusive.
And we’re getting there. According to NBC Sports, the NFL has seen its highest levels of female viewership since it started tracking data — with a 53% spike in teenage female viewers. In her 2023 Time Person Of The Year Interview, Taylor Swift said, “Football is awesome, it turns out. I’ve been missing out my whole life.”
People on social media joked that Taylor Swift was helping teenage girls connect with their dads again — but the sentiment is so true it even became the basis for a Super Bowl ad.
Another reason women are participating in sports culture more is the attention that female athletes are getting. Female athletes and women’s sports have been overlooked for far too long. The lie that “no one cares about women’s sports” has devalued them so much that female athletes are paid way worse and watched way less — despite the fact that female teams in the US and UK have higher success rates internationally than their male counterparts.
When England’s Lioness team competed in the Women’s Euros in 2022, their match brought in a record 17.4 million viewers, making it the most-watched women’s football game on UK television at the time. This record has since been surpassed by the men’s 2024 Euro final … which they lost. The Lioness team bringing home the cup put a major spotlight on women’s football and boosted viewership of their regular season games.
Earlier this year, the same occurred with women’s basketball in the states. Who can forget the mania that surrounded Caitlin Clark’s final season? The 2024 Paris Olympics also underscored the viewership and power of women’s sports. From the US women’s gymnastics team and the US women’s rugby team, stars like Simone Biles and Ilona Maher won matches and the people’s hearts with their prowess and their ability to make pretty much anything go viral.
Girls just wanna have fun — and fashion
As we are known to do, girls have taken the popularity of women’s sports and transformed it into fashion fodder and — frankly — pop culture itself. Sportswear has taken a turn for the fashionable thanks to stylish sports fans noticing that much of the merch or apparel out there just isn’t that cute.
Despite the constantly shifting microtrends over the past few years, Blokecore is one trend that’s not going anywhere. The premise behind it: dressing like a real geezer. Its signature components are sneakers and jerseys — which can range from mini soccer jerseys to oversized football jerseys.
Either way, sports merch is the new concert merch. And the girlies are making it cute again. Fashion designer Kristin Juszczyk — wife of San Francisco 49ers fullback Kyle Juszczyk — went viral for making matching Chiefs jackets for Swift and Mahomes. Plus, savvy brands like Abercrombie have partnered with the NFL to make merch that caters to this fresh audience. Plus, new brands like Wear by Erin Andrews and Gameday Couture are emerging to make game day cute.
While misogyny is still rampant and some haters are accusing nascent female fans of being less legitimate, the truth is: there’s no stopping women in sports. Whether they’re WAGs, fans, or athletes themselves, the sports stands just got a whole lot cuter. You’re welcome.
Ladies and gentlemen … she got him. This weekend, Deuxmoi broke the news: Doja Cat and Joseph Quinn are dating.
This is like when your most delusional friend actually lands the thing they’ve been making insane scenarios about. Or when the most embarrassing person you know pops up in a functioning relationship. This is proof that if they can do it, anyone can. And the lore with the pop hitmaker and the Stranger Things star is so deep that I can’t help but wish this odd couple well.
If you aren’t chronically online with a brain that’s merely a Rolodex of pop culture facts (it’s getting to be a problem for me — my obsession with Deuxmoi’s Sunday Spotteds has eaten up years of my life at this point and don’t even get me started on my screen time), here’s the rundown on their lore — which started two years ago.
It might seem like a millennium has passed since the last season of the Netflix smash hitStranger Things dropped, but it’s only been two years. With the season’s release, Quinn shot to popularity as the lovable outcast Eddie. Doja Cat was one of many admirers, brazenly tweeting that she thought he was “fine as sh*t.”
The since-deleted tweet is the first record of their courtship. It’s her version of Gatsby throwing a party in hopes that Daisy will attend. She was shooting her shot. It feels crazy that Doja Cat — a viral superstar who inspired a song by none other than other British heartthrob Central Cee — pulls the same tactics as I do by posting strategic Instagram stories. Celebs really are just like us.
However, for a minute there, it looked like the two would never get to this point. In her quest to get her man, Doja didn’t stop at a tweet. She slid into the DMs … of Quinn’s 17-year-old costar, Noah Schnapp.
“Noah can you tell Joseph to hit me up,” Doja asked Schnapp. “Wait no. does he have a gf?” Of course, as a 17-year-old, Noah Schnapp immediately posted this message on TikTok. Despite the familiar tone of her message, it turns out the two didn’t know each other at all — so why was Doja asking him for favors? And asking a teenage boy to be your matchmaker, especially one who barely had any scenes with Quinn, is a strange move — the things we do for love.
This weird moment obviously went viral and resulted in a short feud between Schnapp and the “ Say So” star. Doja accused the teenager of “bullying” her, calling it “degrading,” “exploitative,” and “super embarrassing.” However, after a few TikToks and livestream rants, Schnapp claimed everything was “all good” between them.
We all thought that was the end of it — until recently, when Quinn and Doja Cat were seen strolling arm-in-arm around London. Talk about the long game.
It seems the songstress has been cozying around with the Hawkins heartthrob for weeks. I mean, who would have thought that the brooding, mysterious Eddie Munson from Stranger Things and the bold, boundary-pushing Doja Cat would make such an iconic pair? But you know what they say – opposites attract, and these two are proof that you can manifest anything.
Fans have even started referencing that original tweet to manifest their own dreams — from other celebrities to jobs and even “Mike Faist employment” by calling them “fine as sh*t.” If it worked for Doja, universe, just know I think a Challengers sequel would be fine as sh*t.
A London boy and a pop princess, coming together to create pop culture magic — we’ve seen this story before. Let’s hope this pairing lasts. But even if it doesn’t, the two have started a movement that the internet is calling “ London Boy Fall.”
From Tom Holland and Zendaya to Olivia Rodrigo and Louis Partridge — plus Gracie Abrams and Paul Mescal (yes, we know he’s Irish but the two have been cozying it up around London) — I’m looking up flights to London as we speak.
What’s next for the two stars, time can only tell. Quinn is about to set off on his press tour for Gladiator II (and filming Stranger Things 5, I hope), but the two of them are enjoying a London summer while ushering up London Boy Fall.
The first installment of Bridgerton Season 3 left me wanting. Namely, wanting more from Colin (Luke Newton), wanting more for Penelope (Nicola Coughlan), and wanting more groveling. Thankfully, part 2 delivered on all but the groveling — but I’ll take it.
SPOILER ALERT: The rest of this article contains spoilers for Bridgerton Season 3: Part 2
The moment the trailer for part 2 dropped, I set my hopes for the season on those final four episodes. After a lackluster start and the tepid union between the main couple — sorry, no amount of Pitbull could make that carriage scene interesting and no amount of charm could make that proposal romantic — the season was riding on its second part for redemption. But did it wholly deliver?
What promised to set the second half apart from part 1 was higher stakes. The season opened with an inexplicably still-lovelorn Penelope and hot-pirate Colin engaged in a Cyrano plot. Though it felt like lots was happening, none of it really moved the characters forward. Season 1 saw Simon wrestle with the weight of his father’s legacy while Daphne confronts the truths of life and marriage. Season 2 saw Anthony wrestle with the weight of his duty as Kate also wrestled with hers. While Penelope has the real challenge of trying to find a husband so she can escape her family, what does Colin want? To be a pirate? Even should-be momentous events like their first kiss did nothing to push them closer to each other.
Penelope remained cripplingly insecure, and Colin’s remained aggravatingly inept. There was the makeover — which didn’t really work on anyone but Colin — the useless courtship lessons — which also didn’t work on anyone but Colin — and the almost-proposal from Lord Debling to the tune of Nick Jonas’s “Jealous.” Yet, the characters never experienced any major growth in these moments. Penelope was once again crying because a man didn’t want her, and Colin failed to even risk telling her his feelings until after the ball. That Debling didn’t propose was just sheer Bridgerton luck, making it easy for him to propose to Pen competition-free.
With the marriage proposal secured, Penelope and Colin have to create a life together as a couple — with the secret of her authorly identity looming over them. Like the balloon in episode 3, this was surely going to go haywire. But, like the balloon in episode 3, I was along for the ride. Especially with the promise of a Lady Whistledown hunt spurred by Queen Charlotte herself.
Does Colin find out Penelope is Lady Bridgerton in Season 3?
Finally, Colin finds out that Penelope is Lady Whistledown in Season 3, part 2. But it’s not how Penelope wishes it to come about. After proclaiming all season that he despises Lady Whistledown and wants to see her pay for what she has said about his family (and a particularly cutting passage about his own transformation), Colin is thrilled at the prospect that someone will root out the writer thanks to the Queen’s challenge. But when he discovers his own soon-to-be wife is herself the scribe, he has an existential crisis.
Gone are his sanctimonious claims of concern for his family and the dignity of the Ton — or whatever. Poor Colin Bridgerton is just embarrassed his fiancée is a better writer than he is. Plus, since we’re primed to choose Penelope’s side, having known her secret for two seasons, Colin’s ire just doesn’t hit. Especially since it comes from a place of jealousy.
But this revelation does have one surprising consequence: how it changes Penelope. For a moment, it seems like Penelope is going to give up her column. “Women don’t have dreams,” says the iconic (for better or worse) Lady Featherington. “They have husbands.” So, while she didn’t cease her writing even when she lost her best friend and even when the queen was hunting her down, she vowed to stop for Colin — after all, wasn’t he her biggest dream?
But after speaking to Madame Delacroix, fellow girlboss and lowkey scammer (we have to stan), she realizes that Whistledown isn’t separate from her, it’s part of her. Not even a clandestine kiss with her husband-to-be can change her mind this time. So, instead of cowering in front of Colin after the Queen crashes their wedding breakfast, she refuses to give up.
This is the first time we see Penelope standing up for herself in real life, not just in her column. Prior to this, she oscillates between people-pleasing and lashing out in bitterness — a vicious cycle and a clear sign of low self-esteem. Now, she’s finally found herself. And she did it without Colin’s help.
While this season has its share of girlboss and Barbie feminism, this quiet change in our female lead is the most impactful moment of the season. Because it lasts. From this moment on, Pen metamorphoses before our eyes. More than her makeover in part 1, her self-acceptance and refusal to give up her identity even for Colin transforms her from a wallflower to the powerful, capable woman she’s been all along.
In this moment, I see a future for Pen where she is the “girl husband.” Colin might be a nepo-baby, but Pen is the one bringing home the bacon and clocking in with her column. She’s the problem solver. She’s the one with power and personality — something Colin lacks. Like Zendaya in Challengers, I picture her cradling Colin on her lap and telling him to step it up. I picture her leaving vicious — but loving — notes on his book. I picture her telling that man to stop whining and step it up. Quite simply: I picture her replicating Kate Sharma (Simone Ashley) in her relationship with Viscount and Chief Simp, Anthony Bridgerton (Jonathan Bailey). Girl husbands for the win!
How does Bridgerton Season 3 end?
Bridgerton Season 3, ultimately, starts and ends with a whimper. It feels like an unfulfilling heist movie, where the stakes are high, the expectations raised, but the characters get out fine without any surprises or obstacles. The show felt as though it was going through the motions: introduce a problem, have the characters fight, have them make up and make out, repeat.
Even with the introduction of actual problems, Penelope gets through them unscathed — with everything she’s ever wanted in tow. And, in the end, she achieves it simply by telling the truth … which she could have done the whole time? I do appreciate, however, the writer’s refusal to paint Penelope as a damsel in distress. Though Colin tries to save her, he fails. And ultimately, the biggest-best love confession in this season comes from her. “Just love me,” she pleads. Although personally, I’d rather fall to ruin than beg my husband to love me — but that’s just me.
In the end, Penelope fixes her problems and everyone else’s: she comes out as Lady Whistledown (happy Pride, I guess?), throws the fraud investigators off her mother’s scent, and prevents the ruination of the Bridgerton name. In a flash forward to a year later, she has a baby, Colin writes his book, and Lady Whistledown is allowed to continue in the light. Happy, yes. Boring? Also, yes.
What’s more interesting is the development of the secondary characters. As Polin plods along, the other Bridgertons and members of the Ton grow more rounded as characters than the season’s protagonists. While all these extra storylines felt like distractions in the first half of the season, in the second half, they relieve the pressure off Polin’s lackluster love story and give us other characters to root for — or against.
Cressida’s arc from villain to sympathetic heroine to villain again makes me curious about what’s next for her. Eloise’s adventures in the Scottish Highlands promise to let her finally go beyond talk and actually live her life. Benedict really was having a jolly pride, and I am excited to see his newfound bisexuality explored in upcoming seasons. But I’m most excited for the invisible Bridgerton, Francesca.
After disappearing for most of the previous seasons, Francesca was a nonentity at the beginning of Season 3. Played by the exquisite Hannah Dodd, Francesca was constantly away visiting relatives in Bath and always playing that damn pianoforte. But over the course of the season, we watched her blossom from the Queen’s reluctant sparkler, waiting passively for an acceptable match, to standing up for herself and declaring her love for the equally awkward Lord Kilmartin.
And while some may be confused — does Francesca’s marriage in this Season mean she won’t have one on her own? — eagle-eyed viewers will have noticed the instant romantic spark with her husband’s cousin, Michaela. The introduction of another queer relationship is surprising and highly anticipated for many viewers. Especially fans of the book who might recognize this character as “Michael” in the Julia Quinn novels.
Bridgerton has already been renewed for Season 4. All that’s left to do is wait.
We’ve reached peak quiet luxury. Maybe that happened quickly, when influencers flooded the TL with that stunningly resilient trend striving to convince you that all you need to look like you stepped out of Succession was .. Zara? But now, with Stealth-Wealth and Recessioncore still topics of major interest, strange sartorial ephemera of the rich are emerging as piecemeal trends.
From tennis bracelets (and tennis, but that’s thanks to Challengers) to Van Cleef necklaces, it’s the details that become the most unlikely trends. But it’s all about how you wear them. When paired with Gen Z’s Y2K style, they become emblematic. When paired with a Zara set on a West Village girl, she’s taking it seriously.
But you’re not real if you’ve seen what I’ve seen: an army of Prep school teenagers carelessly tossing on jewelry that costs as much as their private school tuition merely to accessorize their school uniforms. And what shoes did they wear with those Spence skirts and Dalton blazers? Boat shoes, of course.
It’s an evil convergence. Prep’s stubborn return to the zeitgeist — Rowing Blazers, I’ll never forgive you — and Sofia Richie’s impact on the skyrocketing interest in Stealth-Wealth. This means people are hungrier than ever to take a peek into the lives of the rich — then steal into their walk-in closets as big as a football field and try on their clothes.
The Sofia Richie effect
It’s been a year since the iconic Richie-Grainge wedding that sparked the Gen Z obsession with old money. Since that year, we’ve slowly been creeping into territory that sends a chill down my spine.
At first I thought it was just one more microtrend. However, I was soon proven so wrong. Instead of moving on, people everywhere made Sofia Richie their style icon. For good reason — she’s a Virgo, her taste is impeccable. But just like fellow nepo-baby Hailey Baldwin-Bieber’s wedding, the stylish ceremony sparked a chain reaction I never could have predicted.
Let’s use Hailey as a case study. After she wore Nike Air Force Ones to her reception, the shoe was ubiquitous. Sorority houses didn’t know peace for years. And it didn’t stop there. Signature pieces of Hailey’s off-duty style became biblical references. Her leather jackets, baggy jeans, and Clean Look vibe were everywhere.
But once a Supreme dies, a new queen must take her place. Sofia Richie answered the call.
While her so-called “old money” looks are actually new — new and custom Chanel, she’s become the face of Stealth-Wealth. It’s worth mentioning that Sofia Richie is a nepo baby whose money and prestige comes from her father, Black pop singer Lionel Richie. She’s not the old money heiress this trend is supposed to harken back to — which, to me, feels subversive.
Nevertheless, the masses are eating it up. Sofia’s transformation from trendy party girl to Stealth-Wealth wife and mother is inspiring to all of us. Though most will never grace the rooms with those who are decked out in Loro Piana and Brunello, we can wear a cashmere (blend) sweater and pretend.
This summer, the Stealth-Wealth status symbol is a surprising one: the boat shoe.
Why boat shoes?
Think about it: what says privilege like owning a boat and constantly sailing or a lake or on the sea? Boat shoes hint at an old-money lifestyle. They say you’re always prepared to be onboard a sailboat, yacht or sloop, that you have a tight jaw, and frequent clubs and restaurants that don’t allow sneakers, and you went to a prep school that has a biz-caz dress code.
I can tick the last box, which is why this trend makes me physically ill. At the sight of boat shoes — Sperry topsiders in particular — I’m transported back to high school. And no one wants that.
I can almost see the hoard of preppy kids in salmon garb and monogrammed backpacks, with their Sperrys as the cherry on top of their Brooks Brothers and Vineyard Vines outfit combinations.
Now, the fashionable set have taken the shoe over. Pairing them with trendy prep-inspired brands like Rowing Blazers and Aime Leon Dore, they’re taking back Prep.
Unlike hipster yuppies who took over Williamsburg and Portland in 2013, this isn’t playfully-ironic. It’s serious. You’ll see boat shoes with summer dresses, Gen Z oversized denim and carpenter pants. What an unlikely pairing — workwear and Prep, the opposite of workwear. Talk about high-low juxtaposition.
How to style boat shoes for summer?
If you’re planning on styling boat shoes for the summer, keep this in mind. Styling boat shoes correctly means achieving a balance between embracing new-age Prep without looking like a Prep school dweeb.
Do not go full quiet luxury with them. Put down the striped sweater and definitely don’t drape it around your shoulder. You’ll look like you’re cosplaying as someone in an ivy league a cappella group.
Instead, pair unexpected styles and aesthetics with boat shoes. They’re this summer’s cowboy boot. You’ll see them with flowy white maxi skirts and threadbare vintage tees. You’ll see them with ripped denim and oversized pants. You’ll definitely see them at the US Open, but you’ll also see them in the club. Don’t believe me? If the office siren aesthetic made it to the club, so will this.
The one benefit of this trend: unlike many other microtrends, boat shoes are usually made to be worn to death. They’re practical, comfortable, and easy to slip on while still being dressy. They’re a less casual option of Birkenstock Bostons and a counterpart to the loafer trend. No wonder Gen Z-loved brands like Miu Miu made their own and Saks is selling their distressed leather boat shoes for $925 a pair! Outrageous.
As they grow more high fashion, it’s a clear sign that boat shoes are here to stay. But they’re not your grandmother’s boat shoes, not my prep-school nightmare. They’re something else entirely. It just depends how you style them.
Whether you’re in love with quiet luxury or eager to experiment with the next trend, you can wear boat shoes with any aesthetic. I just won’t be joining you. God forbid, if LL Bean boots are in for fall, I’m abandoning everything and giving it all up for a beige capsule wardrobe.
For now, I’ll watch timidly as everyone dons a shoe I disavowed in my youth — and they’ll look good while doing it.
In Luca Guadagnino‘s tennis thriller Challengers, stars Zendaya, Mike Faist and Josh O’Connor litigate their love triangle as much on the court as in the bedroom. As such, the sport has to stay interesting.
Guadagnino previously told Little White Lies he doesn’t like watching real tennis because it’s boring. “The way in which [the sport] is shown is rather undynamic,” he said. Challengers — punctuated by the camera’s near-constant frenetic motion — seems to be in part about rectifying this failing.
“Luca’s vision for this movie was making the tennis action generally very kinetic,” ChallengersVFX director Brian Drewes tells The Hollywood Reporter. The camera sweeps above and below the court, jumping toward the subjects’ beautifully sweaty faces and buzzing with an immersive energy that took the internet and critics by storm upon the movie’s release. This kineticism reaches its peak at the end of the film, when the camera becomes the ball, and the audiences volleys back and forth between O’Connor and Faist in a dizzying pattern of movement that is most definitely not “undynamic.”
How did they make it happen?
Challengers falls in the category of films whose VFX are not immediately visible. “It’s this kind of movie where the audience just feels a little differently for some reason,” Drewes, the co-founder of Zero VFX, says. “It’s subtle, but it leads to this high impact feel. You say, ‘Oh something there is just different.’”
Drewes and his team touched touched every tennis scene (and then some) in the movie, aiding the game’s dynamism with the CG help of balls, hands, rackets, faces, background actors and more.
“We really wanted to focus on the actors,” Drewes says, “really being able to show off all the work they had done.”
In the case of the POV scene, Drewes started with a previs pass (a computer-generated 3D previsualization) of the entire scene, edited to the real-world audio and speed of an actual tennis match overseen by Brad Gilbert, the famed Andre Agassi tennis coach and Challengers tennis consultant.
“He scripted all of the tennis action for the movie in quite vivid detail,” Drewes says. “Where the ball was going and the nature of the volley was defined by him.”
Mike Faist in Challengers
MGM/Courtesy Everett Collection
The previs helped Drewes and Guadagnino understand what the scene would look like. “I’d never seen it before,” Drewes says. “There’s no reference for it in the real world.”
With the previs complete, the team filmed the scene with two stunt doubles over the course of about five hours on a Sunday. “The time on this court was very valuable,” Drewes says. “Luca said, ‘So long as you’re shooting what’s in the previs, I’m fine with it,’ and I said, ‘Yes, sir.’”
Though most of Challengers was shot on 35mm film, Drewes used an Arri Alexa LF camera for the POV and several other tennis scenes given the speed required for the movie’s most turbulent shots. (Another example? The corkscrew zoom toward Faist made so popular by the movie’s viral trailer.)
The camera was attached to a 30′ crane whose footage would later be re-timed to match the speed dictated by previs. The final result moves at the same rate as a real-life tennis match.
In post, the team stitched together 23 shots for the 24-second scene. As they put it together, the individual shots also had to be re-lit to account for daylight changes that occurred over the hours they filmed.
To complete their final models, Drewes scanned tennis courts with lidar (Light Detection and Ranging) and photogrammetry and added over 100 photoscanned background extras to fill the stands.
“We had 900 shots in this movie,” he says. “You would never guess so.”
How similar is the final product to the original previs? “I’m 100 percent sure that Luca would not have approved it if it wasn’t what was in his mind,” Drewes says, but adds, “it was a very collaborative process to get there.”
In fact, he adds, collaboration is often the key to successful VFX. “When it becomes part of the story is when it’s very successful. Sometimes that can mean it takes center stage, something like Furiosa, where you know it’s there but you can enjoy it for its beauty. Then other times, you don’t know it’s there. You’re embedded in the process, looking at it with the filmmakers,” he says. “We love surprising people.”
Tennis star Naomi Osaka offered her response to Luca Guadagnino’s buzzy tennis movie Challengers on Thursday, sharing her own moves on the court set to the movie’s viral techno score.
On TikTok, Osaka posted a video of herself moving through a tennis serve and twirling her racket with her fingers after writing, “Me after watching Challengers.”
Though the tennis player has no official ties to the hit movie, which stars Zendaya embroiled in a love triangle with Josh O’Connor and Mike Faist, screenwriter Justin Kuritzkes previously told Business Insider it was Osaka’s 2018 win over Serena Williams that partially inspired the film.
At the 2018 US Open, then-20-year-old Osaka beat Williams in a dramatic match that was colored by three code violations for Williams, for receiving coaching, racquet abuse and verbal abuse. Williams, outraged specifically by the insinuation that she cheated by communicating with her coach, called umpire Carlos Ramos a “thief” for docking her a point, and delayed the match significantly by disputing with Ramos and the game’s referees.
“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,” Kuritzkes said.
After her win, Osaka tearfully told the crowd, which spent most of the trophy ceremony booing, “I’m sorry that it had to end like this.” Earlier in the evening, Williams told her fans to “make this the best moment we can” and “be positive.”
“For whatever reason, it just clicked in my mind,” Kuritzkes continued of his moment of inspiration. “Well, 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?”
If there’s one thing the internet loves, it’s a film with a love triangle. We’ve tirelessly argued over Team Edward versus Team Jacob, Team Conrad or Team Jeremiah, Team Stefan or Team Damon, Team (insert attractive young male star) or Team (insert second attractive young male star).
So, when Luca Guadagnino’s latest homoerotic cinematic masterpiece — Challengers — debuted, you knew the world would be hooked. Not only does Challengers offer up steamy scenes, but it includes a recipe for instant success: Zendaya as the female lead, and two rapidly rising young leading men — Josh O’Connor (Patrick Zweig) and Mike Faist (Art Donaldson) — for the world to fawn over.
Yes, it’s Zendaya’s time to be the villain as Tashi Duncan — although the internet’s still debating whether she’s a feminist icon or just plain evil. Already receiving high praise as one of the best movies of 2024 so far — our review was pretty glowing, too.
But I couldn’t help but notice that Challengers solidifies a major shift in the fashion trendscape. Zendaya and her stylist — Law Roach — are known for their emblematic looks that set trends for the following year — and years to come. The verdict is in…luxury athleisure has never been more popular.
Similar to Quiet Luxury made popular by shows like SuccessionSuccessionand It-Girls like Sofia Richie, luxury athleisure gives a money vibe…without the display of labels. Challengers is all about looking like an old-money tennis pro.
Zendaya’s been delivering some killer serves (get it?) in the name of Challengers and Tashi Duncan lately…so she’s our resident style icon for building your luxury athleisure closet.
What Is Luxury Athleisure?
The ultimate goal in fashion of late is to look effortlessly sophisticated and filthy rich, without screaming that you’re trying too hard. That means an emphasis on quality and durability as well as an absence of logo and branding. Black and white color blocking is back in a big way, as are neutrals.
You must don luxury athleisure as if you’re an off-duty professional athlete. But only an athlete in an elite sport like tennis, horseback riding, or something posh like croquet.
It’s about that sweater tied over your shoulders and the wide headband pushing back your blowout. The polo shirt and the pleated skort. Tube socks and crisp whites. Getting the picture?
You see luxury athleisure outfits throughout Zendaya’s Challengers press tour, with clean girl tennis skirt sets and bouncy ponytails. You can perfectly picture her as Tashi Duncan but also catch a glimpse of how to achieve the luxury athleisure trend yourself.
Zendaya’s Challengers Style
The Barbie movie emphasized how fun it can be — and good for ratings — when the lead actress cosplays her character — Tashi Duncan — for press shoots. Margot Robbie constantly churned out Barbie look after Barbie look for every premiere, press opportunity, and awards show.
So when Zendaya followed suit and debuted Tashi Duncan-esque fits…we knew we had a hit on our hands. Some of the style is a literal homage to the sport — tennis ball Loewe heels paired with a custom Loewe V-neck bedazzled dress…or a Thom Browne gown with racquet appliques.
But her other appearances alongside Tom Holland at the BNP Paribas Open at Indian Wells or the Monte Carlo Masters give us insight on the ultimate Tennis-Core closet.
Many of her looks are reminiscent of the 50s and 60s fashion that’s growing ever-popular this spring. Hoop skirts and Jackie O inspired skirt suits have been stellar on the press tour. And then there’s the power jumpsuits that are the epitome of office chic.
And it’s not just Zendaya who has leaned into Tennis Core…it’s one of Taylor Swift’s go-to style moments. TheTortured Poets Department singer loves a good pleated skort…and she’s well known for her cardigans.
In short, Tennis-Core is a mix of Taylor Swift, Zendaya — esp. in Challengers — and Sofia Richie’s style all-in-one. It’s about looking luxurious while being comfy. It’s to convey a highly active lifestyle that pays well. It’s to convey an air of money.
What You Need To Dress Like Tashi Duncan
So now that we want to dress — and live? — like Tashi Duncan, it’s important to emphasize elevated basics that will last you a few years. Luxury athleisure isn’t about fast fashion, it’s about high-quality, luxe materials.
If you want to embody the baller that is Tashi, here are the items you simply must have in your closet.
Cable Knit Sweaters
Zendaya BACKGRID
If there’s one staple item you need to complete the #TennisCore trend, it’s an oversized cable knit sweater. Nothing says old money quite like a collared cable knit. It’s giving “I know how to sail my father’s yacht…and I weekend in the Hamptons.”
Zendaya pairs the cable knit with a white maxi skirt…but these seriously go with anything. I like to combine the classic chunky sweater with a pair of wide-leg linen trousers.
Try these:
Scads of Collared Tops
ZendayaBackgrid
While you don’t necessarily need a notch neck collar in your cable knit sweater…it’s essential for a luxe athleisure look. And luckily, a lot of athleisure brands are throwing collars on dresses, crop tops, and more.
I’m a fan of the oversized collared shirts that you can pull on at any moment.
Try these tops for a Tashi Duncan look:
Pleated Skorts and Dresses
Zendaya Backgrid
If you’re a Swiftie, you know that a pleated skort is Taylor’s go-to. For someone with long legs, nothing shows them off better than a skort with some detailing. Everyone is on the pleated skort trend lately, so you better not miss out.
Skorts also solve the problem of accidental indecent exposure that skirts pose. With comfy shorts — and often a handy pocket — underneath, you’ll never wear a real skirt again.
Preppy Touches
This is all about accessorizing. Thick, sporty headbands are in — hello Gossip Girl’s Blair Waldorf. And, yes, I think the headband is a marvelous alternative to pulling your hair back with damaging elastics or claw clips.
But the headband isn’t the be-all and end-all. Mules and Mary Jane flats have come back to add a preppy flare…what’s next? Sperry’s?
If you want a few preppy accessories, here are my picks:
Uniqlo vs. Loewe
Let’s be honest. These two brands dominated the court in Challengers. If it wasn’t a Loewe look, the actors were sporting Uniqlo. And the good news is that Uniqlo is super affordable.
If you need some UNIQLO moments, here are the best luxury athleisure pieces:
It’s been a fun and flirty few weeks for film releases. Last year’s surprise summer romance Anything But You finally came to streaming and is sitting pretty on Netflix’s Top 10. Zendaya and Luca Guadagnino’s Challengers is all sweat, sex, scorn, and some truly fine tennis — no wonder it’s the number-one movie at the box office.
And now, the long-awaited Amazon Prime Video drama The Idea of You is finally-finally out…and the internet can’t get enough.
After months of promo — and a viral trailer that garnered over 125 million global views across all social media platforms, breaking the record for the most watched trailer for any original streaming movie — Anne Hathaway’s turn as a single mother who falls in love with the most famous popstar on the planet is. Finally. Here.
Any clip of the film reveal what’s at its core: sizzling chemistry, Hathaway’s unfailing charm, and a sudden tenderness that reveals that The Idea of You is not just one more spicy mommy movie (sorry, Fifty Shades of Grey). It’s a character study of Solène, Hathaway’s character, who turns 40 and is a woman in search of herself. Where does she find herself? In the arms of a 20-something-year-old rockstar based loosely on Harry Styles.
Is The Idea of You based on a true story?
Directed by Michael Showalter, The Idea of You is based on Robinne Lee’s best-selling novel of the same name. The book’s now cult-like devotees slowly but surely gained momentum. The novel found a feral fanbase during those cold and lonely months of the early pandemic when everyone had the “Watermelon Sugar” music video on repeat simply to recall what outside air and human touch felt like.
But the book initially published way back in 2017 — doesn’t that feel like the Paleolithic Era? — just about a month to the day after Harry Styles released his debut album. This is significant because, in the years that followed, the book seems to predict certain events and themes in the popstar’s relationships — specifically his headline-grabbing love affair with Olivia Wilde.
The pretty much predictive elements of the book are proof of why Lee’s novel is so compelling. It’s not just about the fantasy. And it’s not, she insists, a fan-fiction — though she has admitted it’s based on Harry Styles as well as Prince Harry and Eddie Redmayne … interesting mix. It’s about love. It’s about women. And it’s about coming of age or coming into your sexuality, at a time when society has put you on the shelf.
Is The Idea of You good?
The Idea of You is bringing back the rom-com. Watching the film, I couldn’t help but say aloud: “we’re so back.” From a classic awkward-but-charming meet-cute to the sexy montages of relationship bliss set to upbeat music, The Idea of You does everything you want a rom-com to do. And because it’s been so long since we’ve seen a high-budget romantic comedy of this caliber — with Anne Hathaway no less! — it doesn’t feel trite, it feels refreshing. Invigorating. Addictive.
This is due in no small part to the stunningly sensual performances by Hathaway and her leading man, Nicholas Galitzine ( Bottoms and Red, White, and Royal Blue), who plays Hayes Campbell. Hathaway raves about her co-star’s ability to create chemistry with anyone. So, paired with an Oscar-winning actress, of course, the sparks were flying.
If you didn’t believe in the characters’ chemistry, the film would fall apart. The tension between them must be strong enough to withstand a world tour, societal judgments, and Sol’s own self-doubts. And this pair delivers. As you watch, you’ll fall in love with Galitzine, too. In interviews, he’s got the same quintessential British charm of a young Hugh Grant. On-screen, he’s every bit the magnetic rockstar that easily packs a stadium full of girls hoping to catch his eye and his heart.
For her part, Hathaway plays the somewhat farfetched role with grounded authenticity. She’s not the typical someone who gets swept away by this young rockstar. She’s a complex character who allows herself to take a risk. To meet her complexity, Galitzine has to imbue his own character with far more than rock’n’roll, fake tattoos, and that one little earring. He crafts exactly the kind of dream boy you hope is underneath your fave heartthrobs. Sensitive and boyish, but full of depth, Galitzine’s Hayes Campbell plays perfectly against Hathaway’s Solene — literally.
I get what Anything But You is trying to say — but did it get there?
For what it is, this film is spectacular. Give it a Teen Choice Award, a People’s Choice Award, and a VMA for the promotional August Moon visuals. It’s certified Fresh with a 94% rating on Rotten Tomatoes. For too long, the genre’s been handed paltry budgets for trite storylines and left in the dust. But after years of being underinvested in and undervalued by the gatekeepers of cinema, The Idea of You proves why we should bet on character-driven movies about women.
Though we still adore many of those heroines from the rom-com heyday — that includes Anne Hathaway as Andy in The Devil Wears Prada or The Princess Diaries — there’s one notable difference between this story and the films of yore. Our protagonists’s age.
Despite Hathaway’s youthful appearance, Solène isn’t just some ingenue. She’s not a 20-year-old trying to make it in the big city. She’s not a naive Manic Pixie Dream Girl from a small town whose purpose is to introduce all the beauty in the world to a jaded man. And she’s certainly not a corporate Girlboss who just needs a man to show her there’s more to life. No, Solène’s a divorced mother and gallerist who is on her journey to self-discovery.
We meet her as she’s embarking on a camping trip in an attempt to find herself in nature. But when that camping trip morphs into a chaperoning expedition to Coachella, Solène is thrust into the giddy world of being a rockstar girlfriend for a man more than 15 years her junior.
Anne Hathaway says this age dynamic is part of why she wanted to take on this role. Some skeptics have asked why Hathaway is already being relegated to mom roles or why she took on a fluffy film, the hidden complexity is what drew her to it.
“For some reason, we talk about coming-of-age stories as being something that happens to you in the earliest part of your life, and I don’t know about you, but I feel like I keep blooming,” Hathaway said at the film’s SXSW premiere.
Indeed, the film focuses on Sol’s age from many different angles. There are the establishing shots of Sol forced to make lackluster conversation with men her age at her birthday party. There’s her toxic dynamic with her ex-husband and the sense that she’s trying to emerge whole from the shell of a bad marriage. There’s of course, the contrast between her teenage daughter (Ella Rudin) insisting she’s too old for the group August Moon while Sol herself has a steamy affair with its lead singer. But most of the focus on her age is external.
The Idea of You tackles society’s expectations and constraints of middle-aged women. It parrots back outdated attitudes slamdunk debunks them — by showing you that Sol is still sexy, thank you very much.
While looking like Anne Hathaway and being attractive to a 24-year-old shouldn’t be the metrics for one’s worth, they don’t hurt. But in Sol’s case, we don’t see much of her personal development beyond this brief tryst. What we do see, is the people in her life grappling with the external pressures thrust upon them by hyperbolic headlines and social media abuse.
“It’s because you’re a woman,” Rudin’s character plainly states. Yet, the film doesn’t get more nuanced than that. But does it have to? After all, we’ve seen this familiar trope play out in real life. Namely, with Olivia Wilde during the Don’t Worry Darling press tour firestorm. And I worry any further extrapolation would have resulted in a Barbie-type monologue.
At its core, The Idea of You is a step above fan-fiction but it achieves what the best fan-fics do: validate your fantasies. It says, hey [your name], you, too, deserve love. Love in this case is the attention of a Coachella performer (Sabrina Carpenter, call me), but it’s also the belief that you’re worthy of that attention. And watching that sort of lavish affection bestowed on a woman over 25 on screen is refreshing and thrilling.
Even more, it’s proof that the female gaze is ruling cinema and it’s here to stay.
How to watch The Idea of You
The Idea of You is streaming on Amazon Prime Video starting May 2nd.
Like all rom-coms, this movie is just as good if you watch it alone in your room, giggling and kicking your feet as if you’re watching it sleepover-style with all your besties. It’s also screening at a select number of theaters. So, check your local showtimes for tickets, take your blankets to the cinema, and giggle and gasp along with the crowd as you all fall in love with Nicholas Galitzine together.
I’ll watch anything with Zendaya in it. Even without the genius-level marketing that was the Challengers press tour — complete with those tennis ball Loewe heels — I still would’ve rushed to the theater to watch Challengers. Due to last year’s strike, its delayed release made one thing obvious: anticipation really does make the reward that much sweeter. Challengers finally comes out on Friday, April 26th and after watching an early screening, I can confirm, it’s well worth the wait.
What is Challengers about?
Challengers is about tennis. Challengers is about a love triangle. Challengers is about Zendaya’s bob. Directed by Luca Guadagnino of Call Me By Your Name, it’s no surprise that this movie is also about sex. It follows three young tennis players — two lifelong friends who are rising stars and superstar prodigy Tashi Duncan with whom they are massively enamored — over their messy love lives and careers.
Zendaya leads as Tashi Duncan, the intense and intensely ambitious woman at the center of this story. After a devastating injury, Tashi goes from the top of the game to her husband’s coach, trying to recall what she felt at the height of her career.
Ambition battles desire as the love story between the three twists and turns over the course of time. Shifting between time periods and storylines, it feels like a Christopher Nolan film if it slayed. And with Luca’s expert directorial eye, styling from JW Anderson’s Loewe, and Zendaya as heroine, it’s a cinematic feat — tense, vivid, and utterly irresistible. Zendaya herself recommends watching the movie at least three times while “viewing” it from each character’s perspective each time. Well, what Z says, goes.
Clearly, Mike Faist (Dear Evan Hansen, West Side Story) as Art and Josh O’Connor (The Crown, God’s Own Country) as Patrick have been inducted into the exclusive club of Luca’s muses. If you weren’t in love with them before, you will be by the movie’s end. The film has confirmed them as the white boys of the month. But they’re more than just pretty faces. They are Actors — with a capital A.
And Challengers is their launch pad for Hollywood’s latest leading men. Their performances are masterful, their characters are tight and consistent, and their chemistry is unmatched.
While their chemistry with Zendaya is electric, it’s their chemistry together that keeps the film pulsing with anticipatory tension. Whether they love each other or hate each other, the best scenes are those when Faist and O’Connor can play off each other — whether it’s literally tennis or a battle of wits and the battle for Zendaya’s heart.
Of course: we have to talk about that scene. Teased in the trailer and the promo images alike, everyone is all aflutter over the film’s alleged menage a trois. Appearing early on, it’s a taste of what the film does well: emphasizes sex appeal without denigrating any of its characters — especially Zendaya — as mere sexual objects.
Sex in this film is often implied. Yet, sensuality and the power exchange of desire are foregrounded. It’s about power. But it’s also a game. And, like tennis, Zendaya is a master. “You don’t know what tennis is,” she tells Art and Patrick. “It’s a relationship.” For the three of them, this certainly proves true. The central question here is: who will win?
This is a movie about tennis, actually.
The internet has noticed a strange trend: the women who’ve played Spiderman’s love interest in the major Spiderman franchises have all gone on to do movies about tennis. Kirsten Dunst did the underrated rom-com Wimbledon. Emma Stone portrayed Billie Jean King in Battle of the Sexes just three years after her term as Gwen Stacey. And now, Zendaya is playing her own version of a tennis star.
But this isn’t just a film about tennis players. It’s a movie deeply in love with the game of tennis itself. It plays with the form of the game by mirroring a tennis match — each act of the film feels like a set of a match. It moves through scenes and time periods like perfect volleys. The key scene that ties it all together is a tennis match. We watch the ball go back and forth as we are transported to and from the past, wondering which player will get the upper hand.
“What do you want?” The boys ask Tashi early in the film. “To watch some good fucking tennis,” she says.
In the end, the sentiment is repeated. In tennis, love means zero. And that’s the Challengers’ conceit. Sitting across from the umpire (who is — fun fact — played by her real-life assistant Darnell Appling) in the central tennis scene, her judgment is all. It’s like the final scene of Love and Basketball — they’re playing for her heart. And her heart is always with the game.
Challengers will make a tennis fan of you. While you don’t need to know the game in order to follow the plot, its artistic representation of the game — from the writing to the directorial shot list — will satisfy the superfans and intrigue the newbies.
Let’s get to the point (pun intended): Is Zendaya’s Tashi a triumph?
Earlier this year, Timothee Chalamet achieved the impressive feat of starring in two of the year’s highest-grossing films — Dune: Part Two and Wonka. I predict that by the time they stop this weekend’s Box Office count, Zendaya will achieve the same feat with Dune: Part Two and Challengers.
While she’s the heart of Dune: Part Two, she’s finally taking her rightful place as a leading lady with her turn as Tashi Duncan. After playing high schoolers for decades from Spider-Man to Euphoria, the role of Tashi is the perfect transition. We meet Tashi the summer after high school, before she heads to Stanford, and watch her grow into an adult in real-time. Zendaya and her character get similar arcs.
Zendaya deftly handles Tashi’s youthful confidence with her jaded older self while rocking that damn bob. It’s up to you to decide whether you love this character or despise her. There’s a viral interview in which an interviewer remarks that as much as he loves Zendaya, this character kind of made him hate her. Meanwhile, I — lover of maneaters and female manipulators — am pinning photos of Tashi to my vision board as we speak.
Audiences are split on their takes on Tashi but everyone agrees: Zendaya played her with the chill-inducing complexity she deserves. EGOT soon! This is Zendaya’s magnum opus — so far. She’s proven she’s a movie star, a leading lady, and an adult woman ready to play older roles. I can’t wait for what she does next.
Challengers will hit theaters on Friday, April 26th. Watch the full trailer here:
It sometimes seems surprising that tennis doesn’t inspire more movies. Its one-on-one gladiatorial clashes are inherently dramatic and psychological, while the devious scoring system means no match is ever lost until it’s lost. Nail-biting climaxes and last-minute turnarounds are baked into the design. On the other hand, the fast-moving, seesawing action is technically difficult to frame in a way that’s both exciting and legible — and that same scoring system might drastically confuse anyone who doesn’t follow the sport.
Or maybe there are only so many tennis stories to tell. It’s certainly true that after watching Challengers, the torrid, wildly entertaining new tennis melodrama starring Zendaya and directed by Call Me by Your Name’s Luca Guadagnino, I was struck by some surprising similarities to an earlier film. Only this film isn’t a proper sports movie, or even a pseudo-serious bit of prestige pulp like Challengers. 7 Days in Hell is a profoundly silly 43-minute HBO mockumentary from 2015, starring The Lonely Island’s Andy Samberg and streaming on Hulu and Max.
It’s tough to prove my point without comprehensively spoiling either film. You should watch them both; they’re both lots of fun. Let’s just say that both feature a hotly contested, emotionally (and maybe sexually) charged match between rival male players that goes the distance — and far beyond. Both movies also feature varying degrees of hot threesome action; an absurdly extended, physically impossible rally at the net; and a certain gesture that takes things up a gear. And they both end in strikingly similar ways, even though the actual outcomes are very, very different.
Image: HBO
Image: HBO
Photo: Niko Tavernise/Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Pictures
Above: Andy Samberg and Kit Harington in 7 Days in Hell. Below: Mike Faist and Josh O’Connor in Challengers.
Perhaps the key to both films’ success is that they recognize that tennis, with its strange rituals, hourslong matches, hushed intensity, and soundtrack of echoing pops, grunts, and smacks, is actually pretty ridiculous. Guadagnino’s movie spends more than two hours edging along the border of high camp, urged along by Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross’ pounding gay-club score. 7 Days in Hell is an all-out parody; it has no such restraint, if restraint is the word.
7 Days in Hell spoofs an ESPN 30 for 30-style sports documentary. Its subject is the longest match in tennis history, a first-round clash at Wimbledon that lasted for seven days. The top seed is Charles Poole (Game of Thrones’ Kit Harington), a tragically dim Brit carrying the nation’s hopes on his shoulders. The wild card is Aaron Williams (Samberg), a washed-up “bad boy of tennis” in the Andre Agassi mold who happens to be Venus and Serena Williams’ adoptive brother. (In one of many talking-head cameos from famous real-world tennis figures, Serena explains that her father, Richard, adopted a white boy off the streets and turned him into a tennis pro in a “reverse Blind Side.”) Aaron is on the comeback trail after killing a line umpire with a 176 mph serve in the 1990s.
7 Days in Hell’s prime target is the absurdly extended matches that the Grand Slam tournaments are known for — particularly Wimbledon, where rain often delays play into the next day, and tie breaks weren’t used in the final set until 2019, making endless matches theoretically possible. The movie delights in the absurdism and masochism of both playing and watching this sport, as rain, streakers, traffic accidents, conjuring tricks, and more conspire to imprison the two players and their audience in an agonizing weeklong death spiral.
The fun comes from 7 Days in Hell’s extremely broad, even crude, humor (you’re going to need to enjoy dick jokes — this is a Samberg joint, after all) mixed with its savage parody of both the tennis world and the sports-documentary format. The film’s best gag is a brilliantly sustained digression into the history of Swedish courtroom sketch art, delivered with completely straight faces by tennis legends John McEnroe and Chris Evert, as well as the film’s stacked cast of comic actors. It’s a sly satirization of the way docs can use celebrity and misappropriated expertise as a vehicle for all kinds of barely relevant, unexamined information.
Among those self-mocking talking heads, McEnroe is particularly good value throughout. (His best line delivery: “Aaron probably should have forfeited after killing a guy. But he didn’t, because he’s an asshole.” McEnroe remains undefeated at cursing.) David Copperfield also sends himself up beautifully. The pro performers are great, too, with Fred Armisen as All England Club chairman Edward Pudding, MCU veteran Karen Gillan as Charles Poole’s supermodel ex-girlfriend, Mary Steenburgen as his overbearing mother, Lena Dunham as a fashion CEO, and an unforgettable turn from Michael Sheen as Caspian Wint, a pervy, chain-smoking British sports broadcaster. The smooth narration comes from Jon Hamm.
Before things come to a head on day seven of the match, the two players hold a joint press conference. A dispute starts, and they square up against each other, hurling insults, in an argument that briefly turns into a confused, thwarted embrace. Fundamentally, 7 Days in Hell and Challengers are saying the same two things. One: Sport may be about competition and dominance, but it’s a thin line between dominance and desire. And two: Tennis is absurd.
Challengers is a movie obsessed with making sure you understand its chronology. Throughout its 131 minutes, Luca Guadagnino’s new ténnage à trois flick deploys a barrage of scene-resetting phrases like “THIRTEEN YEARS EARLIER,” “THE NEXT DAY,” and even “MIDNIGHT,” in all-caps, pink-text title cards. (Also: “SET BREAK,” shortly after a match official explains that they’re going to take a break between sets.) I’m not sure all of this is necessary: Even as the plot volleys across two decades, most shifts are easy to track. We know that it’s the mid-aughts because there’s a Motorola Razr on Zendaya’s nightstand; we know that it’s closer to the present day because Josh O’Connor is swiping through Tinder on a cracked iPhone. This isn’t exactly Lost Highway! (Though I would love to see what title cards Luca would’ve cooked up for Lynch’s neo-noir headfuck.)
This is, of course, a minor complaint—and I may be on an island here, considering the Letterboxd and Rotten Tomatoes loveChallengers is getting. But it’s relevant to a question I’m about to ask: Does Luca think I’m an idiot and that I wouldn’t notice he snuck a song from the wrong decade into a scene set in (roughly) 2006?
I’m specifically referring to THE scene, as in [insert “SPOILER” and “CONTENT WARNING” title cards here] the infamous threesome set piece that threatens to, uh, thrust the acronym “MMF” into the mainstream lexicon. [Another title card here: “DON’T GOOGLE MMF AT WORK.”] If you have a passing familiarity with Challengers, then you know what I’m referring to—Zendaya, O’Connor, and Mike Faist on a hotel bed, both men fawning over her, things getting hot and heavy as the two men try to show her their stroke (before playing a little doubles with themselves). The movie’s been out for less than 24 hours and it’s already one of the most talked-about scenes of the year. All of my attention should’ve been on this triples match. However, I was too busy losing my mind over one small detail: the song playing on the radio during this scene. Blood Orange’s “Uncle ACE”—ace, get it?—from his breakthrough Cupid Deluxe. A song that came out in 2013—as in six or seven years after this illicit almost-affair took place.
To be clear, “Uncle ACE” is an excellent song off Dev Hynes’s excellent album, and maybe a perfect choice, vibes-wise. It’s sexy, it’s propulsive, and it, uh, climaxes with an unbelievable sax solo. It’s also vaguely nostalgic, which should work in a movie that taps into nostalgia. The problem is that this song is supposed to be diegetic—the film nerd word meaning it exists in the world of the film, which, well, “Uncle ACE” certainly did not. (In fact, not only does Challengers imagine a world in which this song existed in 2006, but it also imagines a world in which a radio station would be conducting a lengthy interview with Dev Hynes.) If you’re a music nerd on top of being a film nerd, this is the exact kind of thing that will take you out of an experience. Instead of focusing on the Y tu Tennis También shit unfolding before your eyes, you’re desperately trying to make sense of why some dork-ass tennis prodigies in 2006 would be listening to a deep cut off of Pitchfork’s 21st-best record of 2013. It is all-caps, pink-text MADDENING!
A few weeks ago, before I had seen Challengers, a colleague of mine referred to it as “Saltburn-core.” If you’ve seen both, the descriptor fits. Even if Challengers’ threesome scene or churro-nibbling can’t come close to Saltburn’s spunk-slurping, grave-humping chaos, there’s a certain memeable soapiness to both. Both films also share an affinity for overexplaining things—I will never forgive Saltburn for the climactic montage, which gave the Usual Suspects plot-twist treatment to things that no half-awake viewer could have ever missed. (What do you mean the bad-guy liar lied about bad things?) And maybe most importantly, both Challengers and Saltburn mine the same era for nostalgia—with apparently little care for the finer details. Infamously, in Saltburn—which is also largely set in 2006 and 2007—there are a number of issues: characters playing MGMT songs a year before they could’ve known about them, karaoke versions of yet-to-be released Flo Rida hits, the family watching Superbad on DVD before the movie was even released in theaters! I know the rich have access to many things us plebes don’t, but I’m pretty sure Judd Apatow wasn’t sending the Catton family rough cuts of McLovin and friends. And it wasn’t just music and film nerds that noticed this stuff: The Saltburn anachronisms were so egregious that blogging about them became something of a cottageindustryaroundthe holidays.
As time goes on, it’s only natural that more and more movies will start looking back on the late 2000s and early 2010s. But if I’m going to be repeatedly confronted with the notion that my best days are now fodder for nostalgia, can’t they at least nail the details? Why bother setting the story in a not-really-that-bygone era in the first place if not? And if that doesn’t matter, then are these films being placed in the mid-aughts in service of the story or because it’s easy to tap into cheap sentimentality? Why didn’t the music supervisor for either movie step in and say, “Hey, shouldn’t these kids be listening to, like, “Daft Punk Is Playing at My House” instead? (Though if I’m being real, Art Donaldson seems more like a Band of Horses guy.) It’s not like Luca and his team didn’t focus on other small details: The product placement is self-aware, but avoids veering into Talladega Nights or Wayne’s World parody territory. The specific degradations of Josh O’Connor’s character—and the way they manifest through his court attire and the empty bottles clinking around the floor of his car—are subtly brilliant. Hell, this is a movie with an intricate understanding of the geography of Westchester County! I have my gripes with a handful of things about the film—let’s never talk about the stop-motion wind kiss under the giant “Game Changer” poster—but it’s clear some level of care went into this. (Though there is one other pedantic, also diegetic thing I have to speak my truth on: At one point, Zendaya’s kid asks to watch Spider-Verse, and while I admire the restraint shown in not referencing the mononymous star’s own role in that franchise, the winking reference doesn’t break the fourth wall so much as it splits its skull against it.)
Mistakes—or possibly just wanton flouting of chronology—like the “Uncle ACE” placement are head-scratching, but ultimately inconsequential. No one, aside from the most P4K-pilled, is going to truly care about the flattening of indie-music history. (And to be fair, during one scene, Challengers got the mid-aughts hipster catnip right with a needle drop of Spoon’s “I Turn My Camera On.”) Also, I get it: There are a trillion small things that go into making a movie, so it’s better to have some grace, especially with the man who made Call Me by Your Name. But my culture—my skinny jeans and iPod Nano and Sailor Jerry tattoos—is not a costume, so please have some respect. If you’re going to ask me to care that much about the timeline, you have to care about every part of it. That shouldn’t be hard to grasp. Maybe if I put it on a title card in all caps, they’ll understand.
He’s a pro in complicated romantic roles. The question of whether Josh O’Connor is gay or in a relationship is brought up by viewers who watched the steamy tennis thriller Challengers.
Spoilers ahead for Challengers! If you watched just the trailer of the long-awaited movie about a love triange, you’ve seen that spicy scene where Tashi (Zendaya), Art (Faist), and Patrick (O’Connor) gather in a hotel room and share a three-way kiss. Then, Tashi sits back while the other two continue. The interesting thing is that the kiss wasn’t in the early version of the script. “It wasn’t,” filmmaker Luca Guadagnino confirmed to the New York Times.
Speaking with Variety, Zendaya explained how it’s not your typical sports movie. “It’s much deeper,” she said. “Tennis is just a metaphor for a lot of bigger shit. For power. For codependency. They’re using tennis as their device to get these things out of their system. It’s the only way they know how to communicate.”
While the movie is super horny, the Challengers sex scene is not what you think. In fact, it’s the build-up of sexual tension that makes it so steamy. “We were asked about the sex scenes, and Z [Zendaya] was like, ‘there aren’t any’,” O’Connor told the press in Australia when the film opened on April 18, per Elle Australia. “It wasn’t a stupid question. It’s a reasonable question because it feels so on the edge of that at all times. And actually, the tennis is the sex scene. That’s their intimacy.”
O’Connor talked about how he related to his character a lot in the movie. “He is front-footed, he’s overly confident — all these qualities that I’ve always admired and always wanted that I’ve never quite been able to have. Just to play it and be in his shoes for a few months was bliss,” O’Connor told AP. “That’s what I’ll hold on to with Patrick. I really like Patrick. I know he’s problematic but I really like him. I find him hilarious and charming and he knows himself. And those are all qualities that I don’t necessarily have but I admire in him.”
Is Josh O’Connor gay?
Josh O’Connor has taken up plenty of gay roles but has spoken out about his sexuality. “I have been asked, a few times, should a straight actor play a gay part?” he told GQ. “And every time I have been honest and said… I don’t know.”
“I’d always be really open about it. Sexuality…is more complicated than we realize. Just as Grayson talks about masculinity not being this steel rod, it’s true of queerness, too; it’s fluid and elastic, but we often don’t really have the tools to articulate that in our culture.”
The actor has played several characters who identify in the LGBTQ+ community in shows and movies like Hide and Seek, Peaky Blinders, God’s Own Country, The Colour of His Hair, and Bonus Track.
Is Josh O’Connor in a relationship?
It’s not known whether or not Josh O’Connor is in a relationship. He’s been previously linked to marketing Accounting Director Margot Hauer-King (the older sister of Jonah Hauer-King) in 2019 and in 2021, they were reportedly living together in New York City. However, in 2023, he purchased a house in Gloucestershire and moved back to the UK so it’s unknown if they are still together.
As they’re getting ready for the final match in Challengers, Zendaya’s Tashi Donaldson questions asks her husband, Art Donaldson (Mike Faist), if he wants to just be rich or if he actually wants to be a tennis champion. Mid-argument, their young daughter Lily cuts the tension by asking if she could watch … Spider-Man: Into the Spider-verse instead of more tennis. At the Los Angeles premiere, Zendaya gave a little insight on how the reference made it into the final cut; after all, she is one of the film’s producers. “What’s funny is that I think it might have been something else, but that’s what we could get cleared,” she said with a wink. “It’s a fun little callout.” The “callout” is, of course, referring to her role as MJ in MCU’s Spider-Man alongside her real-life boyfriend, Tom Holland. While she doesn’t appear in the animated Spider-Verse films yet, she and Mr. Spidey both have expressed interest in joining the next movie. For now, it’s just a fun little Easter egg that is sure to get a couple chuckles, even if a proper Spider-Man: Homecoming mention didn’t make it into the final cut.
Plus, Justin Kuritzkes joins to talk about writing the script, the power dynamics among the characters, and more!
Sean and Amanda gather to discuss the 2024 film perfectly situated at the center of their respective tastes: Challengers. They discuss the thrilling trio of actors at its center, underrated director Luca Guadagnino, its pulsing score, and its thrilling ending (1:00). Then, Sean interviews Justin Kuritzkes, the writer of the movie, about writing this script on spec, the balance of power dynamics among the characters, why he chose to set it in the world of tennis, and more (1:35:00).
Hosts: Sean Fennessey and Amanda Dobbins Guest: Justin Kuritzkes Senior Producer: Bobby Wagner
In what is now surely the “instant classic” movie poster for Challengers, there is an illustrated version of Tashi Duncan (Zendaya)—her hair cropped short—wearing sunglasses that reflect two tennis-playing men, Patrick Zweig (Josh O’Connor) and Arthur “Art” Donaldson (Mike Faist), in each lens. A faint hint of a devious smirk on her face, everything about the poster suggests that she’s not only the “puppetmaster” of these two white boys, but also someone who gets a perverse (and sexual) thrill out of watching them compete with each other…specifically over (tennis) courting her favor (and yes, Challengers is now easily among the best “tennis movies,” complete with a Venus Williams nod of approval [sorry King Richard]).
Director Luca Guadagnino, who perfected the art of homoerotic repression constantly about to bubble to the surface in 2017’s Call Me By Your Name, does so to an even more sophisticated and nuanced degree here. With a script penned by playwright Justin Kuritzkes (who also happens to be married to Past Lives writer-director Celine Song), the barbing nature of the dialogue is mirrored not only by the high-octane back and forth on the tennis court, but also the high-octane soundtrack—provided by Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross—to match. Even during moments when audiences wouldn’t typically expect…namely, during tense scenes of dialogue where the sparring is done with words instead of rackets. And oh, how there are so many tense scenes that make it irresistible for Guadagnino to use the Reznor/Ross-produced music (which, at times, sounds like it was made by New Order). Not that there aren’t plenty of other moments when “normal” music is used, too. Specifically to indicate what year of the 2000s it is. Even though, when Tashi first comes up to Patrick and Art’s hotel room, and it’s supposed to be 2006, Blood Orange’s “Uncle ACE” is playing in the background—a song that didn’t come out until 2013. But “whatever,” one supposes…guess it’s all about the “mood” and not “historical accuracy” (just ask the music supervisors on Saltburnand Madame Web). Earlier in their pursuit, when Patrick and Art home in on Tashi at a party thrown in her honor on Long Island, Nelly’s “Hot in Herre” is playing like it’s 2002.
When we get to 2007, other 00s-era bops include Blu Cantrell’s 2001 single, “Hit ‘Em Up Style (Oops!)” and Lily Allen’s 2006 smash, “Smile” (which plays faintly in the background of the cafeteria at Stanford while Tashi and Art have lunch together). It seems Guadagnino isn’t as interested in matching the music to the year when we enter 2010 and beyond, with the film commencing in August of 2019 before it flashes back to thirteen years earlier and then keeps flip-flopping in between certain years prior. From the beginning, though, it’s made clear that the real relationship—the core one—is between Patrick and Art. In 2006, they play together as “Fire and Ice” (though it’s never said which one is fire and which ice—hair color-wise, Art would be fire and Patrick ice, but personality-wise, each man can be both…“bi,” if you will).
Their feelings of love beyond friendship are immediately conveyed in the way they embrace one another on the court after winning a game of doubles. Later on, as they walk through the tournament eating hot dogs (a very specific food choice) together, they geek out about their passion for tennis before settling into the audience stand to watch a match. It is at this point that Patrick starts to talk up Tashi, calling her the “hottest woman I’ve ever seen” (cue Katy Perry singing, “California gurls/We’re undeniable/Fine, fresh, fierce/We got it on lock”). Art has no idea what he’s talking about until Tashi steps onto the court at that very moment and proceeds to do some sensual stretches before making the game her bitch.
Art is now convinced about going to the party on Long Island to try to talk to her. And they do. They wait all night, until everyone else is leaving, to really talk to her. During their first proper conversation together, Tashi tells Patrick and Art that every tennis match is like being in a relationship with someone. And the audience gets to watch it all unfold. She seems to direct this metaphor more toward Patrick, who she thinks hasn’t yet learned what tennis really is yet, despite being a better player than Art. Indeed, Patrick had agreed to let Art win the match the following day until Tashi shows up in their hotel room and plants the seed of competition in their mind by saying that she’ll only give her number to the boy who wins the match the next day. So it is that a shift in Patrick and Art’s dynamic occurs. Where once they were on an even playing field with little source of conflict, Tashi is the wrench thrown into their formerly repressed homoeroticism. But she brings it out in them when, during a “three-way” kiss, it doesn’t take long for it to become a two-way between Patrick and Art, who have to be reminded that Tashi is even still there when she demands, “Stop.” She then chooses to go no further because, as she puts it, “I’m not a homewrecker.” A “half-joke” with more truth in it than not. For Patrick and Art are in love, and Tashi is essentially breaking up the purity of that love with her introduction as a presence to compete for. The Patrick/Art rapport is, needless to say, one that mirrors the Jules/Jim one as described by the narration, “Jules and Jim’s friendship had no equivalent in love. They delighted together in the smallest things. They accepted their differences with tenderness. From the start, everyone called them Don Quixote and Sancho Panza.”
As the audience watches the drama of Challengers unfurl over these ten-plus years (intercutting back and forth like a tennis ball in the timeline), it always seemed Art wanted Tashi because Patrick did, and because “winning” her would somehow prove he had “superior game.” What’s more, in its psychologically fraught way, being with Tashi is a means to become even closer to him…to figuratively “cross swords” (instead of just rackets) by having entered the same woman. Tashi’s eventual leaning toward Art, despite being with Patrick (who won the match that day in ‘06 in order to gain her number) first, is a direct result of what Patrick said to her when they eventually broke up: she wanted someone to boss around, to be her “fan,” not her peer. In short, she wanted a whipping boy. But she also wanted someone like Patrick, too. Someone who pushes back and is unpredictable—fiery. Essentially, she does need and want both of them because she can’t get their respective personalities in just one man. And while she might seem like the alpha throughout the sizzling narrative, her formation at the top of the triangle betrays the reality that, without her, Patrick and Art would still go on as friends-bordering-on-lovers anyway. Were it not for her, as a matter of fact, they would have remained friends instead of “breaking up.”
It is in this regard that Challengers might present a dangerous underlying message (though not one that is anything new in our misogynistic society). And that is: whenever a woman gets involved, it ruins everything “precious” and “beautiful” about a male friendship. Invokes jealousies and pettiness that never would have arisen had it not been for “that bitch” (see also: Dawson’s Creek). There are numerous love triangle movies to this effect, not least of which is Jules and Jim. In fact, Tashi has nothing on Catherine (Jeanne Moreau), the woman whose affections Jules and Jim vie for until Jules ends up marrying and having a child with her. Which is exactly what Art does with Tashi. Except that, rather than shunning Jim from their lives, they welcome him into it. Moreover (Moreau-ver?), it’s obvious Catherine still has a thing for him, too. And Jules even wants Jim to be with her, suggesting as much when he notices how bored and lifeless she’s become.
Patrick is the Jim of the permutation in Challengers—the ballsier, less mild-mannered of the male duo that Tashi can’t help continuing to be attracted to. Even if she’s endlessly bored by each of them individually, but excited by them when they, er, come together. In turn, Patrick and Art are excited by Tashi because she is the conduit that sparks the sexual charge between them (this most overtly manifested during the hotel kissing scene when she only briefly divides them before they end up kissing each other).
The reason Patrick and Art are attracted to Tashi is also for the same reason Jules and Jim are attracted to Catherine: she is a “disruptor” to their calm, static “friendship.” Someone who will shake things up, make life interesting and, yes, challenge them. Sometimes to be better, but, more often than not, to be the worst versions of themselves. Which, again, doesn’t exactly serve as a great PSA for women. Forever painted as “manipulative” and “calculated.” But at least in Challengers, Tashi doesn’t end up killing Patrick—so that’s progress on the toxicity front. Regardless of whether or not one sees Challengers as a monogamy or polyamory story, a gay or a straight one.
At Polygon, a lot of us are fans of sitting down to a movie with as little upfront information as possible, for the feeling of discovery. But sometimes, it helps to know a few things going in, whether it’s an interesting fact about the movie’s history or just knowing how many end-credits scenes to wait for. Here are four things we think you should know about Luca Guadagnino’s Challengers before watching.
What is Challengers about?
Photo: Niko Tavernise/Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Pictures
The simple title doesn’t offer much clarity. But broadly, and without spoilers: Challengers follows a complicated relationship between three people. Zendaya, who also produced the movie, plays Tashi, a former teenage tennis superstar. In a story that jumps back and forth in time, she meets best friends and tennis partners Art (West Side Story’s Mike Faist) and Patrick (The Crown’s Josh O’Connor), dates both of them, marries one of them and becomes his tennis coach, then pits them against each other in an epic tennis match for complicated personal reasons that take most of the movie to unpack.
The movie starts at that match, when all three of them are in their 30s. Then it loops back to their teen years, and jumps around in time to explore what happened between the threesome’s first meeting and the present, more than a decade later.
Does Challengers have a post-credits scene?
No, there’s nothing after the credits — meaning no further information about the aftermath of that final match. Director Luca Guadagnino (Call Me by Your Name, Bones and All) and writer Justin Kuritzkes leave that up to fanfiction writers. We like to think that aftermath resembles the climactic scene in one of Kuritzkes’ favorite movies, Y Tu Mamá También, which… well, if you know, you know.
What do I need to know about tennis before watching Challengers?
The scoring rules for tennis are a little complicated, and it’s worth boning up on them before the movie if you want to fully understand the action and the specific setbacks and triumphs Art and Patrick face. (Video gamers who’ve played a lot of Wii Sports tennis or any of the many other tennis sims may be way ahead of the game here.)
The two men are competing in a Challengers match, one of the qualifier events the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) uses to determine who goes on to professional-level competition. When the movie starts, Art is already a pro-level player, qualified for the biggest events in the sport, like Wimbledon and the U.S. Open. Patrick is trying to qualify to play at that level.
The key terms to understand: The two men are pitted against each other in a match, which typically means three or five sets. A set is a series of games, played until one player has won at least six cumulative games and has won at least two more games than their opponent has. The winner of a game is whichever player scores four points first, except when the game is tied at three points each. We’ll get into that below.
Points have their own designations in tennis: love (zero points), 15 (one point), 30 (two points), and 40 (three points). Tennis has multiple officiants, but the one seated above the match, known as the chair umpire, serves as a referee, calling the score and any faults or penalties that would change the score. For instance, if the chair umpire calls a score of “love-30,” that means one player has zero points and the other has two. When both players have the same number of points, the score is called as “all,” as in “15-all,” meaning each player has one point.
A game that hits a tied score of 40-all has its own special word, “deuce.” In a deuce situation, a player needs to score two points in a row to win. That means a four-point game might go on for a dozen points. Whoever scored the most recent point in a deuce game after the score was tied is said to have “advantage,” since they’re halfway to winning — so if player A scores one point in a deuce game, they have advantage, but if player B then scores a point, the score goes back to 40-all, with player B now having advantage. There are several ways to score points in tennis apart from successfully getting a ball past the other player. An opponent might surrender points via a fault. Or the chair umpire might assess penalty points for an opponent’s unsportsmanlike conduct, including swearing, throwing things, delaying a match, and more.
Yes, all this is relevant in Challengers, especially for understanding why Art and Patrick play so many games against each other, and why some of those games go on so long.
Can you enjoy Challengerswithout knowing anything about tennis?
Sure. It’s pretty clear when one of the players is on the upswing and the other is losing, just from their responses. Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross’ aggressive, driving score for the film spikes up the excitement and makes it clear when big, important things are happening. But being able to read the on-screen match scoring and follow what’s going on in individual games will give you a lot more nuance about the status of a given game and the overall match.
Are the actors really playing tennis in Challengers?
They’re often hitting real balls on real courts, but plenty of effects and editing trickery were involved in making the games look seamless. Zendaya, Faist, and O’Connor all went through extensive training to make sure their forms on the court were convincing. But as Zendaya has pointed out in interviews, she’d never played tennis before, and she faced a steep learning curve, giving a credible performance as a world-class tennis prodigy.
Is Challengers a good movie?
Polygon sure recommends it! It’s a playful, sexy, tense story, part romance and part compelling sports drama. From our review:
Luca Guadagnino’s sweaty, panting sports-and-sex romantic drama Challengers feel[s] like a thumbed nose (or a raised middle finger) aimed at American Puritanism and an increasingly sex-negative culture. Challengers is a sharp and snappy movie, full of big emotions expressed through fast-paced dialogue in some scenes and through silent, sensual physicality in others, all shot with creative verve and aggressive in-your-face energy. Everyone in this movie is chasing sex and success, and conflating those things with each other in unashamedly provocative ways.
The writer Justin Kuritzkes became obsessed with pro tennis after watching Naomi Osaka beat Serena Williams at the 2018 U.S. Open in an infamous match fraught with argument. As Williams pleaded her case to the umpire, Kuritzkes realized how cinematic the situation could be: how alone each player was, yet how linked to each other. He started watching tennis all the time, and when he ran out of big matches, he found smaller ones like the Challenger tournaments — low-budget events that could help someone qualify for the highest level of competition. Some of the players there may be among the top 300 in the world, but they’re fighting for prize money that won’t even cover their expenses. Kuritzkes knew the feeling. At the time, he was a well-regarded playwright who struggled to get anything produced. “Although the stands at a Challenger are mostly empty, the players’ emotions are just as if they were at the U.S. Open because they’re fighting for their lives. It’s the humiliation of being a gladiator and nobody’s even there to watch you die,” he says. “I connected with that deeply as a theater person. If you asked me if I know the 271st most successful theater actor in America, I probably do. And I guarantee you they’re broke.”
In 2021, he decided to channel his tennis fixation into a screenplay — and now that screenplay is Challengers, a Zendaya-led production full of enough unsatisfied desire and close-ups of sweaty, beautiful young men to confirm that Luca Guadagnino directed it. The film follows three tennis players who have spent their entire adult lives entangled in one another’s careers and beds: Zendaya plays Tashi Donaldson, a former prodigy who should have gone pro but couldn’t. Mike Faist is her husband, Art, a six-time Grand Slam winner whom Tashi both coaches and disdains. And then there’s Patrick Zweig (Josh O’Connor), an all-id ex-friend and doubles partner to Art and ex-boyfriend to Tashi. When Patrick reencounters the couple at a Challenger in suburban New York, it throws all three of them into racket-smashing, early-onset midlife crisis.
Challengers is Zendaya’s first big-screen leading role, and she plays Tashi full of withholding and coiled, frustrated ambition; her idea of a pep talk before a match is telling her husband to “decimate that little bitch.” This is also Kuritzkes’s first screenplay. Now 33, he spent his 20s writing comic and disturbing plays that were supported by prestigious residencies and fellowships but rarely produced for the stage. Hollywood has been a lot faster to welcome him: After Challengers, he’s got another film with Guadagnino, an adaptation of the William S. Burroughs book Queer. Next, he’s adapting Don Winslow’s mob novel City on Fire with Austin Butler set to star. This would all seem more unprecedented if his wife hadn’t just done something similar: Kuritzkes is married to Celine Song, the former playwright whose own debut film, Past Lives, was nominated for two Oscars.
Even if most of the people who saw Past Lives didn’t know Kuritzkes’s name, Song’s press tour gave him a kind of secondhand, not-quite-accurate fame: The film is about a New York playwright who reengages with a childhood crush from South Korea and begins to question her marriage to her white husband. In interviews, Song talked at length about how her film was inspired by her own life. Now Kuritzkes has written a ménage à trois of his own. Like Past Lives, it hinges on a young woman who is forced to confront the romantic road not taken. Unlike Song, he’s not willing to discuss that theme. “Challengers is an intensely personal film to me — in ways that I’m not interested in talking about,” he says.
He dismisses the films’ similarities. “Love triangles are one of the most basic plots in cinema,” he says. “Even in a relationship between two people, there’s always a sort of imagined third presence.” I ask what that third presence might be. “Well, for a lot of people, it’s, like, Jesus,” he jokes. “Or it’s their conception of themselves, or their parents, or their friends. But in a love triangle, that third presence is not imagined.” Either way, he says, the parallels between his life and Past Lives or Challengers don’t matter: “Once it gets transformed into a work of art, the connection between that and the real thing is irrelevant. That’s just fuel that you’re using to propel a vehicle.”
Justin Kuritzkes on the set of Challengers. Photo: Niko Tavernise/Niko Tavernise
Kuritzkes and I meet at the Fort Greene Park tennis courts in early April, settling down on a cold bench to watch the amateurs hit. To the left, four middle-aged white men play competent doubles. To the right, two young people struggle just to get the ball over the net. Suddenly, a horde of 14-year-olds stream onto the courts, running and yelling as they gather for what’s either an after-school tennis camp or an ad hoc hazing. When Kuritzkes was around that age, he had already quit his tennis lessons. “I could tell exactly how bad I was. I would have moments where it clicked and then wouldn’t be able to replicate it. That drove me crazy because I was like, Well, why can’t I just do that every time?” he says. “I decided I was as good as I was ever going to get and it wasn’t good enough. So I was done.”
Kuritzkes grew up in L.A., the son of a real-estate-lawyer mother and gastroenterologist father, and went to the prep school Harvard-Westlake, where he graduated one year behind Lily Collins and three years ahead of Ben Platt and Beanie Feldstein. The school had a student playwriting festival, and Kuritzkes became a regular participant, writing 10-to-15-minute plays. “The immediacy of theater was intoxicating,” he says. “You can just write something, get two chairs, and have actors do it and the audience will suspend their disbelief.” When he went off to Brown, “I already knew I was a playwright,” he says. In between working on his thesis, he started making character-study videos on his laptop, warping his face using the built-in effects of Photo Booth. In his most-watched video, “Potion Seller,” he plays a knight who keeps begging a merchant for potions.
He met Song the summer after he graduated, in 2012, during a fellowship in Montauk. Song fictionalized this first encounter in Past Lives in a woozy scene where protagonist Nora (Greta Lee) flirts with future husband Arthur (John Magaro) under the fairy lights at a dreamlike residency. Nora departs on a long definition of the Korean concept of in-yun — “It means providence, or fate” — before circling back to say it’s just “something Koreans say to seduce someone.”
Song has said they connected over their work, so I ask Kuritzkes, half-joking, how long it took before he showed her his YouTube videos. He stiffens. “I’m so thrilled and happy to talk about Celine in virtually every context, but I would never want to speak for her in the context of an interview,” he says. Too much in-yun has been spilled already. I point out that Song has spoken freely about their lives together. “I wouldn’t want anybody to confuse the character and me because it erases the work that she and her actor did, or it pollutes it,” he says. I ask if he thinks people do confuse him with the character. “I don’t know,” he replies, looking me straight in the eye. “Do you?”
In Past Lives, the husband is a gentle presence who recedes into the background. In real life, Kuritzkes comes off as preternaturally self-assured. “He has had that from a very young age,” says theater director Danya Taymor. “It’s not arrogance. He just believes in himself.” Shortly after Kuritzkes and Song started dating, “Potion Seller” went so viral that The New Yorker eventually published a parody of it; the video now has over 11 million views. The couple married in 2016, the same year Kuritzkes’s play The Sensuality Party — his thesis from Brown, a series of interlocking monologues from college kids who have an orgy that turns nonconsensual — was produced Off Broadway with Taymor directing. When Kuritzkes and another friend, the director Knud Adams, wanted to stage Kuritzkes’s play Asshole, they built the set themselves and rehearsed in their respective apartments. The play is about a doctor who oversees the force-feeding of prisoners at a government black site and is obsessed with his own asshole. Kuritzkes had written it in 2014 after reading about the force-feeding of Guantánamo prisoners on hunger strike. “The fact that everybody could go about our normal lives after hearing about it really freaked me out,” he says. “I started to think, Well, what would really repulse somebody? It would be a guy playing with his own asshole and smelling his own shit.” The production, at the Brooklyn theater Jack, was a surprise hit. As Adams remembers, “We sold out all our shows. But then it’s not hard to sell out Jack — there are 40 seats.”
Writing Challengers was an exercise in following desire. Deep in the grips of tennis mania, Kuritzkes had begun to wonder what could make watching the game even more interesting. “If I knew exactly what was at stake on an emotional level beyond the court for the people playing and the people watching, that would be just eating a plate of chocolate truffles to me.” His agent sent the script to the producers, Amy Pascal and Rachel O’Connor, who got it to Zendaya, who loved it. The actress wanted both to star and to co-produce. “One of the things I remember saying to Zendaya when we first met was that the cultural space that Zendaya occupies in the world is the space that the character Tashi was supposed to occupy — that was the life she was supposed to have,” says Kuritzkes. “I think she really connected with that ambition and that pain.” The producers and Zendaya who got Guadagnino onboard.
With Challengers, Kuritzkes became part of a machine: He was working with Guadagnino and the film’s tennis consultant, the coach and commentator Brad Gilbert, on the many gameplay scenes, which were choreographed like fights. Each one had to be shot with both body doubles and the actors, and only Faist came in with tennis experience. “During breaks, we would sometimes pick up racquets and play. I have really funny videos on my phone of Luca,” says Kuritzkes, smiling. “It was so adorable. He just couldn’t hit the ball to save his life.”
Kuritzkes says that he always imagined a charge between Art and Patrick — “There is eroticism present in every intimate friendship, especially one between two guys who have spent their lives in locker rooms and dorm rooms and on the court together” — and that Guadagnino’s interpretation pushed it further. Mostly, though, the boys are each other’s foils, with Patrick always willing to play the heel. In Guadagnino’s hands, this inevitably bends erotic. When the two first become infatuated with Tashi, Art says earnestly that she’s “a remarkable young woman.” Patrick replies, “I know. She’s a pillar of the community.” He lowers to a whisper: “I’d let her fuck me with a racquet.” Kuritzkes says that although none of the characters is based on a real player, it was important for Tashi to be a Black woman. “The story of American tennis is Black women for the past however many decades,” he says. “I also knew that I didn’t want to not specify the races of the characters. That always feels to me like you’re avoiding something. Her being a Black woman informs a lot about how she navigates her situation and how she navigates her relationship with these guys.” The Zendaya line making the rounds in the film’s trailer — “I’m taking such good care of my little white boys” — sounds affectionate only on paper.
When Kuritzkes was a kid, he felt bad that so many of the films he loved, like Jules et Jim and Y Tu Mamá También, were about love triangles; he felt guilty getting so much pleasure from watching a scenario in which someone was being wronged, rejected, or hurt. Now he believes movies are exactly the right place for it. “Part of the joy of watching it is thinking, At least my life isn’t as messed up as that, or, My life is as messed up as that, and thank God I’m not alone,” he says. “What’s good for art is the opposite of what’s good for life.”
2023 was a great year for movies, but we’ve spent enough time talking about 2023. We’re done with her. It’s time to think about 2024 and all the new movies we can’t wait to see.
The new year is an opportunity to wipe the slate clean. For cinephiles, it’s a brief period of optimism; a chance to really mean it when we say we’ll keep up with new movie releases. And I do mean it, just like I mean it every year. Following the WGA and SAG strikes of 2023, the trades are predicting fewer new movie releases, which may very well be true. But there are still plenty of new movies hitting theaters this year for us to get worked up over—even if the year looks a little front-loaded at the moment.
Mean Girls (January 12)
(Paramount)
Despite not being marketed as such, Mean Girls is indeed a musical. Based on the Broadway production, which in turn is based on the 2003 comedy (which was based on a book!), Mean Girls features Renee Rapp reprising her stage role as Regina George alongside returning star and screenwriter Tina Fey. The new ensemble also includes Angourie Rice, Avantika Vandanapu, Bebe Wood, and Ashley Park. –Britt Hayes
The Book of Clarence (January 12)
(Sony Pictures Releasing)
LaKeith Stanfield actually has two movies hitting theaters on January 12: action-thriller The Beekeeper, co-starring Jason Statham, and The Book of Clarence. We’re a little more stoked for the latter, a biblical-era dramedy and the second film from Jeymes Samuel (a.k.a. British singer-songwriter The Bullitts). Stanfield plays the titular role, a man struggling to make ends meet for his family when he decides to follow in Jesus’ footsteps—at first as a scheme, but we know how these things turn out. –BH
The Kitchen (January 19)
(Netflix)
We all want to know what a Barney movie directed by Daniel Kaluuya will look like, and The Kitchen might give us something of an idea. Kaluuya makes his feature directing debut alongside Kibwe Tavares with this dystopian sci-fi set in a version of London where social housing is eliminated. Starring Jedaiah Bannerman, Kano, and Hope Ikpoku, The Kitchen looks like a real conversation starter. –BH
Miller’s Girl (January 26)
(Lionsgate)
Another one sure to get people talking is Miller’s Girl, an indie thriller that evokes the erotic thrillers and dramas of the ‘90s. Jenna Ortega stars as a college student who becomes intimately involved with her professor (Martin Freeman) during a creative writing assignment. After last year’s Fair Play, we’re eager to see another movie that navigates the complexities of gendered power dynamics. This one comes to us from first-time feature filmmaker Jade Bartlett, and gives Ortega a chance to explore her range. –BH
Argylle (February 2)
(Universal Pictures)
What is Argylle? No one knows. We’ve seen trailers for it. Maybe. We know it stars Henry Cavill, Bryce Dallas Howard, Sam Rockwell, John Cena, Samuel L. Jackson, and Dua Lipa. And also there’s a cat? Matthew Vaughn’s latest is, according the synopsis, about a novelist (Howard) whose books about a dashing spy (Cavill) begin resembling the actual doings of a real spy organization. It sounds a little like Le Magnifique, the wacky 1973 French film starring Jean-Paul Belmondo. –BH
Lisa Frankenstein (February 9)
(Focus Features)
It’s written by Diablo Cody. It’s the feature directorial debut of Zelda Williams (daughter of the late Robin). It stars Kathryn Newton and Cole Sprouse. It’s a Frankenstein riff set in the ‘80s. It’s called LISA FRANKENSTEIN for crying out loud. What more could you possibly need here? –BH
Madame Web (February 14)
(Sony Pictures)
We’ll finally get to see what happened when he was in the Amazon with her mom when she was researching spiders, right before she died! Madame Web is Sony’s latest attempt to expand its Spider-Man universe, this time with actual Spidey-people instead of villains and antiheroes people may or may not care about. (That said, I am so down for Venom 3 and the return of The Brock Report.) Starring Dakota Johnson, Sydney Sweeney, and Isabela Merced, Madame Web is a Valentine’s Day movie, apparently, because girls? –BH
Drive-Away Dolls (February 23)
(Focus Features)
The first solo effort from Ethan Coen (of the Coen Brothers), Drive-Away Dollsis an exciting film for a number of reasons. One, we’re getting Pedro Pascal in a Coen movie, but we’re also seeing a female-centric story from the filmmaker. Centered on Jamie (Margaret Qualley) as she goes through a break-up and her friend Marian (Geraldine Viswanathan), who’s helping her through it, the trailers make Drive-Away Dolls look like a return to the Coen antics we’ve come to love over the years. Getting to see Ethan Coen shine on his own (as Joel Coen has already done) is exciting! –Rachel Leishman
Dune: Part Two (March 1)
(Warner Bros.)
While I was tempted to mount a Jan. 6 on Warner Bros. to liberate Dune: Part Two from the vault (no jury would convict me), I’m glad I decided to remain a free woman so that I can see Denis Villeneuve’s epic sequel in a movie the-a-ter. Timothée Chalamet, fresh off Wonka, returns as ostensible chosen one Paul Atreides, leading the Fremen (including love interest Chani, played by Zendaya) in a revolt against the corrupt forces of the galaxy. –BH
Love Lies Bleeding (March 8)
(A24)
Rose Glass’ follow-up to the haunting Saint Maud is Love Lies Bleeding, a romantic thriller starring Kristen Stewart as Lou, a gym owner who gets it bad for bodybuilder Jackie (Katy M. O’Brian). Come for the lesbian crime thriller that’s giving off Bound vibes, stay for scary Ed Harris with a skullet. –BH
Imaginary (March 8)
(Lionsgate)
Last January, Blumhouse introduced us to M3GAN, who briefly became the Mariah Carey of horror. This year, Blumhouse seems to be hitting the same sweet spot (or trying to) with Imaginary. DeWanda Wise plays a woman who returns to her childhood home to discover that her imaginary friend is so pissed at her for moving away and growing up that it possesses the body of a teddy bear to get revenge. Sounds wild, let’s go. –BH
The American Society of Magical Negroes (March 22)
(Focus Features)
Actor and comedian Kobi Libii makes his directing debut with The American Society of Magical Negroes, which imagines a world in which the tired racist trope is crucial to the functioning of society. Justice Smith stars as a young man recruited by the eponymous society, comprised of Black people with magical abilities, each assigned to help a white person navigate life. Co-starring David Alan Grier, Aisha Hinds, Rupert Friend, and Nicole Byer, The American Society of Magical Negroes looks hilarious and maybe a little sweet, too? –BH
Mickey 17 (March 29)
(Warner Bros.)
Three years after sweeping the Oscars with Parasite, Bong Joon-ho is finally back, and this time he’s returning to the science fiction genre. Based on a novel by Edward Ashton, Mickey 17 is set in the future, and stars Robert Pattinson as a worker clone sent on a mission to help colonize the ice world Niflheim. Not that you should need more reasons to watch after that description, but Director Bong’s latest co-stars Mark Ruffalo, Naomi Ackie, Toni Collette, and Steven Yeun. –BH
Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire (April 12)
(Warner Bros.)
Legendary’s MonsterVerse gets a little bigger with Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire, which brings back director Adam Wingard for the ultimate showdown. Two titans enter the ring (which is our planet, btw) and duke it out for … actually, I don’t really know why they’re fighting. This seems like an intersectional situation where they need to realize that people have been pitting them against each other and that they should just team up and kill us already. –BH
Civil War (April 26)
(A24)
Alex Garland is best known for dark, genre-bending sci-fi (Annihilation, Ex Machina) and horror (28 Days Later, Men), which makes his latest film something of a curiosity. Civil War is set in an imminent future in which the United States has dissolved into warring political factions, and follows the journalists (led by Kirsten Dunst) covering the conflict. Civil War might be Garland’s most ambitious film in more than one aspect; his work, while relatively grounded, doesn’t typically deal in current events. It also reunites the filmmaker with Devs stars Nick Offerman, Cailee Spaeny, and Stephen McKinley Henderson, and co-stars Wagner Moura and Jesse Plemons. –BH
Challengers (April 26)
(Amazon MGM Studios)
The minute we learned what Challengers is about, we were hooked. A movie in which Zendaya is married to Mike Faist but also sort of being in a throuple with Josh O’Connor? We’re in. Yes, there is tennis involved, but okay, whatever. The new Luca Guadagnino film was written by Justin Kuritzkes, the partner of Celine Song (who wrote and directed Past Lives, leading plenty of people to make comparisons to their relationship). There are just a lot of things going on with Challengersthat make it exciting, and we’ve been hyped about it since last summer! –RL
The Fall Guy (May 3)
(Universal Pictures)
What is better than Ryan Gosling behind the wheel of a car? Ryan Gosling as a stuntman—yes, again, but this time it’s funny. The Fall Guyis giving “What if Drive was sort of light-hearted and maybe a bit like The Nice Guys?” and I’m not exactly mad about it. Starring Gosling and Emily Blunt, we can just pretend like this is another Barbenheimer right? Written by Drew Pearce (Iron Man 3, Hotel Artemis), directed by David Leitch (John Wick, Atomic Blonde), and sort of based on the TV series of the same name, The Fall Guy has me stoked to see Ryan Gosling in a car again. –RL
Back to Black (May 10)
(Focus Features)
Amy Winehouse was a once-in-a-lifetime talent, with a soulful voice and indelible songwriting to match. Her life and her career were far too brief, cut short by painful struggles with addiction and an eating disorder, which exacerbated the pressures of fame and the demands of her work. Some of this was explored in the documentary Amy, which drew the ire of the late singer’s father, Mitch Winehouse, who felt he was unfairly represented. Directed by Sam Taylor-Johnson, Back to Black stars Industry‘s Marisa Abela as Amy Winehouse, whose estate cooperated with the production. While that means we’ll get to hear Winehouse’s music in the film, there’s a chance it might not dig as deep as some of her fans would like. All the same, Abela is fiercely talented and definitely looks the part, Taylor-Johnson is a fine director, and as a Winehouse fan, I’m eager to see how Back to Black shakes out. –BH
Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga (May 24)
(Warner Bros.)
George Miller’s long-developing Fury Road follow-up is finally upon us. Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga (that title couldn’t be more studio-mandated if it tried) features Anya Taylor-Joy in the title role and explores her life before Max—when a younger Furiosa was taken from the Green Place of Many Mothers by the sinister Dementus (Chris Hemsworth) to the Citadel, where she begins plotting her liberation. As far as I’m concerned, George Miller can do whatever the hell he wants. If Furiosa is half as good as Fury Road, we should count ourselves lucky. –BH
Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes (May 24)
(20th Century Studios)
In the tradition of the classic Planet of the Apes films, Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes centers on a new main character, Noa (Owen Teague), a chimpanzee disillusioned by the apes’ corrupt leader, Proximus Caesar (Kevin Durand) and his oppression of other apes. Set 300 years after the events in Rise, Dawn, and War for the Planet of the Apes, Kingdom is directed by Wes Ball (the Maze Runner series), and seems to be good enough to land him a gig directing the live-action Legend of Zelda movie for Nintendo. –BH
Ballerina (June 7)
(Lionsgate)
I’m absolutely torn on Ballerina. On the one hand, John Wick is an incredible franchise and Ana de Armas is inarguably talented and fun to watch. On the other hand, Ballerina—potentially the first in a series of John Wick spinoff movies—was directed by Len Wiseman, a guy with an underwhelming track record (Underworld, Live Free or Die Hard, Total Recall remake) that does not gel with the dynamic action of the Wick movies. THAT SAID: the ballerina assassin lore teased in the third Wick movie was like catnip to me, and if this thing is good, we might have a solid substitute for the Black Widow movie we should’ve gotten. –BH
The Watchers (June 7)
(Head of Zeus)
We’re getting two Shyamalan movies this year. Ishana Shyamalan, daughter of M. Night, is making her feature directing debut with The Watchers, based on the novel by A.M. Shine. Starring Dakota Fanning and Georgina Campbell, the horror film centers on an artist who gets stuck in a cabin in an Irish forest with three strangers and must contend with the mysterious creatures that stalk them each night. –BH
Inside Out 2 (June 14)
(Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures)
Remember when a bunch of adults cried in a movie theater over Inside Out? Well, now we can do that again with Inside Out 2! Pixar is back with Riley and all the emotions in her head and this time, she’s got a new one: Anxiety (voiced by Maya Hawke)! As someone who very much wishes I had Inside Out when I was growing up, I can’t wait to see what the sequel has in store for Riley and how I will embarrass myself again in a theater, sobbing over a movie for children. –RL
Twisters (July 19)
(Warner Bros.)
What’s better than the 1996 film Twister? A sequel with Glen Powell, Daisy Edgar-Jones, and Anthony Ramos. The original film starred Bill Paxton and Helen Hunt as part of a crew of scientists and storm chasers working together to launch Dorothy (a data-gathering device). What we’re getting with Twisters is a direct sequel to the film, and look, great. I don’t care what happens, it’s a sequel to Twister. We’re so in. –RL
Deadpool 3 (July 26)
(Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures)
Logan (Hugh Jackman) dealing with Wade Wilson (Ryan Reynolds) is how our love of Reynolds as Deadpool began, so we are very excited for Deadpool 3. Any time there is a new Deadpool movie, we’re gifted with whatever nonsense Ryan Reynolds is up to, and we’ve been getting a whole bunch of treats because he is truly on one with this movie. Still, it’s just fun to know that Wade and Logan are back in action, and we can’t wait to see what director Shawn Levy and Co. have in store for us, especially now that Deadpool belongs to Disney. –RL
Trap (August 2)
(Carlos Alvarez, Getty Images)
M. Night Shyamalan’s latest co-stars his other daughter, Saleka Shyamalan, alongside Josh Hartnett and Hayley Mills (yes, of The Parent Trap fame). We know pretty much nothing about Trap, which isn’t likely to change until we see a trailer in the next few months. Speaking with NME, Shyamalan described it as “very unusual and very new compared to what I’ve been trying to do (recently).” The filmmaker has been on one heck of a run since returning with The Visit, and I can’t wait to see whatever the hell he’s up to with Trap. –BH
Alien: Romulus (August 16)
(20th Century Studios)
The latest installment in the Alien franchise comes from Fede Álvarez, the filmmaker behind Evil Dead (2013) and Don’t Breathe, and stars Cailee Spaeny and Isabela Merced. Spaeny recently revealed that Alien: Romulus is set between Ridley Scott’s Alien (1979) and James Cameron’s Aliens (1986). Will Álvarez’s film bridge the differences between the two, sort of like Doctor Sleep did with the Stephen King and Stanley Kubrick versions of The Shining? That’s my only hope. Well, that, and more practical xenomorphs. –BH
Kraven the Hunter (August 30)
(Sony Pictures)
Am I the one person in this world determined to love and support Kraven the Hunterno matter what? Yes. That’s okay. Directed by J.C. Chandor (Triple Frontier), Kraven promises to bring to life one of Spider-Man’s greatest foes: Sergei Kravinoff (Aaron Taylor-Johnson). Famously, Kraven loves animals but also is a hunter (hence the name). How that is going to work without Spider-Man will be interesting, but I am just so excited to see my boy in live action that I don’t even care! Kraven is coming! –RL
Beetlejuice 2 (September 6)
(Warner Bros.)
We don’t need to relitigate the ups and downs of Tim Burton’s career, but suffice it to say, the visionary director has a little something to prove with Beetlejuice 2. But with Michael Keaton back as the ghost with the most and Winona Ryder reprising her role as Lydia Deetz (every goth girl’s platonic ideal) alongside Jenna Ortega, I’m optimistic for what this sequel could be. –BH
Saw XI (September 27)
(Lionsgate)
It’s wild that it took seven films for the Saw franchise to figure out how to course-correct the grievous error of killing off its main antagonist in the third film. Saw X was such a damn good time that I am fully back on the Saw hype train. Saw XI was almost immediately greenlit, and I can’t wait to see what silly prequel-sidequel-inbetweenquel nonsense is in store. –BH
Joker: Folie à Deux (October 4)
(Warner Bros.)
If you told us that we’d be excited about Joker: Folie à Deux after so many of us didn’t like the first Joker movie, I wouldn’t believe you. And yet I truly cannot wait to see Joker: Folie à Deux. I’m going to blame the Harley Quinn-and-Joker of it all. Todd Phillips’ sequel to Joker features Lady Gaga as Harley and is said to be a musical—all elements that make me increasingly more excited about this. –RL
Venom 3 (November 8)
(Sony Pictures)
I have but one request for Venom 3: Bring back The Brock Report. We need to see Tom Hardy’s Eddie Brock back in VICE reporter mode, maybe with a little help from his sidekick and number one tater tot fan Venom. Venom 2 was a surprising success that managed to overcome the clownery of the first film’s post-credits teaser and deliver a superior sequel. With Venom 2 screenwriter Kelly Marcel back on board and also sitting in the director’s chair, we’re sure to get a little more of that goofy, gloopy magic. –BH
Gladiator 2 (November 22)
(Universal Pictures)
Ridley Scott is on a roll. The 86-year-old filmmaker is following up 2023’s Napoleon with another historical epic—a sequel to his own Gladiator, released in 2000. This time, Scott’s courting the fan girls with Paul Mescal, Pedro Pascal, Joseph Quinn, Denzel Washington, and Fred Hechinger. Just make a wall calendar, why don’t you! –BH
Wicked Part One (November 27)
(Universal Stage Production)
Wickedis being split into two parts, which means Part One will (probably) end with Elphaba (Cynthia Erivo) singing “Defying Gravity” and leaving us gooped. So why are we excited? Because it is Wicked. For the record, Wicked does rule even if I do think it is an overrated musical. But with Jon M. Chu at the helm and a cast that includes Ariana Grande, Michelle Yeoh, and Bowen Yang, I can’t help but look forward to this one. –RL
Nosferatu (December 25)
(Focus Features)
The big holiday treat this year is Nosferatu, a new iteration of F.W. Murnau’s silent horror classic from Robert Eggers, the filmmaker behind The Witch and The Northman. Eggers’ retelling is set in 19th-century Germany and follows a young woman tormented by the ghastly vampire who is obsessed with her (relatable). Nosferatu stars Lily-Rose Depp, Willem Dafoe (but of course), Nicholas Hoult, Emma Corrin, and Bill Skarsgard as—who else?—the vampire Count Orlok. –BH
(featured image: TriStar Pictures / Warner Bros. / Focus Features / A24)
Zendaya stars as Tashi, a tennis prodigy-turned-coach in the love triangle movie, which also stars West Side Story‘s Mike Faist and The Crown‘s Josh O’Conner.
Tashi Duncan is a force of nature who makes no apologies for her game on and off the court. Married to a champion, Art (Faist), on a losing streak, Tashi’s strategy for her husband’s redemption takes a surprising turn when he must face off against the washed-up Patrick (O’Connor) – his former best friend and Tashi’s former boyfriend.
As their pasts and presents collide, and tensions run high, Tashi must ask herself, what will it cost to win.
Justin Kuritzkes wrote the screenplay for the film, which is being produced by Amy Pascal, Guadagnino, Zendaya and Rachel O’Connor. Trent Reznor & Atticus Ross did the music.
Amazon MGM Studios releases the film on April 26, 2024.
Zendaya unveiled the poster on her Instagram account. “Wishing you all the most beautiful year,” she wrote.
ZendayaBackgrid 
Zendaya Backgrid
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