Zendaya on what advice she got from Timothee Chalamet before teaming up with Luca Guadagnino on 'Challengers'
Apr 18, 2024
Los Angeles [US], April 19 : Actor and singer Zendaya shared what advice she got from 'Dune' co-star Timothee Chalamet before working with director Luca Guadagnino in 'Challengers', who was seen in 'Guadagnino's Call Me By Your Name' in 2017, as per The Hollywood Reporter.
"He said wonderful things," Zendaya said at the Los Angeles premiere of 'Challengers'. "Luca is brilliant and I've wanted to work with Luca for a very long time and this just seemed like the absolute perfect thing. When we first met about the script he had such a keen, deep understanding of the characters from the beginning and a clearer idea of the kind of movie he wanted to create. And the script was brilliant, [writer] Justin Kuritzkes is so talented and I'm so happy for him. So it all made sense."
As per The Hollywood Reporter, Zendaya, also a producer on the film, stars as a former tennis prodigy now coaching her champion husband (played by Mike Faist), who is currently on a losing streak. To rebuild his confidence, she enters him in a Challenger tournament, where he faces off against his former best friend and her ex-boyfriend (Josh O'Connor).
Ahead of the L.A. screening, Zendaya expressed her gratitude for those in the crowd and said, "I always think that nobody's going to be at these things and then I'm so surprised when people are actually here."
She added, "We hope you enjoy it and just have fun. Dance if you want to, because it will make you want to do that. And again, don't judge the characters too hard."
Guadagnino, who noted that the night marked his career's first major L.A. premiere, also mentioned the dancing aspect in his pre-screening presentation, since the film's score--by Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross--is significant.
"I wanted to put a song at the end of the credits and [Reznor and Ros] are very good because they don't say anything, and then at the right moment they say, 'What about a new song?' OK!" the filmmaker teased. "I was on a plane leaving Los Angeles for Italy and I was thinking about somebody and started to write these lyrics, little thing, and forwarded them to Trent and said, 'If you think this is a good lyric for the song, maybe it's in the movie. Anyway, the miracles of cinema and Hollywood,'" according to The Hollywood Reporter.
'Challengers' hits theatres on April 26.
