Zendaya, The Crown’s Josh O’Connor, and West Side Story’s Mike Faist are set to star in Challengers, a new movie from Call Me By Your Name director Luca Guadagnino (H/T Matt Belloni’s Puck newsletter).
The movie will follow a tennis pro-turned-coach (Zendaya) who pushes her husband (Faist) to become a tennis legend and then forces him to take part in a lowly “challenger” event – where his opponent is his ex-best friend and his wife’s former lover (O’Connor).
Zendaya is currently starring in season 2 of the HBO series Euphoria, a role that won her an Emmy in 2020, and her last big-screen role was as MJ Watson opposite Tom Holland’s Peter Parker in Spider-Man: No Way Home.
Meanwhile, O’Connor rose to fame portraying Prince Charles in seasons 3 and 4 of Netflix's historical drama The Crown and he’s set to star in the movie Aisha alongside Letitia Wright. As for Faist, his breakout role was in Steven Spielberg’s West Side Story – he was nominated for a BAFTA for his performance.
Guadagnino has several other projects in the works, including an Audrey Hepburn biopic starring Rooney Mara, as well as a horror movie titled All the Bones starring Timothée Chalamet. He’s best known for directing movies like Call Me By Your Name (also starring Chalamet) and the 2018 remake of horror classic Suspiria starring Tilda Swinton and Dakota Johnson.
While we wait for Challengers to hit the big screen, check out our picks of the other upcoming movies that should be on your radar in 2022 and beyond.
