On April 26th, the highly-anticipated romantic sports drama “Challengers,” starring Zendaya, Josh O’Connor and Mike Faist, will finally land in theaters. The film follows the complicated relationship between three tennis players, and many people wonder if there’s truth behind the film.
The plot of the movie had been carefully kept under wraps until the first teasers, the trailers have mapped out an interesting story. Zendaya stars as Tashi, a tennis prodigy who, after suffering a career-ending injury, becomes coach of her husband Art Donaldson (Faist). However, following a losing streak, Grand Slam champion Art signs up for a Challenger event where he will face her former lover and his friend, Patrick (O’Connor).
So, is the story based on real life? The short answer is no. It’s not based on any real tennis players, even if Zendaya channels her best Venus Williams. While screenwriter Justin Kuritzkes wasn’t inspired by a real-life event, the film does have an interesting connection with one of the best movies of 2023: “Past Lives.”
What do “Challengers” and “Past Lives” have in common?
Kuritzkes is a playwright and novelist who is married with another playwright and filmmaker, Celine Song. Song’s directorial debut, which she also penned, was “Past Lives,” which was nominated for Best Picture and Best Original Screenplay at the Oscars.
People on social media have started noticing that both “Challengers” and “Past Lives” feature stories about “love triangles.” However, while “Past Lives” deals more with memory and identity, “Challengers,” according to Lucas Guadagnino is a “cinematic tour de force of jealousy, rivalry and love.”
While Song has confirmed that she wrote “Past Lives,” inspired by a dinner she had with her husband (whom she has been married to since 2016) and her childhood sweetheart, who didn’t speak English, Kuritzkes has yet to discuss his script.
What have the director and cast said?
Speaking with ABC Australia, Zendaya said that tennis in the film is just a “metaphor” for the “complicated” relationship between the main characters: “It’s an oulet in which they use to stay connected to each other, and depend on each other, and wield power over each other and hurt each other,” she explained.
She also said that she connected to her character through the grief of losing something she loves. “If there were a world in which my life, my career was taken away from me before I’ve got the opportunity to do what I love… I really emphatized with that,” she explained.