Zendaya admits intimacy coordinator on Challengers was ‘very helpful’ on steamy scenes with costars Mike Faist and Josh O’Connor: ‘It was important that we felt safe’

Zendaya talks about the importance of the intimacy coordinator in her new film Challengers.

The 27-year-old Euphoria star spoke Monday about shooting the sports romance’s intimate scenes with her co-stars Mike Faist and Josh O’Connor at the film’s premiere in Rome.

In the thrilling feature film from Suspiria and Call Me By Your Name director Luca Guadagnino, Zendaya plays Tashi Duncan, an aspiring tennis player who gives up her career after a serious injury.

Instead, she focuses on coaching her colleague Art (Faist), whom she falls in love with and marries, but finds her feelings dangerously divided after Art is signed up for the Challenger Tour, where he faces off against Tashi’s ex friend Patrick (O’ Connor).

On the red carpet, Zendaya praised the intimacy coordinator for ensuring a “safe” environment on set, according to The Hollywood Reporter.

In Challengers, Zendaya plays a former tennis star who turns to coaching after an injury ends her career. She coaches – and then marries – Art (Mike Faist, L), but their relationship becomes complicated when he has to compete against her ex-boyfriend Patrick (Josh O’Connor, R)

“We had an intimacy coordinator who was fantastic and very helpful because it was important that we felt safe,” she said.

The film is infused with “intense” erotic scenes between Zendaya and her leads, so the trio had to find ways to relax when in front of the camera.

“I talked to my colleagues so we could find a way to feel comfortable. We played tennis together, we went out together, we rehearsed together,” she said. ‘We need to build a bond and feel good about each other.’

Faist agreed, adding that that unstructured time was essential for creating a solid bond and portraying believable romance on screen.

“We were able to spend time together during rehearsals and outside of rehearsals, especially with Josh,” he explained. “We got to know each other as people before we could get into the movie. A real friendship developed, which formed the basis of the film.’

O’Connor praised Guadagnino and his co-stars as he explained what drew him to the film.

‘It was an honor to be directed by Luca. “The script was great, as was the cast and the opportunity to work with Mike and Zendaya,” he said.

“To be honest, what attracted me to taking the role of Patrick is that he’s so different from me,” he continued, though O’Connor struggled to pinpoint what was so different from himself.

‘I don’t really know, just different. That’s the beauty of being an actor,” he said.

O’Connor and Guadagnino appear to have built a strong working relationship, and the in-demand actor will appear in the Italian filmmaker’s next film, Separate Rooms, based on Pier Vittorio Tondelli’s acclaimed novel, which portrays the struggles of a gay man . to adapt to single life after the death of his partner.

The actor has also enjoyed working with another Italian author, Alice Rohrwacher, after starring in her critically acclaimed new film La Chimera, which is currently in limited release.

At the premiere, Challengers’ producer Rachel O’Connor delved into the difficulties of making the film.

“We had the script ready that Luca was in love with, but we had a really short time to shoot with Zendaya, who is also a producer and brought her strong work ethic to the film, but who also had to work on Dune. she explained.

“We had an intimacy coordinator who was fantastic and very helpful, because it was important that we felt safe,” she said; seen with director Luca Guadagnino (R)

“I talked to my colleagues so we could find a way to feel comfortable. We played tennis together, we went out together, we rehearsed together,” she said. ‘We have to build a bond and feel good about each other’

Faist (L) said the trio of stars spent a lot of time together off-camera and “created a real friendship that formed the basis of the film”

To make her scenes as a tennis pro as believable as possible, Zendaya trained for months with former tennis star and now coach Brad Gilbert, according to Tennis.com

However, the ‘passion’ of the artists involved helped to make everything run smoothly.

“Everyone was fully committed to the project and absolutely wanted to see it become a reality,” she added.

Even after the struggle to film the movie on a tight schedule, the original release of Challengers was postponed by the since-ended writers’ and actors’ strikes, as studios feared that otherwise popular films would be hurt at the box office if their stars did not doing. available to promote it.

To make her scenes as a tennis pro as believable as possible, Zendaya trained for months with former tennis star and now coach Brad Gilbert, according to Tennis.com.