In her latest role, Zendaya finds herself in the middle of a complicated love triangle that has audiences talking.
And the Golden Globe winner, 27, has now said her Challengers co-stars Josh O’Connor and Mike Faist took all the pressure off filming the three-way kiss scene.
The actress said she felt “lucky” working with Josh and Mike because they “made it easy” for her and they were “nice.”
Zendaya told The sun: ‘How do you build up the chemistry? Well, I guess I’m lucky that they’re both nice guys. They were kind and generous with their work and their time, so that made it easy.”
In Challengers, Zendaya plays Tashi, a retired tennis player who coached her husband Art (Mike Faist) to grand slam status after an injury took her out of the sport.
In her latest role, Zendaya finds herself in the middle of a complicated love triangle that has audiences talking
And the Golden Globe winner, 27, says her Challengers co-stars Josh O’Connor and Mike Faist took all the pressure off filming the three-way kiss scene
After convincing him to play a challenger event, Art ends up across the street from Patrick (Josh O’Connor), his childhood friend and Tashi’s ex.
The kiss scene takes place early in the film, when the trio are high school students staying in a hotel during a game.
Spiderman star Zendaya further revealed that the trio hooked up during hours of rehearsals and “physically challenging” tennis lessons.
She explains: ‘We had a lot of tennis training, we trained next to each other. We had tennis training and we had rehearsal time, which is a privilege – you know, to be able to have that time to talk about the characters and really dive into them. And that only provided more of a safety net.”
Challengers was released on Friday and Zendaya admitted that the film is an “emotional roller coaster” and that viewers would be “open minded” while watching.
The Euphoria star said her character is “complex, messy and confusing,” but emphasized that this is what made portraying her so much fun.
She added, “That was the challenge. I didn’t just want her to be one-dimensional or one-sided. I wanted to explore all sides of this very complicated woman, and all the nuances that come with it. It was so much fun, such a dream.”
The former Disney star further admitted that she is personally “super controlling and self-critical” of herself and that acting is her escape and very “therapeutic.”
The actress said she felt “lucky” working with Josh and Mike because they “made it easy for her” and they were “friendly”
Zendaya said, “I’m lucky that they’re both just nice guys. They were kind and generous with their work and their time, so that made it easy.”
In Challengers, Zendaya plays Tashi, a retired tennis player who coached her husband Art (Mike Faist) to grand slam status after an injury took her out of the sport.
After convincing him to play a challenger event, Art ends up across the street from Patrick (Josh O’Connor), his childhood friend and Tashi’s ex.
Although Challengers has already been praised for its steamy scenes, Zendaya previously revealed that there is no sex in the film.
She told People: “We keep saying that tennis is the sex of the movie, and I think tennis is a metaphor for a lot of things: desires, passion, pain, anger, frustration.
“I think they all use tennis as a way to communicate with each other and they just don’t have the words.”
Zendaya also told The Mirror that the “intimate scenes were so good, I loved it,” adding, “I felt really lucky to work with those guys.”
The Disney Channel alum said seeing her family’s reactions to those scenes during the premiere “was honestly my favorite part” of appearing on Jimmy Kimmel Live.
“Well, they know it’s an R-rated movie,” she said. “I say, you know, when you come in here, if you can’t handle the heat, get out of the kitchen. I warned them in advance.”
Challengers is now in theaters.
Challengers was released on Friday and Zendaya admitted that the film is an “emotional roller coaster” and that viewers would be “open minded” while watching.
The Euphoria star said her character is “complex, messy and confusing” but emphasized that this is what made portraying her so much fun