Plus, why “Saturday Night” actor Cory Michael Smith should earn and Oscar nomination.
Challengersstar and producer Zendaya gets in the game
Interview by Gerrad HallIllustration by Andrew Bastow
Manipulative.
The actress, who also produced the movie, would choose a different word.
Josh O’Connor and Zendaya in ‘Challengers’
“I enjoy her.
I think she is fascinating.
I wouldn’t necessarily say that anyone should take their life advice from Tashi.
‘Challengers’ star and producer Zendaya on the cover of EW’s ‘The Awardist’ digital magazine.Illustration by Andrew Bastow
But you know what?
She’s herself unapologetically, which I appreciate.”
“I’m excited to expand and find different characters that have different walks of life.
Zendaya in ‘Challengers’.Niko Tavernise
When the three were younger, Tashi and Patrick were a couple.
ZENDAYA:I miss all my characters.
In some way, you feel deeply connected to them for whatever reason.
Mike Faist, Zendaya, and Josh O’Connor in ‘Challengers’.Metro Goldwyn Mayer Pictures
But for an athlete it’s different.
I connected with her passion for what she does and her joy.
I’m so happy.
Zendaya in ‘Challengers’.MGM /Courtesy Everett
I love being on sets.
I love my crews.
I feel like I connect deeply with my crews and we become this little family, this little community.
Mike Faist and Zendaya in ‘Challengers’.
“Oh, hey!
How’s the kids?”
And you create this special place.
Immense gratitude, I think, is what I would describe it as.
I was quite nervous just about that.
Niko Tavernise
And also, I had been playing quite young.
I say I’ve been playing a 16-year-old since I was 16.
You know what I mean?
“Actually, f— both of them.”
It was so fun and smart of them to incorporate.
So I’m just grateful that people get it.
They totally get it.
Cory Michael Smith as Chevy Chase in ‘Saturday Night’.sony pictures
Mike Faist and Josh O’Connor: What is the thing you took away working with them?
They’re both lovely people.
They are just the nicest guys.
This was a film that I was lucky enough to be a part of from its inception and produce.
And so reading Patrick, I immediately was like, yo, the guy from The Crown.
Something that Luca is so brilliant at and has such an instinct for is casting.
John Cassavetes, along with Ben Gazzara and Gena Rowlands, in ‘Opening Night’.everett
We had so much rehearsal time.
And it was awesome.
We treated it almost like P.E.
Sometimes our physical trainer would have us do warmups before we would do the tennis training.
We did games and stuff like that.
I wish yours had been my P.E.
Jennifer Lawrence at the 2013 Oscars.oscars/youtube
It sounds a lot more fun.
teacher was my dad.
Either that was a good thing or a bad thing I don’t know.
I’m still trying to figure that out.
But yeah, we had these bonding moments.
He’s hardcore, doesn’t look up.
And then me and Josh are like, “Are you about to pass out?”
[Laughs] Which was nice to kind of bond over we had a good time in that scenario.
I had a lot of questions.
I was like, “Why is she doing that?”
And we’d talk to each other.
And I was always so beautifully surprised every time they read their parts.
They had a different take on something that now changes the whole thing.
You talked about being very up in each other’s personal space and each other’s faces.
But that aside, the whole scene took on a life of its own.
Was that amusing to watch happen?
How did you take in all of that?
There is the boom, there’s mics.
There’s five different people who are also part of this very intimate moment.
MGM /Courtesy Everett
And it feels wildlynotintimate to the three of you.
It’s wildly not intimate to us because it also is very planned.
I have to lean back.
And it’s a very technical experience.
[Laughs] So it’s not so much like we’re lost in the moment.
Someone tweeted a really fascinating observation that in the hotel room, the beds were pushed together already.
Or were the beds already pushed together when Tashi came in the room?
Yeah, they’re already pushed together.
I’m assuming that’s a Luca detail.
He thinks about everything.
But he was like, that’s just not how Patrick would take his shirt off.
You got to do the cross-arm pull-off thing.
He really taps in on that.
You’ve experienced those withEuphoriaandDune, but was it different with this one?
And people’s commentary, they always are like, “So what really happened at the end?
Why did she do that?”
I’m like, “Listen, I don’t know.
I don’t have an answer for you.
I’m still trying to figure out myself.”
I just appreciate the investment in all of these characters' personal lives and futures.
Are people screaming “Come on!”
[Laughs] I actually haven’t got that one.
A lot of people have tried to get into tennis now, so I think that’s fun.
I’m only human.
It’s a completely different experience.
I mean, it is and it isn’t.
I think it was brilliant.
That music cue is something that he picked while we were shooting.
So those we always knew were going to be in the film, but they were obviously so different.
It’s like a choir and this beautiful ballad.
It’s cohesive, it totally makes sense.
And then we’re jumping over to techno, but it works.
And it just was really fun.
I just remember feeling like, I want to dance.
It just makes you on the edge of your seat in this really cool way.
I think it’s brilliant.
You start filmingEuphoriaseason 3 in January.
Are you squeezing in any other projects before then or are you readying yourself to be Rue again?
[Laughs] Can I still do this?
So I’ll be excited to jump into something and dig into that first.
Speaking of jumping,Euphoriahas a time jump.
What’s the word you would use to describe your feelings about where things are going?
I don’t actually know much about what is happening.
I’ll be interested to see what happens too.
This interview has been edited for clarity and length.
That nom would’ve made a most deserved win, in 1975 forA Woman Under the Influence.
