When Total Film meets Zendaya and The Crown’s Josh O’Connor in London in June they are good-naturedly trash-talking their third wheel, Mike Faist, who can’t make this chat due to his commitment to West End stage show Brokeback Mountain. ‘Oh, you heard? Terrible!’ Zendaya – or ‘Zee’ as her co-stars call her – jokes with a laugh before talking proudly of her absent colleague’s performance as Jack Twist, which she, her boyfriend Tom Holland and O’Connor had seen the night before. Faist, when we meet a few days later between shows, keeps up the banter and teasing when he laughs about O’Connor’s preparation (or lack thereof) for playing a champion tennis player.
The dynamic between the three is very much in keeping with the chemistry and vibe at the heart of Luca Guadagnino’s follow-up to cannibal romance Bones and All, a switch in direction that he describes as ‘a fairly fizzy, sexy movie about the world of tennis’. Written by playwright turned screenwriter Justin Kuritzkes, Challengers charts the relationship between best-friend players Patrick (O’Connor) and Art (Faist) as they meet tennis prodigy Tashi (Zendaya) in their training teens and interchange as her boyfriend/friend. Years later, when Art is a top seed in a crisis and Tashi now his wife and coach, the duo run into Patrick again, who’s struggling to make ends meet but still has fire in his game – in every way. As Art and Patrick compete in a low-ranking challengers match (Art to flex, Patrick to win cash), old resentments and attractions come into play…
This story is from the {{IssueName}} edition of {{MagazineName}}.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 9,000+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber ? Sign In
This story is from the {{IssueName}} edition of {{MagazineName}}.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 9,000+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber? Sign In
Snow Time to Die - Red One J.K. Simmons' Santa gets kidnapped. Luckily, Dwayne Johnson's on hand to save him...
If 2022's Violent Night gave us Die Hard in a Santa suit, Jake Kasdan's Red One could be retitled North Pole Has Fallen. The world imagined by Kasdan finds Saint Nick kidnapped two days before Christmas Eve. It's up to Dwayne Johnson's head of security, Callum Drift, and Chris Evans' unscrupulous hacker-for-hire, Jack O'Malley, to hunt down the man in red in time for the big day.
Back With a Vengeance - Sir Ridley Scott returns to the Colosseum with Gladiator II, the long-awaited sequel to the greatest historical epic of this century. Total Film meets the director and cast to discover how Maximus' legacy is echoing in eternity.
Ridley Scott is not a filmmaker to repeat himself. It's a trait that's all the more remarkable when you consider how prolific he's been over the nearly five decades since his feature debut, 1977's The Duellists. Alien prequels Prometheus and Alien: Covenant are the only times he's gone back to the same world, and those films are radical departures from the original.
Bad Romance - Timestalker Alice Lowe falls in love with the wrong man time and time again...
Her antidote to that? Timestalker a dark not-quite-romcom set over the course of centuries. Her protagonist Agnes finds herself attracted to the same man, Alex (Dunkirk's Aneurin Barnard), in every lifetime as she's reincarnated in the 1680s, 1790s, 1980s and the 22nd century. As romantic as that may sound, there's a bit of a catch: 'He's sort of a dickhead. On the surface he's appealing, but under, he's not.'
McQueen & Country
A moment of national pride and terror comes to the screen with World War Two historical drama Blitz. Total Film speaks to writer/director Steve McQueen and his stars Saoirse Ronan and Stephen Graham about uncovering the truth and celebrating the triumph of a defining moment in modern British history.
'I WAS, AND AM STILL, SURPRISED BY EVERY OPPORTUNITY. I'VE BEEN CONTINUOUS AND FEEL AT THE TOP OF MY FORM' JEFF GOLDBLUM
Seth Brundle. Dr. Ian Malcolm. Grandmaster. Jeff Goldblum has played some titanic characters over his 50-year career, and is celebrating a half-century on our screens by going bigger than ever. First he played Zeus in Netflix show Kaos, and now he's the Wizard of Oz in Wicked. Total Film meets the man behind the curtain...
STICKY SITUATION
Seven years on from his last big-screen appearance, marmalade's biggest fan returns for Paddington in Peru. Total Film talks to director Dougal Wilson, actor Hugh Bonneville and the visual-effects wizards who make the magic happen...
BORN TO BE WILD
BROTHERS IS THE MOST SURPRISING ACTION COMEDY OF THE YEAR, AND NOT JUST BECAUSE JOSH BROLIN AND PETER DINKLAGE PLAY CRIMINAL TWINS. TOTAL FILM ROUNDS UP THE STARS TO TALK ABOUT DYSFUNCTIONAL FAMILIES, THE 'HARD AS NAILS' COMEDIES THEY GREW UP WITH, AND MASTURBATING MONKEYS...
TRIPPING THE LIGHT FANTASTIC
ALL WE IMAGINE AS LIGHT Payal Kapadia's film shows the Mumbai you've never seen...
HUMPH DAY BOGART: LIFE COMES IN FLASHES
Behind every great man is a great woman. Or in Humphrey Bogart's case, four great women...
CALLING THE SHOTS
NEVER LOOK AWAY Lucy Lawless directs a bio-doc about a trailblazing camerawoman...