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Zendaya's Tennis Movie, 'Challengers,' Tests Friendship Bonds of Complex Trio

Luca Guadagnino’s “Challengers,” starring Zendaya, has been pulled from the Venice Film Festival due to the actors strike. (AP)
Luca Guadagnino’s “Challengers,” starring Zendaya, has been pulled from the Venice Film Festival due to the actors strike. (AP)
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Zendaya's Tennis Movie, 'Challengers,' Tests Friendship Bonds of Complex Trio

Luca Guadagnino’s “Challengers,” starring Zendaya, has been pulled from the Venice Film Festival due to the actors strike. (AP)
Luca Guadagnino’s “Challengers,” starring Zendaya, has been pulled from the Venice Film Festival due to the actors strike. (AP)

When Zendaya first read the script for director Luca Guadagnino’s romantic sports film “Challengers,” she immediately understood that the tennis player turned coach she would portray was unapologetic about her own power and how she wielded it.
“I also think that she isn't immediately dislikable, and she isn't perfect, and she isn't trying to be and we're not making any excuses for that either,” Zendaya said about her character, Tashi Duncan.
At the Los Angeles premiere of the film, Zendaya took to the stage in her neon green halter dress and urged audiences not to judge the characters in the movie too harshly, Reuters said.
For Zendaya, it is important to have complex characters like the ones in the movie, even if it means they are not necessarily likable.
The film focuses on Duncan, a former tennis prodigy who becomes a coach following a career-shattering leg injury.
She coaches her husband, portrayed by Mike Faist, who is a tennis champion facing a losing streak. Her strategy to help him win is a surprise tournament against his ex-best friend, who is also Duncan’s ex-boyfriend.
The movie explores the often-unpredictable bond between the three main characters and how it intersects with their joint passion for professional tennis.
The Amazon MGM Studios film arrives in theaters on Friday.
“We all are kind of very quick to judge characters,” said Josh O’Connor, who plays Duncan’s ex-boyfriend.
“But I think ultimately, the three of them have got this very complicated situation thrown upon them where they all kind of love each other," O'Connor said.
As Zendaya and her co-stars delved into their characters and built chemistry over 12 weeks, they began to understand more of the psychology of tennis players.
“It seems incredibly lonely, and it's just you out there," Zendaya said. "I mean, there's someone across from you, but really you feel very isolated on your own and there's so much mental fortitude to stay focused and there's so many people watching you and every point matters so much."
Adding to the layers of her character, Zendaya worked to learn more about the sport while filming, garnering a compliment from former tennis star Serena Williams.
She sported outfits inspired by the movie while attending premieres.
"I want to try to make it feel like it's still an extension of the creative process of the making of it (the film) too," she said.

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Eminem, Alanis Morissette, Sheryl Crow, N.W.A. and Janet Jackson Get Songwriters Hall of Fame Nods

Eminem performs during "Live From Detroit: The Concert at Michigan Central," on June 6, 2024, in Detroit. (AP)
Eminem performs during "Live From Detroit: The Concert at Michigan Central," on June 6, 2024, in Detroit. (AP)
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Eminem, Alanis Morissette, Sheryl Crow, N.W.A. and Janet Jackson Get Songwriters Hall of Fame Nods

Eminem performs during "Live From Detroit: The Concert at Michigan Central," on June 6, 2024, in Detroit. (AP)
Eminem performs during "Live From Detroit: The Concert at Michigan Central," on June 6, 2024, in Detroit. (AP)

Eminem, Boy George, George Clinton, Sheryl Crow, Janet Jackson, the Doobie Brothers, N.W.A. and Alanis Morissette are among the nominees for the 2025 class at the Songwriters Hall of Fame, an eclectic group of rap, rock, hip-hop and pop pioneers.

Joining them on the ballot are Bryan Adams, with radio staples like “Summer of ’69” and “Have You Ever Really Loved a Woman?,” and Mike Love of the Beach Boys, hoping to get in 25 years after band founder Brian Wilson. David Gates, co-lead singer of the pop-music group Bread, is also looking for entry.

The Hall annually inducts performers and non-performers alike, and the latter category this year includes Walter Afanasieff, who helped Mariah Carey with her smash “All I Want for Christmas Is You;” Mike Chapman, who co-wrote Pat Benatar’s “Love Is a Battlefield;” and Narada Michael Walden, the architect of Whitney Houston's “How Will I Know″ and Aretha Franklin's "Freeway of Love.”

Eligible voting members have until Dec. 22 to turn in ballots with their choices of three nominees from the songwriter category and three from the performing-songwriter category. The Associated Press got an early copy of the list.

Several performers are getting another shot at entry, including Clinton, whose Parliament-Funkadelic collective was hugely influential with hits like “Atomic Dog” and “Give Up the Funk,” and The Doobie Brothers — Tom Johnston, Patrick Simmons and Michael McDonald — with such classics as “Listen to the Music” and "Long Train Runnin.’” Steve Winwood, whose hits include “Higher Love” and “Roll With It,” has also been on the ballot before.

Hip-hop this year is represented by Eminem — whose hits include “Lose Yourself" and “Stan” — and N.W.A. members Dr. Dre, Eazy E, Ice Cube, MC Ren and DJ Yella. Already in the Hall are hip-hop stars like Jay-Z, Snoop Dogg and Missy Elliot. Tommy James, with hits including ”Mony Mony,″ ”Crimson and Clover″ and ”I Think We’re Alone Now,″ has also earned a nod.

If Jackson, whose 1989 album “Rhythm Nation” was a landmark, gets into the Hall, it will be more than two decades after her late brother Michael. The Canadian songwriter Morissette, whose influential “Jagged Little Pill” has won Grammys, Tonys, Junos and MTV awards would also add to the Hall's rocking women. (Glen Ballard, who helped produce and write the album, is already in.)

As would Crow, the “All I Wanna Do” and “Everyday Is a Winding Road” singer-songwriter, is having a critical resurgence after being inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 2023. Boy George lifts the flag for '80s New Wave with the Culture Club hits “Karma Chameleon” and “Do You Really Want to Hurt Me.”

Other nominees for the non-performing category include Franne Golde, who co-wrote Selena’s ”Dreaming of You;″ Tom Douglas, who wrote country hits for Tim McGraw, Lady Antebellum and Miranda Lambert; Ashley Gorley, fresh off his co-writing smash “I Had Some Help” by Post Malone and Morgan Wallen; and Roger Nichols, who co-wrote The Carpenters’ ″We’ve Only Just Begun.″

They join Rodney “Darkchild” Jerkins, who contributed to the hit ″The Boy Is Mine″ by Brandy and Monica; Sonny Curtis, former member of the Crickets who wrote and performed the theme song for “The Mary Tyler Moore Show," ”Love is All Around,” and British composer Tony Macaulay, who wrote “Build Me Up Buttercup.”

The Hall also put forward three songwriting teams: Steve Barri and P.F. Sloan, who wrote “Secret Agent Man;” and Dennis Lambert and Brian Potter, who penned the Four Tops hit “Ain’t No Woman (Like the One I’ve Got);” and Dan Penn and Spooner Oldham, who wrote the Percy Sledge tune “Out of Left Field.”

The Songwriters Hall of Fame was established in 1969 to honor those creating popular music. A songwriter with a notable catalog of songs qualifies for induction 20 years after the first commercial release of a song.

Some already in the hall include Carole King, Paul Simon, Billy Joel, Jon Bon Jovi and Richie Sambora, Elton John and Bernie Taupin, Brian Wilson, James Taylor, Bruce Springsteen, Tom Petty, Lionel Richie, Bill Withers, Neil Diamond and Phil Collins. Last year saw R.E.M., Steely Dan, Dean Pitchford, Hillary Lindsey and Timbaland inducted.