Zendaya reflects on serving up a pop culture and critical hit with ‘Challengers’ in EW’s ‘The Awardist’ digital magazine

Challengers star and producer Zendaya gets in the game

Interview by Gerrad Hall
Illustration by Andrew Bastow

Manipulative. Inspired. Savvy. Shrewd.

There are lot of words one could use to describe Tashi Duncan, the woman played by Zendaya at the center of Luca Guadagnino‘s Challengers. The actress, who also produced the movie, would choose a different word.

“She’s very complicated, let’s say that,” Zendaya says on the new episode of The Awardist podcast, kicking off the 2025 Oscar season. “I enjoy her. I think she is fascinating. I wouldn’t necessarily say that anyone should take their life advice from Tashi. But you know what? She’s herself unapologetically, which I appreciate.”

Tashi, who becomes coach to her tennis-star husband after an injury ends her own promising career, is the latest in a compelling run of characters for the actress, including drug addict Rue on Euphoria, for which she’s won two Emmys, the wronged girlfriend of a big actor in Malcolm & Marie, Peter Parker’s girlfriend MJ in the Spider-Man trilogy, and Fremen warrior Chani in Denis Villeneuve‘s Dune movies.

“I’m excited to expand and find different characters that have different walks of life. The thing that I’m really happy about is I have a group of characters that I’ve been lucky enough to play that are so different from each other,” she says, reflecting on her career trajectory. “I want to continue to find things that are challenging and work with people that I’m inspired by.”

In Challengers, she found that in her two scene partners, Josh O’Connor and Mike Faist, who play college friends turned professional enemies Patrick and Art. When the three were younger, Tashi and Patrick were a couple. Now, she has a daughter with husband Art, whose career she also manages, living vicariously through his successes after her career was ripped away from her in college. But when Art expresses his desire to hang up his racket soon, she takes extreme — and deceitful — measures to re-light his fire for the sport…and for victory.

Below, Zendaya reflects on how the film took pop culture by storm, why she understood Tashi, how her first time leading a film brought on all kinds of nerves, what she thought about audience’s reaction to that headline-making three-way kiss, and more.

THE AWARDIST: Do you miss Tashi in any way, or do you feel like there’s no unfinished business?

ZENDAYA: I miss all my characters. In some way, you feel deeply connected to them for whatever reason. I think while you can feel very different as a human being — obviously, I wouldn’t make the same choices as some of these characters make in their lives — but you always find an emotional entry point to who they are and you just connect with them on a deeper level. For Tashi, it was this idea of losing your future or your career or your life, and I’m so grateful that what I get to do for a living, I can keep doing this for as long as I want to. There’s all kinds of incredible actors that work until they’re 80, 90 years old, and it’s just so brilliant that you can still be creative and do those things. But for an athlete it’s different. Your body has a clock, and something like a serious injury can tear you away from the one thing that you love so much. I connected with her passion for what she does and her joy. And I feel like when I’m on set, when I get to watch other actors perform, when I get to watch directors like Luca, like Denis — often I ask if I can just follow them around and watch ’em work when I’m there — I’m just in such a blissful state. I’m so happy. 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. “Oh, hey! How’s the kids?” And you create this special place. I couldn’t imagine that whole world being taken away from me and only maybe being able to do it through someone else [like Tashi with Art].

When I spoke with you back at our Dune cover shoot, you told me you were nervous for people to see Tashi. And then when I spoke to you for Challengers, you explained that a lot of that comes just you always being nervous, but it was also because it was your first time leading a film in this way, and you felt a certain amount of pressure and fear and burden that comes with all of that. So now, five, six months after the movie’s release, what is your takeaway from the opening of the film and reaction to it and your performance?

Immense gratitude, I think, is what I would describe it as. Yeah, it’s a very stressful experience putting out a movie and being like, oh, okay, this is really on your shoulders — if they like it, if they don’t like it, if people go to see it, if they don’t go to see it. So that was obviously a bit stressful because I also think for me, I am so happy when I’m making the thing that I forget that, oh, people have to see it, I have to promote it, and we have to sell it. It’s one of those things too, where we had to package the movie in a way that felt commercial. I do think it’s a commercial movie, but I also think it isn’t in a lot of ways. But I still want to make movies that people would want to go see, and I do think it’s important to keep the movie-going experience alive. I was quite nervous just about that.

And also, I had been playing quite young. I say I’ve been playing a 16-year-old since I was 16. [Sitting here right now,] I probably look a little bit like a child because I’m not in hair and makeup. And I get that, I get the Rue of it all, and that totally works and has worked for me, but also I am not a child. And at some point you have to play characters that are your own age and have experiences that you don’t have — for example, having children or getting married. While those are all things I want and I’m looking forward to, they just haven’t happened quite yet.

As far as people’s reaction and connection to it, it’s been wonderful and I’m just so happy that people have enjoyed it. My hope was that — and not in the sense of, I want people to go see my movie a bunch of times, it wasn’t like that — I felt as someone who has watched the movie a bunch of times that my opinion changed a lot. I’d go the first time and I was like, “Actually, I feel really, really bad for Art this time.” And then the next time I’m like, “Actually, f— Art…F— that guy!” You know what I mean? “Actually, f— both of them.” So every time my perspective changed and I was in the dang movie, so I thought I had a clear idea of what I was doing. So I’m so grateful that so many people have found all the little moments and are questioning the reason why these characters make their decisions and have picked up on little things, all the clothes kind of pass between all 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. Not only did they have fun and enjoy it, but they actually dug into it in a cool way.

Mike Faist and Josh O’Connor: What is the thing you took away working with them? I know sometimes those are things you don’t realize in the moment but can you see now the impact they perhaps had on you?

They’re both lovely people. They are just the nicest guys. And with Challengers, it’s obviously such an intimate thing because it’s not really an ensemble so much as mostly just the three of us. These characters are so intertwined and it’s so personal that you would only hope that you get to work with people that are, obviously, talented, but nice people because you’re going to have to be in their face — really in their face for a while. So working with them was great, and it’s great that I’m doing this while they’re not here — they can’t interrupt me and be like, “Stop complimenting me,” but I can compliment them a bunch because they really do deserve it. This was a film that I was lucky enough to be a part of from its inception and produce. And I remember the first time I read it, I had that past year watched The Crown and Josh and his performance was already in my mind, and I was like, I would love to work with this guy. And so reading Patrick, I immediately was like, yo, the guy from The Crown. And ironically, that’s exactly what Luca’s first instinct was — I guess he knew him already and he was like, “I’m thinking Josh O’Connor,” and I was like, “That’s so crazy you said that because that’s the first person I thought of.” Something that Luca is so brilliant at and has such an instinct for is casting. He never really does chemistry reads or anything like that — we did do chemistry reads for Art, but it wasn’t even necessary because he knew that Mike was his guy and he was absolutely right in that.

We had so much rehearsal time. I say we had summer camp, or boot camp — we’d wake up quite early, we’d do our tennis training. There was this facility in Boston that had these three courts next to each other, so we each had our court. And we’d do that for however many hours, and then we’d go and train and do our training together in this other room for however many hours. And then everybody would go off, have lunch, get their s— together, and then come back and we’d rehearse for however many hours. And it was awesome. It really was. I think also during our tennis training, sometimes obviously we are focused, determined, whatever, but we also had times where we were just having a good time. We treated it almost like P.E. class. Sometimes our physical trainer would have us do warmups before we would do the tennis training. We did games and stuff like that. And just having those kind of fun, lighthearted moments to hang out and get to know each other all in a friendship level and then working out…

I wish yours had been my P.E. class. It sounds a lot more fun.

My P.E. 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. And we all had such different personalities working out: Mike is so dedicated, so on it, so focused. 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.

And then moving on to rehearsal was really special, breaking down the text and having Justin there from the beginning to answer questions you had. I had a lot of questions. I was like, “Why is she doing that?” And we’d talk to each other. When you read a script, when you read a book, when you read anything, you kind of create a picture of it in your mind’s eye of how words are said or how things come off. And I was always so beautifully surprised every time they read their parts. Every time they read a scene, I was like, wow, that wasn’t my instinct, which is the coolest thing. They had a different take on something that now changes the whole thing. And I’m like, wow, I love that they chose that, I wouldn’t have thought of that. And I think that working with actors that make you feel that way keeps you on your toes and keeps you guessing and ultimately makes you better because you are working beside or watching someone work that is giving you so much to work with.

You talked about being very up in each other’s personal space and each other’s faces. There was obviously much ado made about the hotel room kiss, and I loved getting to hear from the three of you and Luca about how that wasn’t in the original script and how that all evolved. But that aside, the whole scene took on a life of its own. Was that amusing to watch happen? Was it frustrating because the focus was more about the physical act and not the deeper psychological impact of the moment? How did you take in all of that?

I think that maybe from the trailer people were like, oh, what’s going on here? But I do feel like the people who watched it understood what the point was. As soon as her face is revealed, looking up at them, I think it’s pretty clear the manipulation that’s happening and what she’s getting out of that moment. So I am actually quite happy with the fact that people just get it, and people did ask the bigger questions about those things. But yeah, I think also people forget — and this is something we talked a lot about in the press tour, which is funny — it might look one way, but everyone has to understand on the reverse of that, there’s a camera in our face, there’s also a camera person. There is the boom, there’s mics. There’s five different people who are also part of this very intimate moment.

And it feels wildly not intimate to the three of you.

Exactly. It’s wildly not intimate to us because it also is very planned. They’re [kissing], but I’m also thinking about the timing and the cameras getting closer and at some point when the camera starts to push in, [Josh and Mike] have to push apart. 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. You have to pretend that you’re lost in the moment while also keeping your eyes somehow on the camera and the timing to make sure that you don’t f— the take up. Also, we’re shooting on film, so we only have a certain amount of time before we run out, and I don’t want to waste any film. And while it seems like there’s the three of us in this kiss, there’s probably about five or six of us because we have crewmembers too, who are just as equally important in making this shot what it is.

Someone tweeted a really fascinating observation that in the hotel room, the beds were pushed together already. Is that something that happened in the moment while you guys were filming and we just didn’t see it in the movie? 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. I remember Josh telling a story about how he takes his shirt off; Josh takes his shirt off like a normal guy — like any normal person would, I think, take a shirt off. 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. So it’s little things like that, how Patrick would take their shirt off versus how art would take their shirt off — and what that symbolizes, I don’t know. And then there’s another great story about how Mike, and this is a Mike choice, but they’re sitting in there waiting for me at the party, and there’s these desserts, and you see Josh’s characters just eating the dessert, but Mike is scooping as much whipped cream off of the strawberry as he can so he’s only eating the fruit. So it’s little things like that that Mike brought that I thought was quite interesting and indicative of their characters. And Luca has such insight into character, to understanding these little ticks or little weird things that they do every day that make them who they are. He really taps in on that. And to me, it was down to the cream she used before she goes to bed at night and what she chooses to go to sleep in and fabrics.

I know some people are anticipating a lot of Tashi, Art, and Patrick Halloween costumes, which just speaks to the bigger cultural impact of a film like this. You’ve experienced those with Euphoria and Dune, but was it different with this one?

It has been really cool in real life going around…you’re in the grocery store and someone’s like, “Oh my God, I just saw Challengers!” And it’s cool because that’s still happening, even though it’s been quite a few months since then — people are either watching at home or what have you — and that’s really cool. And people’s commentary, they always are like, “So what really happened at the end? Who won? 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!” at you now?

[Laughs] I actually haven’t got that one. Oh, another high praise is, I’ve had a couple tennis players say, “Thanks for making tennis sexy” or “making tennis cool.” And I was like, I feel like tennis has always been cool and sexy, but I’ll take it. A lot of people have tried to get into tennis now, so I think that’s fun.

Have you been listening to Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross’ soundtrack over and over again the rest of the world?

Of course. I’m only human. [Laughs]

How did watching the movie with their score change your experience with the characters and the story?

It’s a completely different experience. I mean, it is and it isn’t. I remember watching it without any score, and I was still just as stressed and just as pulled in. I think it was brilliant. And then there was some pieces of music that Luca had chosen while we were shooting — there’s that choir song — and he would play it while we were shooting. So we were in the hotel room and he’d just play it, and he’s like, “I think I’m going to put this during this part.” And then there was another one, the beautiful song that plays when Art and Tashi are trying to be romantic and it just doesn’t work. 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. I don’t think you can’t even wrap your mind around how he’s able to sonically tell this story and it still works. It’s cohesive, it totally makes sense. And then we’re jumping over to techno, but it works. It totally works. And I remember watching it then with the music, the score fully in there, and the intensity — I thought I was already stressed, but the intensity really went through the roof. 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 filming Euphoria season 3 in January. Are you squeezing in any other projects before then or are you readying yourself to be Rue again?

No, I have something that goes before that, which will be nice because I feel like I haven’t been on a set in a really long time, so I’m rusty. [Laughs] Can I still do this? I dunno. So I’ll be excited to jump into something and dig into that first.

Speaking of jumping, Euphoria has a time jump. Is that exciting? Because a lot of shows do it and it can feel like a crutch or a fix, but with a show like this, it feels very necessary. 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 don’t quite know exactly what the season is going to look like, but I do know that the time jump is happening and I know it’s important because there’s only so much high school drama you can deal with — “and then she cheats on her boyfriend again!” To me, at least, it is [exciting], and it will be fascinating to see and understand these characters outside of the context of high school and how all the stuff that we saw when they were kids and they were in high school affects the kind of adulthood they have and who they become in a much bigger world. I’ll be interested to see what happens too.

This interview has been edited for clarity and length.

Listen to more of our in-depth interview with Zendaya, including what she learned from working on Disney sets that she still carries with her, whether she watches Dancing With the Stars since she was on the competition series, and more, in the podcast below.

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