When Luca Guadagnino and Zendaya discussed the final frame of Challengers, they used one specific word: Primal. The film ends on a cliffhanger of sorts during the central tennis match’s tiebreak set, with Zendaya’s Tashi delivering a single line that became one of Challengers’ most talked-about moments (“C’mon!”). “His direction was: Give me a primal scream,” Zendaya explained at a recent THR Presents live panel, powered by Vision Media. “I went to watch a lot of Pepperdine matches while I was prepping, and they absolutely do scream like that. It comes from such a deep place.”
Guadagnino, who saw Challengers as an exploration of competitive eroticism, saw the final scene as a way for Tashi to release — in a not-entirely-asexual way — all of the energy she has held in during her years coaching her husband Art (played by Mike Faist) to greatness. “Something is finally unleashed,” he added. “I think it’s the most beautiful way of closing the movie, with this liberation of her desires.”
The director and star gathered at Los Angeles’ Pacific Design Center alongside co-composers Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross and co-producers Rachel O’Connor and Amy Pascal, where they discussed behind-the-scenes stories from the making of Challengers, and what it’s been like to witness the movie’s success. Reznor and Ross were also fresh off of their Golden Globes win for best original score. “Luca said you can do whatever we want, but might I suggest that we make the music loud, propulsive, techno, almost in your face,” Reznor says of their first meeting. “It’s a character in the movie. That isn’t where we would instinctually start, but it was exciting.”
Ross added: “I think sometimes we can psych ourselves out and overcomplicate things, but I was just listening [to the movie] in the back, and I have to say it sounded really fucking good.”
This edition of THR Presents is sponsored by Amazon/MGM.
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