As per Matt Belloni’s Puck newsletter, acclaimed director Luca Guadagnino has found the central cast for his romantic sports drama, Challengers. Zendaya, Josh O’Connor and Mike Faist have joined the film, which will follow Tashi (Zendaya), a tennis pro who now acts as an instructor. After pushing her husband (Faist) to become a tennis legend, she forces him to participate in the lowly “challenger” event where one of his opponents is his ex-best friend and Tashi’s former lover Patrick (O’Connor). The film is expected to start production this spring on the East Coast.

The screenplay for Challengers will be penned by playwright and novelist Justin Kuritzkes, with Amy Pascal producing the drama. Gaudagnino is working on multiple upcoming projects in addition to Challengers, including the horror-romance flick All the Bones starring Timothée Chalamet and Taylor Russell, as well as an Audrey Hepburn biopic starring Rooney Mara. Not much is known about the plot of any of the Italian filmmaker’s upcoming projects.

Zendaya is quickly rising as one of the most successful young actresses of our time, currently starring on HBO‘s Euphoria in her Emmy-winning role as Rue Bennet, alongside a recent appearance as Michelle Jones in Marvel‘s Spider-Man: No Way Home, and a starring role in Denis Villeneuve‘s Dune. She is also set to appearing in the sci-fi giant’s sequel alongside her new role in Challengers, and also recently appeared in a Super Bowl ad for Squarespace, directed by Last Night in Soho helmer Edgar Wright.

O’Connor, who is best known for his starring role in several seasons of Netflix‘s The Crown, as well as God’s Own Country, is set to star in the upcoming historical romance The History of Sound. Faist, who just starred in Steven Spielberg‘s 2021 reimagining of the classic musical West Side Story, is set to appear in Pinball: The Man Who Saved the Game. No other casting details for Challengers have been released.

via Collider