Zeendaya is here with her new movie Challengers, both as lead actor and as producer. The movie has received good words from audiences and critics alike. While some have praised the cinematography, some talked about its score. Not even mentioning about Zendaya’s acting brilliance. But, as she takes up the role of a former tennis prodigy who retired after an injury, she becomes the latest Spider-Man actress to carry forward one trend.
Zendaya is the Latest Spider-Man Female Lead to Play the Role of a Tennis Player
Zendaya and Josh O’Connor in Challengers (2024). Image Credit: Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
In Challengers, a romantic sports film directed by Luca Guadagnino and written by Justin Kuritzkes. Zendaya plays the role of Tashi Duncan, along with fellow athletes Art (Mike Faist) and Patrick (Josh O’Connor). The movie chronicles an intense love triangle entangling a professional tennis player and former tennis rivals.
The official synopsis of the film describes Zendaya’s character Duncan as “a force of nature who makes no apologies for her game on and off the court.”
Prior to the lease of the movie, Zendaya appeared on an episode of Good Morning America, and the Euphoria actress responded to one meme the show host was referring to where he mentioned that all the previous female leads of Spider-Man movies later went on to play a tennis star role.
To which Zendaya replied, “I have seen this. I don’t know! We were joking, I was like, maybe it’s just some prophecy that I need to fulfill.“
“It’s quite funny, isn’t that? I don’t know,” she added. “I guess it worked out for all of them.”
From the Spiderverse to the Tennis-verse!
Zendaya reacts to the meme showing all the “Spiderman” female leads then portraying tennis stars: “Maybe it’s some prophecy I need to fulfill.”
#Challengers pic.twitter.com/Vw1YV41bkX
— Good Morning America (@GMA) April 23, 2024
So, before Zendaya, it was Kirsten Dunst and Emma Stone who starred both as Spider-Man‘s leading lady and a tennis player. Dunst featured in three web-slinging films starring Toby Maguire in the 2000s. And, she portrayed a tennis player in 2004’s romantic comedy Wimbledon opposite costar Paul Bettany; the film was released just three months after Spider-Man 2.
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The other female Spider-Man lead was Emma Stone. Stone real-life tennis-pro Billie Jean King in 2017’s Battle of the Sexes. Before that, she played Gwen Stacy in the two Spider-Man movies released in 2012 and 2014.
So, it’s a legacy Zendaya is just carrying forward just like her predecessors.
What Critics Are Saying About Challengers?
Moviegoers have said that Zendaya-led Challengers is amazing and she shines in the role. But let’s see what the critics around have to say about this much-hyped film.
Wall Street Journals Kyle Smith says, “Luca Guadagnino] does his best to give substance to a thin, soapy story, but he relies so heavily on gimmicks (several montages feature electronic dance music) that he starts to seem desperate.”
Manohla Dargis of the New York Times thinks “it wants to engage and entertain you, and it does that very nicely.”
Washington Post’s Ty Burr says, “The movie’s a paean to hard work and hedonism, and if its pleasures are mostly surface — grass, clay, emotional — it’s still been too long since we’ve had an intelligent frolic like this.”
“A funny, tempestuous, and exuberantly lusty story about how three athletic demigods see their destinies upended. And Guadagnino tells it the way he knows best, with a sometimes exasperating but ultimately irresistible surfeit of style,” reviews Justin Chang from New Yorker.
Peter Debruge of Variety writes, “The plot of “Challengers” might sound stale, and yet, there’s an electric spark to Guadagnino’s approach that elevates the material, rendering it fresh.”
Guardian’s Peter Bradshaw goes to say “Moment by moment, line by line and scene by scene, Challengers delivers sexiness and laughs, intrigue and resentment, and Guadagnino’s signature is there in the intensity, the closeups and the music stabs.”
Challengers‘ filming was wrapped two years ago and was set to release last September. But due to the SAG- AFTRA strike the movie’s release was postponed.
Challengers is running in theaters.
