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Josh O'Connor 'improvised' this very steamy kiss in Challengers
We’re very interested in hearing all about this particular scene.
Editor’s note: SPOILERS ahead for Challengers!
Since the first trailer dropped last year, audiences have been waiting to see how far Luca Guadagnino's drama Challengers would go with the love triangle at the heart of the film. Now, Josh O'Connor is opening up about the intimate scene that he says included some "improvisation."
The film stars young legend Zendaya as Tashi, a former tennis prodigy who turns to coaching after a career-ending injury. After having a steamy affair with two friends — Art (Mike Faist) and Patrick (O'Connor) — when they were all teenagers, things get a little more complicated when they all have to face off again as adults. Tashi is now married to Art, who is on a losing streak… and her strategy for her husband's redemption takes a surprising turn when he must face off against his former best friend and Tashi's former boyfriend.
The trailer teases a steamy scene where the three leads have a three-way kiss on a hotel room bed. And during an interview with Vanity Fair, O'Connor confirmed what fans have been hoping for — a kiss between the two male leads.
if Josh and Mike don’t kiss at least once what’s the point https://t.co/ZojQSXWXMs
— Wendell (@RhodeToLove) June 20, 2023
"Luca had a very clear idea of what happens on the bed," he said. "The idea of me and Mike, with Zendaya in the middle—this idea that it's kissing, kissing, and then it turns into this three-way kiss—and then suddenly Mike and I are kissing. That was very clear. We all kind of figured out, how are we going to do this? How does this work?"
Vanity Fair said that O'Connor is at "his sexiest and most mercurial" in the film, describing his character, Patrick, as "braggadocious" with a "sculpted physique (including, so we're told, a certain large external organ)."
O'Connor also confessed that he improvised some of the character choices in the three-way kissing scene.
"There is an element of improvisation with it. It was fairly organic," he explained. "We did little things, like, when they're sitting on the floor and she goes onto the bed, I was up in a flash and not holding back. That came from us knowing our characters well, and knowing the dynamics between the three of us."
Challengers was supposed to premiere last fall but was delayed because of the SAG-AFTRA strikes. Now, it's set to hit theaters on April 26, 2024.
Ariel Messman-Rucker is an Oakland-born journalist who now calls the Pacific Northwest her home. When she’s not writing about politics and queer pop culture, she can be found reading, hiking, or talking about horror movies with the Zombie Grrlz Horror Podcast Network.
Ariel Messman-Rucker is an Oakland-born journalist who now calls the Pacific Northwest her home. When she’s not writing about politics and queer pop culture, she can be found reading, hiking, or talking about horror movies with the Zombie Grrlz Horror Podcast Network.
