Australia has rolled out the red carpet for the world premiere of Challengers, one of the most hotly anticipated movies of 2024 — and its star has positively immersed herself in the film’s theme.
Actress Zendaya, best known for Euphoria, Dune and The Greatest Showman, has returned to Sydney for the event, alongside co-stars Josh O’Connor (The Crown) and Mike Faist (West Side Story).
WATCH THE VIDEO ABOVE: The cast of Challengers stuns at the World Premiere in Sydney.
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The 27-year-old actress stunned on the red carpet in a custom Loewe gown, which was designed to represent a tennis court.
Challengers has tennis at its heart — with Zendaya’s character coaching her husband into becoming an elite player after she injures herself on the court and has to forfeit her own playing career.
“Clothes are my way to experiment, play and have fun,” Zendaya told Sunrise on Wednesday.
“We’ve played around with themed dressing for a long time … the themes, the colour palettes, the silhouettes.
“So in this way (my red carpet dress) is very literal. I believe this is a screengrab from the film — I am a tennis court.”
The actress has also shared that clothes sometimes act as a “shield” during public events.
“Playing with theme dressing has always been something I enjoy,” she said during a press conference for the film on Wednesday.
“For me (premieres) can be daunting and scary, so clothes can be a way to kind of… a little shield.
“(You can) create a character and then you’re not really yourself out there.”
Despite being one of Hollywood’s most in-demand actresses, Zendaya admits to a kind of imposter syndrome — even doubting if people would show up for her premiere.
“I still feel very much like, ‘Nobody’s going to be there, it’s going to be so awkward, no one’s going to show up’,” she said.
“Then you get there and people are welcoming you with such love and warm embrace.
“I’m pretty shocked about that anytime I do anything like (a premiere).”
The last time Zendaya was in Australia, for the 2019 premiere of The Greatest Showman, she went as a butterfly.
“So this time we’re going to have fun with this tennis lady we’re creating,” she laughed.
While Zendaya has been to Sydney before, it’s the first time for O’Connor and Faist.
“It’s warm, which is really nice. We went out on a little boat tour the other night… We saw Bondi Beach. We’ve had a great time,” O’Connor said.
Faist shared that he had spent his mornings at Bondi Beach learning to surf.
Challengers follows Tashi (Zendaya) a tennis-player-turned-coach, who coaches her husband Art (Faist) into becoming a world-famous grand slam champion — after she forfeits her own career due to injury.
To jolt him out of a losing streak, she makes him play a challenger event — close to the lowest level of tournament on the pro tour.
Tensions run high when Art finds himself standing across the net from the once-promising but now burnt-out Patrick (O’Connor), his former best friend and Tashi’s former boyfriend.
Zendaya said the “obvious” way to first perceive Tashi was “unlikeable”.
“You judge her immediately and think she’s too much it’s messy it’s whatever,” she said.
“So my job was trying to find her gooey centre and empathy of why she makes the decisions and what pain it’s coming from.”
Zendaya said although Tashi was “ruthless” — a trait she personally loved about her — she believed it came from a place of grief.
“It’s grief of a life and career that she never got to live,” she said.
“I think her one true love was always tennis.
“She is trying whatever she can to be close to it, to touch it, to do it.
“So she uses people to get that feeling because she can’t do it any more on her own.
“She’s never had a moment to just sit with it… and feel bad for herself.”
Challengers hits Australian cinemas on April 18.
