Challengers/Trivia

== Trivia ==
* To prepare for her role, Zendaya spent three months with pro tennis player-turned-coach, Brad Gilbert.
* Patrick taking a bite of the churro and letting Art take one was unscripted. Josh O'Connor was starving and it was the first time he ever had churros.
* The New Rochelle Umpire is played by Darnell Appling, an assistant to Zendaya. To prepare for his role, Appling took professional umpire lessons.
* Austin Butler and Timothée Chalamet were considered for the role of Art Donaldson before Mike Faist was cast.
* Luca Guadagnino visited Zendaya on the set of Dune: Part Two (2024) in order to complete ADR for Challengers (2024).
* The film was completed in April 2023, a whole year before its release.
* Luca Guadagnino's second collaboration with composers Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross after Bones and All (2022).
* Filmed under the name "Tire Town."
* Screenwriter Justin Kuritzkes is the husband of Celine Song, who wrote and directed Past Lives (2023). 
* Originally scheduled to release on September 15, 2023; however, it was delayed to April 26, 2024 due to the SAG-AFTRA strike. 
* Justin Kuritzkes' first screenwriting credit. 
* The first names of Art, Tashi, and Patrick in an acronym spell ATP, a play on The Association of Tennis Professionals. 
* Though the tennis match in the modern day takes place in one afternoon, it was filmed across three weeks at all times of day, in full sun and under clouds, with temperatures ranging from the 40s to the 90s. There was even one day a mass pollen release by some nearby trees that tinted the whole set (and all the people on it) yellow, which wasn't removed till rain fell over the next few days of filming. 
* One of two movies starring Mike Faist that intended to release in the latter half of 2023, but was delayed to 2024 due to the SAG-AFTRA strike. However, the other film, The Bikeriders (2023), still screened at multiple film festivals in 2023 before its release date moved from December 1, 2023 to June 21, 2024. 
* All three actresses who played the main love interest of Spider-Man in the different franchises of this century, also took over the role of a professional tennis player in a tennis-themed movie:
** Kirsten Dunst - Mary Jane Watson in Spider-Man (2002), Spider-Man 2 (2004), and Spider-Man 3 (2007); Lizzie Bradbury in Wimbledon (2004).
** Emma Stone - Gwen Stacy in The Amazing Spider-Man (2012) and The Amazing Spider-Man 2 (2014); Billie Jean King in Battle of the Sexes (2017).
** Zendaya - MJ in Spider-Man: Homecoming (2017), Spider-Man: Far from Home (2019), and Spider-Man: No Way Home (2021); Tashi Duncan/Donaldson in this movie.
* Luca Guadagnino's third feature-length collaboration with Thai cinematographer Sayombhu Mukdeeprom. 
* Costume designer J.W. Anderson is the founder of JW Anderson, as well as creative director for the Spanish luxury house LOEWE. 
* Zendaya said, "We had an intimacy coordinator which was fantastic and very helpful, because it was important that we felt safe." 
* According to multiple festival directors, Challengers (2024) was the only film pulled from the 2023 fall festival circuit due to the SAG-AFTRA strike.
* Austin Abrams, Jacob Elordi, and Dominic Fike were considered for the role of Patrick Zweig before Josh O'Connor was cast. 
* Luca Guadagnino's second film set and made in the United States. 
* Luca Guadagnino's eighth narrative feature film and his tenth overall, including two documentaries. 
* The film was originally supposed to open the 2023 Venice Film Festival, but it pulled its selection a month before the festival due to the actors' strike. Comandante (2023) replaced Challengers as the opening night film.
* Lily, Tashi's (Zendaya's character) daughter, mentions a Spider-Verse movie; Zendaya costarred in three Spider-Man movies. 
* Nika King and Matthew Macfadyen were considered for undisclosed roles. 
* August 11, 2023 was the film's initial release date. 
* The film's April 26, 2024 release date in the United States happens nine days after the 100th anniversary of the founding of the film's studio, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, on April 17. 
== Goofs ==
=== Continuity ===
* Because the "modern day" tennis match took much longer to film than originally scheduled (15 days rather than 5), the number of extras available decreased as time went on. But since the director decided early on to save time between shots by not having the extras change outfits when they were repositioned, you can see people in the crowd appearing to be at once on opposite sides and on opposite ends of the court within individual scenes.
* When she has the accident on court it is her right knee which is damaged. Near the beginning of the film when she gets out of bed & goes to the bathroom while Art is still in bed, Tashi shows us & touches the scar on her left knee.
=== Factual errors ===
* After Patrick loses the second set in his final round match against Art and smashes his racket, the chair umpire declares a code violation point penalty; however, it should have been a game penalty, as Patrick had already received a point penalty earlier in the match (the scoreboard at the bottom accurately reflects the correct score).
* During the rally where Art and Patrick are both at net, Art smashes the ball and then touches the net and his opponent, which are both illegal according to the rules of tennis while the ball is still in play.
* Throughout the film, chair umpires would announce the names of the players before before the match as they are setting down their equipment on the sidelines; however, announcements of player names and where they are from are always made during the warm-up or right before walking on court.
=== Anachronisms ===
* The large poster on the building of Tashi Duncan and Art Donaldson is an advertisement for the Aston Martin DBX707, a performance SUV which released in 2022. This shouldn't be possible as the scenes take place in 2019.
Category:Trivia facts
Category:Goofs