Luca Guadagnino’s ‘Challengers’ to Heat Up the Lido as 80th Venice Film Festival Opener

Erik Anderson July 6, 2023

Luca Guadagnino’s Challengers will have its world premiere on Wednesday, August 30 in the Sala Grande at the Palazzo del Cinema (Lido di Venezia), as the opening night film of the 80^th Venice Film Festival, out of competition.

Alberto Barbera, director of the festival, said: “Luca Guadagnino is one of the few Italian directors who has always been accustomed to working with both Italian and foreign actresses and actors, getting top results from all of them each time. Even when he is filming abroad as is the case with Challengers. With a light hand and sporting self-confidence, Guadagnino sets no limits to his creative energy in this film as he deals with topics such as love, friendship, and male rivalry, and brings to life an enthralling and affecting movie, full of irony, sensuality, and good nature. Cinema in its purest form.”

“I am so thrilled for audiences to experience my new film Challengers at the Venice Film Festival. It’s a modern bold story of youthful energy, love and power. Zendaya, Josh and Mike are totally original and fresh, bringing a new energy like you’ve never seen before, said the Palermo-born Guadagnino. “I can’t wait for the Lido audience to dance across the notes of the soundtrack of Trent and Atticus at the opening night of the 80th edition of the Mostra. As a filmmaker, it is a dream come true and I am grateful to Alberto and the whole Venice family for this wonderful recognition for the film,” he continued.

Guadagnino premiered Bones and All at the Mostra in 2022, where he won the Silver Lion Award for Best Director. Previously, Guadagnino premiered several films in Venice: The Protagonists (1999), Io sono l’amore (2009), Bertolucci on Bertolucci (2013), A Bigger Splash (2015), Suspiria (2018), Salvatore: The Shoemaker of Dreams (2020). He is the writer, director, and producer of Call Me by Your Name, with earned him an Academy Award nomination for Best Picture. Guadagnino has served as President of the Jury of the Beirut International Film Festival (2011) and as President of the Jury at the 68th San Sebastián Festival.

The film stars Zendaya as Tashi Duncan, a former tennis prodigy turned coach and a force of nature, who makes no apologies for her game on and off the court. Married to a champion on a losing streak (Mike Faist, West Side Story), Tashi’s strategy for her husband’s redemption takes a surprising turn when he must face off against the washed-up Patrick (Josh O’Connor, The Crown) – his former best friend and Tashi’s former boyfriend. As their pasts and presents collide, and tensions run high, Tashi must ask herself, what will it cost to win.

Challengers is written by Justin Kuritzkes (husband of Past Lives writer and director Celine Song) and produced by Amy Pascal, Luca Guadagnino, Zendaya and Rachel O’Connor. Executive Producers are Bernard Bellew, Lorenzo Mieli, and Kevin Ulrich with music by Academy Award winners Trent Reznor & Atticus Ross.

Challengers will be distributed in the US by Metro Goldwyn Mayer Pictures and Amazon Studios, and internationally through Warner Bros Pictures. It is set for theatrical release in the U.S. on September 15.

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Erik Anderson

Erik Anderson is the founder/owner and Editor-in-Chief of AwardsWatch and has always loved all things Oscar, having watched the Academy Awards since he was in single digits; making lists, rankings and predictions throughout the show. This led him down the path to obsessing about awards. Much later, he found himself in film school and the film forums of GoldDerby, and then migrated over to the former Oscarwatch (now AwardsDaily), before breaking off to create AwardsWatch in 2013.

He is a Rotten Tomatoes-approved critic, accredited by the Cannes Film Festival, Telluride Film Festival, Toronto International Film Festival and more, is a member of the International Cinephile Society (ICS), The Society of LGBTQ Entertainment Critics (GALECA), Hollywood Critics Association (HCA) and the International Press Academy. Among his many achieved goals with AwardsWatch, he has given a platform to underrepresented writers and critics and supplied them with access to film festivals and the industry and calls the Bay Area his home where he lives with his husband and son.