The churro scene from the film Challengers was off the script!
Luca Guadagnino’s sports romance Challengers is a runaway success at the box office! However, an unexpected scene between Josh O’Connor’s Patrick and Mike Faist‘s Art causes a stir. The film’s leading stars shared their thoughts on this ‘unscripted’ scene!
Zendaya, Josh O’Connor and Mike Faist talk about the Churro scene
In the scene, Patrick comes to Stanford to visit his girlfriend, Tashi (Zendaya) and encounters his best friend Art in the cafeteria. They bond over some churros, but the context of the scene is a bit complex, which makes it enjoyable for the viewers!
It was clear from the get-go that the film has a love triangle! Zendaya’s Tashi Dancun dates both guys and their relationships even overlap. Amidst the awkwardness, two friends who care for each other and are jealous at the same time try to be as normal as possible. This tension takes the scene to another level.
Apparently, they went off the scripts and simply winged the scene with the help of director Luca Guadagnino. “The churro wasn’t scripted, was it? The churro was something that you guys found right, with Luca?” Zendaya asked her co-stars about it during an interview with Capital FM. They instantly replied, “It was a Luca thing,” referring to their director.
Josh O’Connor reveals he was starving during the churro scene
O’Connor, who plays Patrick, also revealed that he was starving during that take, so he kept eating the churros and even snatched one from his co-star.
“What I will say is…that was my first churro and I hadn’t eaten anything that day. So I was starving and tasted my first churro – and churros are extraordinary. So I ate my one and then I ate his [pointing to Faist],” he said during the Capital FM interview.
Mike Faist, who plays Art in the film, recalled the spontaneity of the scene and how fun it was to play with each other’s cues back and forth. He spoke about working with The Crown actor and said, “He tees you up for something, and I hit the ball back. It’s like a game of tennis—we’re just giving each other something to play with,” Faist said.
Challengers’ director opens up about the viral scene
Guadagnino spilled beans on the behind-the-scenes of the churro scene. He told the New York Times that it “depicts a moment and evolution in [the duo] friendship that has been diverted because of a third person.”
He talked about revelry mixed with friendship and jealousy, elevating the scene. “What we see is basically, sort of like, a game of revelry, sparkling between these two young boys over Tashi, but at the same time, a jealousy that ignites the relationship,” he said.
