With all due respect to the viral post on Twitter (only people who hate love call it “X”) about Spider-Man’s live-action girlfriends starring in tennis movies, that’s not the only thing they have in common: They also star in tennis movies featuring racket-swinging white guys desperately trying to stage a comeback. In the case of “Challengers,” Faist plays a fading tennis champion whose bid to end his losing streak forces him to face off against his former BFF (Josh O’Connor), a player who also dated his wife (Zendaya) — herself a one-time tennis prodigy — once upon a time. According to Faist, however, he experienced a similar twist of fate off-screen as well.
When Letterboxd editor Ella Kemp noted the similarities between “Past Lives” and “Challengers,” Faist revealed that he’d actually come across Song’s script for the former “right before the pandemic” and auditioned for the film but “didn’t get it.” All the same, his thoughts kept returning to it during the ensuing lockdowns, which led to him contacting Song’s agent and asking them to send along a message, telling her he thought her screenplay was “amazing” and “I hope you actually get the chance to make this movie because it’s incredible.” Despite that, it wasn’t until he was talking to Kuritzkes one day during production on “Challengers” — at which point the screenwriter mentioned his wife had only just finished editing her own movie — that Faist even became aware of the connection between the films.
Again, it’s the type of “very meta” development (as Faist described it) that might read as contrived if it happened in a movie. But in the real world? Well, perhaps there’s something to the whole idea of “In-Yun” after all.
“Challengers” is now playing in theaters.
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