Daniel Craig is in awe of “Challengers” — and is convinced the Luca Guadagnino film has found its rightful place in cinema history.
Craig, who starred in Guadagnino’s “Queer” which was also penned by “Challengers” scribe Justin Kuritzkes, told Variety alongside “Challengers” star Josh O’Connor — with whom he co-stars in the third “Knives Out” film arriving next year — that the viral threesome kiss scene was instantly iconic.
“The scene in the hotel room, where they don’t have sex with each other, is the biggest cock tease in movie history,” Craig said.
The scene involves O’Connor and co-star Mike Faist’s characters trying to seduce Zendaya. However, she encourages them both to explore their pent up desire for one another, too.
And that wasn’t the only scene that Craig admired in the film. The star added, “I love the end of [‘Challengers’]. I love where it goes to: All of that setup, and you get to the moment. Which is what Luca’s about — he wants to hit the moment of love. And you see a love between the two guys that trumps everything around it. I’m just a sucker for it. What else is there?”
O’Connor, meanwhile, gave more insight into filming that big “cock tease.”
“The reality is that those intimacy scenes are the least sexy scenes you can do,” he said. “I feel far more vulnerable doing an emotional scene.”
O’Connor explained the reason such a scene is in there is really just to serve the story, and the actual filming of it was much funnier than it appears on screen.
“Me and Mike [Faist] got the giggles because we’re both kissing Zendaya, and gradually we end up kissing each other,” O’Connor said. “She’s just backed out and she’s watching. We had this moment of kissing for a while, and then opening our eyes and seeing that it’s just us — that did make us giggle.”
“Challengers” screenwriter Kuritzkes recently told IndieWire for the annual IndieWire Honors that the scene is his “favorite” in the film because “it feels like a real showcase for what everybody does so well.”
“It’s the chemistry between the actors, the amazing way Luca is staging it, Sayombhu [Mukdeeprom, the DP] is shooting it,” Kuritzkes said. “I think about the moment in that scene when Patrick and Art are finally kissing and Tashi removes herself from the kiss and leans back on the bed to watch them.”
Kuritzkes continued of director Guadagnino, “Luca has the brilliance of having the camera go over the boys’ heads and onto Tashi, and you just see the look on her face. None of that could happen if it weren’t for each of the individuals involved in the making of this movie, if Luca didn’t have the boldness to do that shot and if Zendaya wasn’t blessed with the face but also knew how to use it.”
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