{"id":125,"date":"2024-05-06T00:46:11","date_gmt":"2024-05-06T00:46:11","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/zaynabsiddiqui.com\/finalproject\/?p=125"},"modified":"2024-05-06T02:14:10","modified_gmt":"2024-05-06T02:14:10","slug":"all-your-challengers-questions-answered-by-challengersscreenwriter-justin-kuritzkes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/zaynabsiddiqui.com\/finalproject\/film\/all-your-challengers-questions-answered-by-challengersscreenwriter-justin-kuritzkes\/","title":{"rendered":"All Your\u00a0‘Challengers’\u00a0Questions, Answered by\u00a0‘Challengers’ Screenwriter Justin Kuritzkes"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

GQ<\/a> article written by Raymond Ang<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

This interview contains major spoilers for\u00a0Challengers<\/em>.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Movies are back, baby! Luca Guadagnino\u2019s sexy, sweaty tennis-threeway movie\u00a0Challengers<\/em>\u00a0won last weekend in the zeitgeist as well as at the\u00a0box office, dominating group chats, social media feeds, and even the\u00a0GQ<\/em>\u00a0Slack.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In this post-monolithic age of media consumption, it\u2019s increasingly rare for any release\u2014barring peak Marvel or juggernautish new studio albums by the likes of\u00a0Beyonc\u00e9\u00a0or Taylor Swift\u2014to become that central to the conversation. But over the course of this week, everywhere you went, people were talking about\u00a0Challengers<\/em>\u2019s Tashi, Art, and Patrick\u2014the\u00a0obscenely good-looking\u00a0threesome at the center of the story, played by the red-hot trio of\u00a0Zendaya, Josh O\u2019Connor and Mike Faist\u2014and the questions the film leaves unanswered.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Did they really make out at Applebee\u2019s? What was up with Patrick\u2019s bruise? When you’re naming a guy in a movie script in 2024, how do you land on the name \u201cArt Donaldson\u201d? We circled back with\u00a0Challengers<\/em>\u00a0screenwriter Justin Kuritzkes\u00a0to ask these questions, and a few others that have been on everybody’s mind.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/div>\n\n\n\n

1. Where does one get a name like \u201cArt Donaldson\u201d?<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

Mike Faist’s character\u2019s name has interestingly, become a\u00a0polarizing, much-discussed aspect of the film. I told Kuritzkes it felt like a name right out of a \u201930s screwball comedy like\u00a0The Philadelphia Story<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThere’s something about it that sounds very good-natured and all-American,\u201d he says. \u201cIt sounds like the kind of name that a big tennis star could have and that people would get behind. That sounds like a guy you can trust\u2014Art Donaldson.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThere’s other inspirations for why all their names are the way they are, but they’re too embarrassing to talk about,\u201d he adds. After a beat though, he acquiesces: \u201cI’ll say, with Art, that there is some inspiration of\u00a0Art Garfunkel from\u00a0Carnal Knowledge<\/em>.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/div>\n\n\n\n

2. What\u2019s up with Patrick\u2019s mysterious bruise?<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

In the final match, we catch a glimpse of a pretty nasty bruise on Patrick’s arm. \u201cHe’s about to serve and he, I think, scratches his arm and there’s a closeup of a bruise in the crook of his arm,\u201d says\u00a0GQ<\/em>\u2019s style editor\u00a0Yang-Yi Goh. \u201cIt seemed to indicate that he was a drug user, but then it was never addressed or came back up again and had no bearing on the plot.\u201d That bruise has become a subject of speculation online, where theories have ranged everywhere from drug use to\u00a0donating blood for money.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI can confirm it\u2019s not that,\u201d Kuritzkes says, when I run the drug theory by him. \u201cIf you watch the movie closely, you’ll see where he got that bruise and who gave it to him.\u201d (Upon investigating,\u00a0GQ<\/em>\u2019s associate social media manager\u00a0Carolina Gonzalez\u00a0concludes that it was from Tashi hitting Patrick in the arm the night before.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/div>\n\n\n\n

3. How did they land on the Dunkin\u2019 Donuts breakfast sandwich?<\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n

When Patrick registers for the Challenger event in New Rochelle, he stares longingly at what\u00a0GQ<\/em>\u00a0style writer\u00a0Eileen Cartter\u00a0calls \u201cthe most improbably beautiful Dunkin’ sandwich you’ve ever seen,\u201d as an ATP official at registration prepares to eat it. Those Dunkin\u2019 sandwiches cost as little as $5.29 and at the most, $7.69\u2014providing a shorthand for Patrick\u2019s financial situation. Initially though, Kuritzkes had a McMuffin ($7.29) in his script. Why did they ultimately decide to go with that sandwich?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Kuritzkes credits the film\u2019s property masters Matt Marks and Mike Drury for the stroke of genius. \u201cThat day, they brought out four different sandwiches and Luca had to choose one,\u201d he says. \u201cThere was a discussion that we were all having about, which one of these feels most authentic to New Rochelle? Which one of these sandwiches would this ATP official really be eating? Would it be a bodega-looking sandwich that you can get in New York, or would it be a Dunkin’ sandwich?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the end, they went with the sandwich America runs on. \u201cI really love that detail,\u201d Kuritzkes says, \u201cbecause him looking at that with so much desire tells you everything about what’s going on with him.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/div>\n\n\n\n

4. Is the Applebee\u2019s in Cincinnati really the ATP tour\u2019s makeout capital?<\/strong><\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n

When Tashi and Art reconnect, they end up making out in the parking lot of a Cincinnati Applebee\u2019s. Why did that seem like the right place for that? \u201cIt\u2019s a very big thing to tennis players on the circuit,\u201d Kuritzkes says. \u201cThat Applebee’s is pretty famous for being the spot that everybody at the Cincinnati Open will eat at.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The idea actually came from one of the researchers in the art department, who suggested the specific branch after reading a\u00a02014\u00a0New York Times<\/em>\u00a0article\u00a0by Ben Rothenberg about the phenomenon of the ATP\u2019s top talent swarming that specific Applebee\u2019s.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cFunnily enough,\u201d Kuritzkes says, \u201cI did an interview a couple days ago with the guy who wrote that\u00a0New York Times<\/em>\u00a0article.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/div>\n\n\n\n

5. Does the Stanford cafeteria serve churros?<\/strong><\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI have no idea,\u201d he says, \u201cbut it was always churros.\u201d Every version of the script had Art and Patrick sharing a churro in the Stanford cafeteria, but Kuritzkes says the extra charge of\u00a0homoeroticism\u00a0came from the way Guadagnino shot the scene.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe blocking of the churros developed over the process of making the movie,\u201d he says, about the\u00a0scene\u00a0in which we see Patrick feed Art a churro at one point. \u201cThe presence of the churros in the scene is certainly amplified by what the actors and what Luca are doing.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Why churros? \u201cIt\u2019s California,\u201d the Golden State-born screenwriter says. \u201cI wouldn\u2019t put it past them.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/div>\n\n\n\n

6. Patrick has his Tinder set to men and women\u2014is it because he dates both or because he\u2019s looking for a place to sleep? What other apps is Patrick on?<\/strong><\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI think that it’s an interesting thing for the audience to mull over,\u201d Kuritzkes says, about the first question. \u201cI think it’s an intentional ambiguity there of, he needs a place to sleep that night, but also his Tinder settings are set the way they’re set. I think the audience should piece that together for themselves and do what they want with it. I don’t think Patrick is particularly interested in any of the people he’s swiping on.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And what other apps might Patrick be on? \u201cI feel like he probably has a lot of apps for deals or coupons\u2014that kind of stuff,\u201d Kuritzkes says. \u201cHe has a car, so he’s not doing Uber Pools or anything like that, but I bet he has a lot of apps for discount meals.\u201d (My own guess: Grindr, and definitely\u00a0Sniffies.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/div>\n\n\n\n

7. Does\u00a0Challengers<\/em>\u00a0have a villain?<\/strong><\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n

During the movie\u2019s press tour, Zendaya, O\u2019Connor and Faist have gone back and forth on the film\u2019s real villain. One theory? It\u2019s actually Art since he\u2019s arguably the reason for Tashi\u2019s injury. As Kuritzkes sees it, though, there\u2019s no villain in the story.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI don’t think about characters as being villains,\u201d he says. \u201cYou’re trying to create people that feel real, and what that ends up meaning is that you create people who are as cruel and petty and kind and understanding and generous and mean as the people you meet in real life. One of the things that I find interesting about tennis as a sport\u2014and something that I think resonates in the lives of these characters\u2014is that you’re all alone on the court. To some extent, you’re responsible for everything that happens to you out there.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He relates that to the difference between tennis and boxing. \u201cIn boxing, you’re trying to hit each other, and in tennis, you’re trying to not hit each other,\u201d he says. \u201cYou’re trying to miss each other. In boxing, if you get injured, it’s because somebody punched you in the face. Maybe you can blame yourself. You didn’t block it, but somebody is responsible for what happened to you. In tennis, if you get injured, it’s almost always because you got tripped, so it’s almost always the case that you did it to yourself.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/div>\n\n\n\n

8. How involved was Kuritzkes during shooting?<\/strong><\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n

Often, in moviemaking, the contributions of the primary screenwriter end when production begins\u2014film is a director\u2019s medium, after all. According to Kuritzkes though, Guadagnino and his producers insisted that he be part of the whole process. \u201cIf anything needed to be reworked, it was going to be me doing it with, in deep conversation with all of the people I was now making this movie with,\u201d he says. That allowed Kuritzkes to stay close to\u00a0Challengers<\/em>\u00a0and to have a first hand account of how many decisions were made on set.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

His funniest memory? For the scene where Art and Patrick first meet Tashi at the party, he wrote intentionally lame dialogue for the boys to say, that was meant to be \u201ccute.\u201d In practice though, the lame dialogue was\u00a0too<\/em>\u00a0lame for Zendaya. \u201cIf somebody said that to me, that would be the end of the conversation,\u201d he recalls her saying. Kuritzkes had to come up with more charming lines in five minutes, as the crew set up the camera. \u201cThe whole time I was sitting in my chair trying to come up with it, Zendaya was hovering over me, snapping her fingers and going, \u2018Come on, cool guy. Come up with some cool lines.\u2019 She was doing it very lovingly, I had nothing but affection for her at that moment, but it was the only time in the process when I said to her, \u2018Would you go the fuck away?\u2019\u201d Kurtizkes recalls, laughing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/div>\n\n\n\n

9. Finally: Luca Guadagnino thinks that after the end of the movie, the trio went back to the hotel room together. Does Kuritzkes agree?<\/strong><\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI don’t care [where they go],\u201d Kuritzes says. \u201cI think, for me, what I’m interested in is that by the end of the movie, they’re all really playing tennis and they’re playing the best tennis of their lives, everybody and all their cards are out on the table. There’s nothing left for them to say to each other at that point. They’re having the most open and honest conversation of their lives, and they’re doing it through tennis, so what happens after that? I think that’s for the audience to think about. For me, I’ve gotten what I need from the movie at that point.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

What was up with Patrick’s mysterious bruise? Those apps? That breakfast sando? We circled back with the writer of the movie for a (spoiler-heavy) chat about a few of Challengers’ unresolved ambiguities.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":126,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-125","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-film","category-pop-culture"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/zaynabsiddiqui.com\/finalproject\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/125","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/zaynabsiddiqui.com\/finalproject\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/zaynabsiddiqui.com\/finalproject\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/zaynabsiddiqui.com\/finalproject\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/zaynabsiddiqui.com\/finalproject\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=125"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/zaynabsiddiqui.com\/finalproject\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/125\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":172,"href":"https:\/\/zaynabsiddiqui.com\/finalproject\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/125\/revisions\/172"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/zaynabsiddiqui.com\/finalproject\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/126"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/zaynabsiddiqui.com\/finalproject\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=125"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/zaynabsiddiqui.com\/finalproject\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=125"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/zaynabsiddiqui.com\/finalproject\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=125"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}