Currently at the cinema, Challengers by Luca Guadagnino is one of the most talked about films of the moment: the sports and love triangle formed by Tashi (Zendaya), Art (Mike Faist) and Patrick (Josh O'Connor) is setting the cinemas on fire, after having generated curiosity and anticipation in the last period. Directed by Luca Guadagnino, the film contains a reference to Spider-Man. Simple coincidence? The director responded, revealing a detail behind the precise choice to include this detail.
Obviously, Zendaya's name immediately brings to mind, for comic book fans, the MCU trilogy on Spider-Man with Tom Holland, interpreter of Spider-Man and the actress' boyfriend. In the three Marvel Studios/Sony Pictures films, Zendaya plays MJ, Peter Parker's love interest. Therefore, learning that even in Challengers there is a small reference to Spider-Man, cinephiles immediately thought that it was a tribute to one of the most famous roles played by Zendaya. But in which scene does this detail related to Spider-Man appear?
In Luca Guadagnino's film, Tashi (Zendaya) is a former tennis prodigy, who following an accident is forced to abandon the sport and reinvents herself as manager and coach of her husband Art (Mike Faist), pushing him to compete against her Tashi's former friend - and former lover - Patrick (Josh O'Connor), in a second-tier tournament. In the second part of the film, Tashi and Art are engaged in a heated argument, when their daughter Lily (A.J. Lister) interrupts them and asks them if she can watch the movie Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse instead of the match in tennis that is being broadcast on TV at that moment.
Although you might think that this brief reference to Spider-Man could be a tribute to Zendaya, Luca Guadagnino revealed to Entertainment Weekly that it was his idea to include this detail:
“Amy Pascal, our amazing producer, was so helpful. 'Amy,' I said, 'can we use one of the titles in the catalog so it'll be easier on the rights? [Lily]'s a little girl, she's not going to choose to watch The Social. Network or The Post, but maybe he'll watch a Spider-Man cartoon and I said, 'Why not a Spider-Verse one'?".
Guadagnino then explained that, at the time of choosing this detail, he certainly didn't think that fans would be able to embroider on it, creating a connection with Zendaya: "Now I realize that it might have seemed like a joke, but, as we know, the unconscious always guides us"
Written by Guendalina Porta
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