Zendaya confessed her love for filming the intimate scenes in her latest movie, "Challengers."
Portraying the role of aspiring tennis star Tashi Duncan in this romantic tale, the 27-year-old actor also expressed admiration for her co-stars Josh O'Connor, 33, and Mike Faist, 32.
Zendaya described the experience of shooting the sexy scenes as "so good," attributing it to her luck in collaborating with Josh and Mike, who consistently supported her throughout.
Shetold The Mirror: "Tashi is extremely driven. She's a go-getter and she is totally ruthless. The intimate scenes were so good, I loved it."
"I felt very lucky to be partnered with those guys. And for whatever the moment, it always felt like they always had my back and I had theirs."
Zendaya Shares Why She "Loved" Shooting The Three-way Scene In Her Latest Film While there are no actual sex scenes in the movie, Zendaya has previously characterized the film as still being raunchy.
Despite finding the intimate scenes easy to shoot, Zendaya struggled with the physical demands of the movie, admitting that it was the most challenging aspect.
She added: "How did I meet the physical challenges of the role? With great difficulty. I am not one of these people who love to wok out. But Tashi is supposed to be a top athlete, so there was no getting around it."
Zendaya Shares Why She "Loved" Shooting The Three-way Scene In Her Latest Film In "Challengers," scheduled for release on April 26th, Zendaya portrays a character who, after a significant injury, relinquishes her tennis career. Instead, she focuses on coaching her colleague Art, played by Mike Faist, whom she later marries.
However, Tashi's emotions become dangerously conflicted when Art joins the Challenger Tour, facing off against her ex-boyfriend Patrick, played by Josh O'Connor.
The film, directed by Luca Guadagnino of "Suspiria" and "Call Me By Your Name" fame, features numerous steamy scenes.
Guadagnino praised Zendaya's dedication, noting her work with tennis professional Brad Gilbert to prepare for the role.
Auto Draft Luca gushed to Variety last October: "She's wonderful. I mean, wow. We edited the movie and we almost actually don't use any of her double. She's so good."
He added that "all three leads spent like three months working very hard—technically, athletically."
Zendaya recently acknowledged the presence of an intimacy coordinator on set as "very helpful," commending them for maintaining a "safe" environment during filming.
"We had an intimacy coordinator which was fantastic and very helpful, because it was important that we felt safe," she told The Hollywood Reporter.
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Given the film's abundance of "intense" erotic scenes involving Zendaya and her co-stars, the trio had to devise methods for decompressing while on camera.
"I spoke with my colleagues so that we could find a way to feel at ease. We played tennis together, we went out together, we rehearsed together,' she shared. 'We got to bond and feel good with each other."
