'Challengers' Steamy Three-Way Kiss Was Not Originally Scripted, Director Explains Why It Was Added

Zendaya, Mike Faist and Josh O’Connor‘s steamy three-way Challengers kiss has been generating a lot of attention since the movie’s first trailer. However, the moment almost didn’t make it into the movie!

In a new interview, director Luca Guadagnino explained that the scene was not in the original script.

He opened up about why it was added and reflected on filming the scene.

Keep reading to find out more…

“I don’t think that was in the script at the beginning. Not at all,” he told Entertainment Weekly. “We discussed at length with Justin [Kuritzkes, the movie's writer] the concept that the triangle needs to flesh out the possibility that all the corners touch — that if you’re jealous of someone, you’re not jealous of your partner, you’re jealous also not to be picked by the rival.”

He continued, adding, “You want to be the object of the affection of the rival, so you’re jealous of not being part of it as much as you are jealous of your partner being chosen.”

“The idea [is] that Tashi [Zendaya] can see what they don’t want to see or they cannot see, which is this incredible attraction that they have not only for her but also for one another,” Luca said. “And so Justin made the very funny scene, wrote beautiful dialogue, and I thought that the mundanity of this hotel room in Queens was quite touching in portraying youth.”

There was no rush to cut things off once they built up to the kiss, either.

“For me, it was all about staying there, staying with them, staying with the jokes, staying with the moment of embarrassment, followed by the moment of excitement, and eventually to show the geometry the movie sets up in that moment, the power that she had over them,” he said.

Challengers premieres in theaters on April 26.

See what Zendaya had to say about the movie’s sexiest scenes.

You can see the scene in question in the trailer below…