Nineties Babies Nostalgia
A pop culture podcast hosted by two 90s babies and best friends, Amanda and Jess. NBN Classic is a rewatch series where we recap & review teen tv and movies from the early 2000s (think Disney Channel, Nickelodeon, etc). NBN Remixed episodes follow a similar format but cover the tv, movies, and music we love now (Heartstopper, Young Royals, Demi Lovato, etc). Listen along to two best friends having a giggle, and let us know what you think.
Nineties Babies Nostalgia
challengers: we came for zendaya (and so did art & patrick)
Before seeing Challengers we knew three things about it: tennis, throuple, Zendaya. After leaving challengers we know three things about it: tennis, throuple, Zendaya.
Seriously though, Challengers is a master class in cinema, from the narrative structure to the cinematography, and absolutely all the snaps for the acting because wow that was hot AND made us enjoy tennis. We not only cover all our thoughts on the incredible film, but also open with a rundown of the evolution of one of our favorite Disney stars. Josh O'Connor and Mike Faist are also pretty hot too I guess (they are very hot everyone is very hot).
Please rate & review us wherever you listen, and let us know your thoughts on the episode on any of our socials.
OUR SOCIALS
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ninetiesbabiesnostalgia/
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCgmyQV7STEmjISJKCZr362w
Twitter: https://twitter.com/Nineties_Babies
TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@90sbabiesnostalgia
Theme Song by Patrick Dunnevant, (https://www.youtube.com/c/AcappellaVGM)
Artwork by Dawn Wheeler (https://www.instagram.com/wool_and_stone)
Get home from school turn on my tv who are these friends staring right back at me now that we're older (scratch)
hi I'm Amanda
And I'm Jessica and this is 90s babies nostalgia where two 90s babies are having some fun
Just to be clear We're not sponsored by nor affiliated with any of the production companies film studios actors or anything that we're talking about We just really like talking about movies and today we are talking about challengers This is so exciting because it is the talk of Twitter and it's like the perfect blend of our content because a it's new So that's like our remix content b it has Zendaya Disney princess so that's like our classic content and c it's gay as hell
Yeah
And like what's not to love about that
yeah it's like the perfect intermixing of everything that we love
Absolutely we've both watched it just for people listening or watching if you don't know this is not a spoiler- free zone if you haven't seen the movie You should probably go do that However we will try because it's in theaters As of recording this and probably as of putting this out We'll try not to go into too many details but it's not going to be spoiler free just like your Twitter timeline isn't
Yeah
so if you if you're worried about that You should go watch it and do go watch It
Yeah definitely worth the watch but yeah we're gonna try to keep it I don't even want to say spoiler light but lighter on the spoilers and we normally do but it's still you still gonna ruin it if you haven't seen it So definitely go give it a watch
but before we get into it Jessica what have you been enjoying lately
Okay so outside of just life I really have not had much time to do other things I guess so I was struggling to come up with something but Amanda knows and you guys know I have still been playing a lot of stardew But on top of playing stardew I have also been watching a lot of streamers stream stardew
I love that for you sardew is to jess what smosh is to Amanda currently
Yeah I'm like I could be going in the skull caverns myself But also I could be watching someone else do it and how exciting is that obviously I've been watching Julian in our Youtube video I'm a huge Jenna Julian person so he's playing Stardew for the first time ever He never played it prior to this Um new update and so his streams I know so his streams have been super super fun because he's like a true newbie to it Um and then one of my favorite streamers gab smolders Um she does like a bunch of horror Games a bunch of mystery games and then her other segment is cozy Games So she's had like 3 or 4 different stardew playthroughs and hers is like awesome So fun and she just like she's someone who like Reads all of the dialogue in voices to you So if you really like the storytelling of games I highly recommend listening to her streams because they're just great
Nice that remind Julian playing it now reminds me of yes I know but whatever of Smosh I've told you they're playing 5 nights at Freddy's for the first time and they're doing that like the 2 people playing 1 knew nothing about it The other one knew all of the lore but had never played it before and it I think it's that sense of there's it's like a cultural phenomenon right like at this point 5 nights at Freddy's and stardew are So big on the internet that everyone knows about them even if they haven't played them but it's it's kind of like magical or special to watch someone 5 years after their heights then experiencing it properly for the first time
Totally and it's just funny when he has like new people come to chat and they'll be like oh who have you romanced before he's like I dunno this is my first time and they're like oh like who are you thinking of romancing this time He's like I don't know anything like
yeah with um with 5 nights at Freddy's Shayne knows all the lore from like Matt Pat videos
But Amanda knows nothing and he doesn't spoil anything for her because he wants her to try to figure it out so she'll be like is that what what's going on I think it's going to be this and this is haunting them and blah blah blah and he's like I don't know just gonna have to wait and find out
Oh my gosh Yeah I love that Um what have you been enjoying lately
This is so New York of me like I'm so sorry to people that live elsewhere But I have been enjoying the theater but also this is your reminder that the theater exists literally everywhere People are not born in New York and on the stage I mean some people probably are Because nepotism exists But ah you know there are amateur and professional theaters all over the country all over the world and a lot of Broadway shows go on tour and so I um I saw s sweeney todd as jess knows a couple nights ago and that was really the highlight in An otherwise eventful week I got to see Joe Locke from heartstopper in his Broadway debut it's no longer on it's no longer on Broadway as of this episode coming out because it's the closing week that we're recording this but it was really great and then so I went for him But the leads were played by Sutton Foster and Aaron Tveit I never know how to pronounce his name but they're both like huge Broadway people and they were so talented and I just forget how talented humans are until I go to a theater production and I'm like holy Crap
broadway artists are like next level like they're a different breed of humans like the amount of talent in those individuals and you have to think that it's something crazy like nine shows a week or something maybe even more than that
It's usually 8 8 8 or 9 Yeah because it's every day and then one or two days There's matinees
Yeah Yeah so they're keeping that up to like that level of talent
I know Broadway aside I saw an off-broadway production a couple weeks ago as well That was even that was like really great because those people are involved in theater They're involved in nonprofit theater and one of them I just went because one of them is my friend and I heard her singing and I was like holy crap like everyone's just so talented I had a great time and you know all of these people started somewhere so go go see your productions somewhere Go see live theater like Film and television are fun but live theater is like I don't know it's just different
Yeah oh yeah it's completely different It's a different experience
Yeah also I was very proud of our boy
I know I love that you went and saw him I would have loved to watch it and Amanda Afterwards was like he was so good
Yeah because you know Broadway's struggling a bit and 1 of the things that they do a lot to get people in the seats is to fill the the cast with celebrities which I think is probably a double-edged sword because You get people in the seats But you're also taking away opportunities from from professional stage actors But I'm always like skeptical about that I've heard of some people not being able to like fill the roles I've only been to two celebrity casts that way I saw jinx Monsoon in Chicago Who is a drag queen and then this and I knew Joe had done theater before heartstopper but he didn't do it like west end This was his Broadway debut heartstopper is the only professional like acting he's done He's done like community theater and stuff like that before and so I was worried that he wouldn't be able to hold his own but he absolutely could and his voice was So good
Ugh I love that
and he's just like little baby
He is little baby
and he plays the guy that gets to he has to kill Sweeney Todd in the end So spoiler alert if you didn't know he dies can we just briefly discuss We're talking about the theater and people think the theater is expensive and look it kind of is but when I went to see challengers You know how much money I spent
How much
$50
Why
the ticket was $26 then there was like a two fifty processing fee then when I showed up to the theater because I had plans before I forgot to buy snacks so I bought 2 bags of candy That's it and a soda And that was $20 so all in all it was $50 to see a movie in an Amc Theater
Yeah I do think it's expensive and it's always been expensive
But not like that
I know I know but My husband and I went together and afterwards both of us were like we need to do this more often It's a relatively cheap date because because our tickets were not as much as yours for both tickets It was like 35 or $36 Yeah so it's just over like fifteen bucks a ticket I just picked the movie theater with the time that worked best for our schedules and it's brand new Super nice dine in service and I was like literally we showed up and he was like of course you picked the fanciest one I'm like I had no clue Like I didn't choose this and we both got a drink and popcorn to share and I think the cost of the 2 drinks and popcorn to share was just over thirty bucks with tip So like all in it was under $70 which like if you go out to dinner for two It's more than that So we're like oh this is like A relatively It's still $70 is crazy for a date but a relatively inexpensive date in today's world
Yeah and there are some really fun independent theaters or small theater chains Especially if you live in a big city like LA or New York that do dining differently and maybe the cost of tickets are comparable or conversely I Have a lot of friends that are Amc Stubbs members and they say it's absolutely worth it You go like twice a month and it basically is paid for but I just personally tend to only go to the theater like the movie theater like 4 Times a year ish sometimes I Want to go more I just felt like we haven't had nearly as many good theatrical releases since covid which is is is a thing you know movies stopped making as much money
Yeah and then strikes played into that too So It was like movies stop making and that much money and then now we're just having a lack of films because of the strikes that happened
And a lot of them are going to streaming if they did happen ok well but this one I feel challengers is like exciting because it's like bringing that blockbuster energy back
Yeah
It really felt like I was watching a little video essay by Daniel J Layton earlier before recording this about how zendaya could be either the last proper movie star or the first of a new wave of proper movie stars because so many films you go to For like the name of the franchise like the Barbie movie and the Marvel movies and they don't it's not for like the star power but it's like you were saying before we started recording your husband didn't know anything about this You couldn't explain it really Everyone's just going to this as like it's the Zendaya Tennis throuple movie It's like It's purely for zendaya
yeah he was like what is this movie and I was like it's a sports romance and he was like like drive to survive and I was like no babe not like the f1 documentary like not this same and he was like huh Okay and he just accepted that and went along with it But it's like I didn't even really I knew more than him from like obviously I've seen the trailers and I know more about Zendaya and all these things than he does But even I was like I don't really know what to expect like
I sat down in that theater and said I can't believe I am watching a movie about tennis and then a third of the way through I thought I can't believe this many people are showing up to such an artsy movie about tennis
Tennis Yeah
But like not even just the tennis but it's like a proper artsy film as well
Yes
So getting into that star power We wanted to kick things off with sort of a rundown of the evolution of our Miss zendaya
normally we go into each actor a little bit and we will do that but we're going to do like a full evolution of zendaya because she really does have that much going on so she started as a child model and dancer in a hip hop dance troop in Oakland and then she went on to attend the Oakland school of arts where she was cast in like several live theater productions Um in the bay area including the Berkeley Playhouse which a lot of actors who start in live theater get started in the Berkeley Playhouse and then they moved to LA when she was in seventh grade so she could pursue a career of acting and leading up to her disney fame We're not quite there yet She was in a bunch of commercials like a bunch of commercials but she Also was in the kids bop music video for hot and cold in oh I don't think I wrote it here But I think it was around 2009 ish
and then getting into Disney speaking of not speaking of but in the way that um casting works differently for different kinds of people Whereas Bella Thorne was pretty much hand selected despite having no dance experience zendaya beat out 200 people in auditions to get cast for shake it up with her wealth of theater and dance experience and she was cast as rocky blue and shake it up which Had 1 of the highest premiers ever for Disney Channel from 2010 to 2013 also what a lot of people consider the decline of Disney Channel but this is not that episode it was six point two million viewers
Yeah which is like kind of crazy to think that many people were sitting down and watching Disney Channel Tv show on the premiere date
Yeah that was truly the height of Disney channel for sure
Yeah while starring in shake it up She started her music career as well So she released the single swag it out and then watch me which was in collaboration with Bella Thorne and that one peaked at 86 on the top 100 charts and this is kind of what led her to be signed by Hollywood Records in 2012 and then she released her self-titled album in 2013 which the lead single reply which I think all of us know replay
Replay
I know I was like this says reply But that's not what it is sorry guys
gonna put that song on replay
replay Yeah it reached top 40
I didn't even know that
which is like you have to think like this girl's on Disney pretty newly on Disney she doesn't really have that much else going on a couple singles for that lead single to hit top 40 is a pretty big deal especially for how old she was at the time like that's very very impressive
And for that to be a Hollywood record song which hollywood didn't do a lot for its artists outside of Disney channel the the artists themselves had to bring that kind of power like the Jonas Brothers or Hannah Montana all of her so other songs were from within shake it up Disney made Her and bella thorne sing those songs like ttyl xox which also by the way just side note tangential Bella thorne no dancing experience dyslexic had to learn how to dance for this dance show and they made her sing a song called TTYL Xox so rude
Not okay not okay also just the fact that you're making someone with no dance experience who also is dyslexic learn how to dance
Who has admitted that her dyslexia impacts her right and left coordination
Like that sounds like my worst nightmare
She said that The only thing she didn't want was to be cast in like a dancing thing and then she was
They're like here you go how rude
yeah Anyway um zendaya continued with Disney after shake it up with KC undercover from 2015 to 2018 where not only did she influence the title character and a series but also like had she she had a lot of influence and served as a producer on this show Which I thought was really cool and important that she decided you know if I'm going to stay with Disney I'm going to learn and grow in my career I'm not going to just like do the same thing I already did with shake it up
Yeah like she influenced them changing the name of the show from the pilot the name of the character like there was so much that she had influence over which is just yeah it's just very impressive
I know she said it at one point that she wanted to make Disney cool again like referencing Kim possible and Raven and I think she Did feel some pressure because there hadn't been a black family on disney channel since Raven
YI'm sure that's a lot of pressure and not a pressure that a child should be feeling you know around the same time she competed on season 16 of dancing with the stars and she finished runner up to Kelly Pickler which I was like this just really feels like the midwest was voting here because I just cannot imagine that Kelly Pickler was a better dancer than Zendaya
I mean who who watches and votes on dancing with the stars if not a bunch of Midwestern mothers
Fair fair and at that time she was the youngest participant to ever participate in dancing with the stars
She started going kind of mainstream as jess put it I would call this her era of mainstream success which was done really smartly because she was in spiderman homecoming in 2017 And the greatest showman in 2017 and KC undercover didn't finish until 2018 which is why I said it's so smart like she wasn't even out of Disney yet which isn't really something we had seen before usually the transition happened like the years after the show But That management team was on it so she played Michelle which is the reimagining of Mj and Spiderman and has reprised the role and continues to I believe it's been announced She's in another one but I'm not sure if that was real or if that was a Twitter prank and then greatest Showman she was in she is starred opposite Zach Efron where they had a duet called rewrite the stars which by the way great song reached the top 20 and it was weird for me to watch it to be like but she's younger Disney and he's older Disney is what is this
Yeah yeah it's like the connection of the 2 the 2 worlds when I was reading up on this for the greatest showman for her screen test She made the decision to wear no makeup And so then they chose to carry out that decision throughout production which I'm just like she's so cool like
You know what's crazy about that is I Love that movie and I've never noticed that she is not wearing makeup like she's just that naturally beautiful
Oh yeah you know her skin care regime like she's probably getting facials once a week like she doesn't need to wear makeup You know
Yeah I also remember Zac Efron saying that zendaya really helped with the physicality of the role because there have you seen greatest showman
No
oh it's great I love it It's one of my favorite like musicals of the 2010s In it in there in rewrite the stars She's a trapeze artist in the the film and he's like not PT Barnum but the other guy or he is PT anyway he's 1 of the ringleaders So their duet number they're on a trapeze like Moving around the Circus Arena and it's like a very physical number that was kind of like out of his element but she's got such a dance experience and like is so willing to just try things that it helped make him more confident just like Again She's so cool
Yeah she really is she's throughout her career done a bunch of stuff in fashion But it's all around this like 2016 timeframe when it starts Um so she released shoe and clothing collections in 2016 and her clothing collection that she released was all gender fluid Plus she made sure it had full range of sizes
My gay heart
I know I know and it's like if you think that's 2016 like having full range of sizes is like Necessary and still not commonplace now in 2024 so the fact that she made sure that that happened in 2016 is actually a really big deal and then in 2018 she was tommy hilfiger's ambassador and she was praised for her runway shows because she had super Diverse cast very inclusive cast she had models that were seventy years old she had people of all body types she just truly all like forms of diversity and Inclusivity She made sure to show on those runway shows
I love that I also wanted to point out she f*cking slays every single red carpet and met gala look and she's known for her longstanding partnership with her stylist law roach who actually in 2023 announced retiring from fashion Except for his partnership with zendaya because he was like no that's love like that's I I will never stop working with her and as recently as last week they released Um it was a photo shoot that she did as Tashi Duncan in as styled by him for a Quote unquote challenger's magazine
Cute
I just love every look that she's ever done like I love those memes of her showing up to the dune two red carpet in London and she's like all out in this like gold Armor suit and then Timothee Chalamet is just kind of like there're in a normal ass outfit and and how people are like you really like you don't attend a red carpet with zendaya without asking her what she's wearing first
yeah you got to show up then she went on to start in Euphoria from 2019 to now I think the new season is coming out question Mark
That's that's the the sorry that is that is what it is It's question Mark so technically there's supposed to be a third season It's Been green lit but the writer says that he's not sure about like how it's going to go and he keeps like putting off writing it And then Hbo like considered getting someone else to write it but Sydney Sweeney and Jacob Elordi and zendaya have all said they'll only do it if he writes it so it's just like maybe if he ever does
then they'll have it interesting but she played Rue Bennett and she was the youngest recipient of a primetime Emmy award for outstanding lead actress in a drama series twice for euphoria So she's won that twice Um and then the first one that she won she was the youngest winner of the award winning it at 24
Wow
and then she's also this is what I think so fascinating and cool about like Her evolution but also like staying true to her roots is like she's also written and performed several songs for euphoria too So it feels like every project She's involved with she really flexes all of her different creative muscles for that project
Yeah because I didn't even know that she's still really sang I knew that she could but I didn't know that she did But I think you're right that she tries to get as much out of each project as she can
Yeah she also has start in dune and dune part 2 which was released this year which a lot of this has led in more recent interviews Um When people are talking about challengers and the ending of challengers which we will get into they have all jokes that like oh maybe we'll have a challenger's part two since she's in dune part 2
I Don't see that happening but that's cool It's funny
I don't I don't either We'll get into that But yeah based on comments that the director and um writer has said I don't think that's ever happening she also was time magazine's 100 most influential people in the world in 2022 so she just is like staying relevant
yeah and I really want to give a shout out here to the next Gen Disney adults because I feel like I obviously I love disney channel It's why we have this podcast but I don't take slander on any generation and I know People debate about what was the golden era and they're really only ever talking about 2 generations of Disney It's either the Lizzie Raven generation or it's the Hannah Selena generation and they say after that everything was downhill and who even was on Disney and that really starts with like shake it up and Ant Farm First of all China Anne McClainn is a superstar on her own right Even if she continues to work on Disney like that's another thing but along with Zendaya's generation We got Sabrina Carpenter who is currently dominating the radio We also got Olivia Rodrigo yes they were on Disney channel at the same time Brief overlap before Olivia went on to high school musical the musical the series who is also dominating the radio and like it's just really fun to watch them blossom into these careers and they are adult careers They're covering adult themes with their music with their projects They're all Heavily involved in the production or songwriting or whatever and they never had that big like phase of that people would say Miley and Bella and demi and all of them had of like dr*gs and parting and being crazy quote unquote crazy You know they just like Are f*cking killing it
yeah I think part of that is probably connected to like how media coverage has kind of shifted from it being like you know when Miley and all of them were like the big thing of Disney channel it was all like paparazzi and leaked photos and Tabloids and those still exist But now it's more like social media and like yes you have hate That's very loud on social media But you also have love that's very loud and I feel like that probably has led to them leading like maybe more just like not normal but like a normal pop star life and less of the like dr*gs and wanting to go through crazy changes and things like that because I'm hoping their experience is not as like awful as some of these early Disney stars were
getting into our movie Finally the challengers not the challengers I think it's just challengers
It's just challengers it is a romantic sports drama Um as I mentioned before that's what they classified it as what that means I don't know watched it still don't know but it was delayed from its initial September 2023 release date due to the strikes and it premiered a month ago so March 26th in Sydney Australia and then it was released on April 26th in the US
It has a $55 million budget and so far it's made 34.6 million at the start of weekend to the box office So it's it's definitely looking to exceed its budget
Yes it's not a box office smash so far by any means but it will probably make money since we're still very early on into its box office run It was the best domestic opening weekend of Guadagnino's I looked up how to pronounce his name like 4 times Guadagnino's career and also of Zendaya's career but only for a non IP film which I don't think she's done that many of so
Oh I was confused when I first read this note but you mean like that's not an adaptation the way dune and Spiderman are
Mhmm
got it
compared to all her other films like greatest Showman and things like that I don't know if that's considered IP but it has done the best
Greatest Showman is not IP but it's I don't think it was a huge success I also am pretty sure this is the first film that zendaya's aside from dcoms that zendaya's been the lead of
then we have our director Luca Guadagnino his feature film debut was in 1999 which was the Protagonist with Tilda Swinton he's really really known for basically casting the same actors all the time in all his films like Tilda's been in like 4 of his films like he just and like his producers his writers like all the people he's worked with He's known for keeping a really really small group around him
A lot of directors do that though
Yeah yeah I think especially ones that have a very specific style which I would argue he does it makes sense that it's a very small knit of people to bring that to life he's also known for the desire trilogy which is I am love in 2009 a bigger splash in 2015 and then I would say the most well known or at least to me of those 3 is call me by your name in 2017
Absolutely and that started his career with Timothee Chalamet who he works with a lot now and also worked with in bones and all in 2022 I was always surprised like I know directors like to do this to say the whatever trilogy or something and it's like a few different films but I was kind of surprised that call me by your name was considered part of a trilogy because it's an adaptation and the other two aren't
Yeah it did confuse me because I'm like I don't understand what makes this a trilogy but that's what it's referred to as
It's a trilogy of the director's works related to desire I guess but 1 could argue this is a desire film
Yeah I yeah
and it's just like director ego sh*t right
yeah also like everything's made up so like he probably was just like oh these are all related to this Let's call it a trilogy you know
That's so true
Yeah then we have our writer Justin Kuritzkes guys very random but he's known for having a viral Youtube video in 2011 called potion seller have you ever watched it
No I don't know what it is
Yacht me neither I briefly looked at it It was when like Apple what was that called like the camera features where you could like make your face all crazy and like blown out he was just using that on the mac computer and like saying crazy things I didn't watch the whole thing
That's so funny
But he was the author of the novel famous people which came out in 2019 but this is really his like first time writing a full film
Which is crazy or at least one that's been made and I find that crazy not just the like I don't know he's not that experienced it's it's because this is a well done film like this is a well Written film The narrative structure is unique and complicated screenplays involve like the direction and the detail as well It's such a collaborative effort Obviously the director has a lot at the end of the day but I can only imagine How detailed this script was
Yeah
that's crazy Also fun fact He is the husband of Celine song who wrote and directed past lives which was hugely critically acclaimed film last year A24 film I haven't seen it but I understand it also has throuple vibes
Oh
As a plotline my understanding is it's about a woman who is already married who like reconnects with her childhood Best friend who she was always kind of in love with and he was always kind of in love with her and like yeah and so my friend was telling me that there's people being like Okay so When does their third write their own film also about a throuple
Oh my god
come out of the woodwork
The internet gossip is too much too much
getting into our cast zendaya who is 27 right now As we discussed We're not going we yeah anyway plays Tashi Donaldson slash Duncan and also was a producer on this wow so Tashi is a tennis player who showed a lot of promise in high school and was going to go pro and goes to college To be smart first but gets an injury and so now she for the majority of the film serves as a coach to art donaldson
Yes who is played by Mike Faist who is 32 right now Um and he is a professional tennis player fighting for a spot in the US open
He being Art not Mike
yeah art he plays art donaldson but Mike originated the role mostly Broadway actually guys so he originated the role of Morris Delancey and newsies on Broadway in 2011 he also originated the role of Connor Murphy and dear Evan Hanson from 2015 to 2018 Where he was nominated for a Tony and he won a grammy for best musical theater album and he also won a daytime emmy for that performance as well and then more recently he played riff in Steven Spilberg's film Adaptation of west side story that came out in 2021
The theater girls on Twitter are obsessed with this twink I see so many tweets about him and people being like look at what a haircut can do for you because he used to have really long hair and other people being like you don't know what a big deal It was when he got that haircut and how we mourned the loss of it and just So much silly silliness then we yeah
Yeah I I love fan culture I Just love it
I love fan culture but tangent side note 1 thing I don't love that's been a big part of the current at least on our Twitter feed Twitter fan culture themes has been a lot of like Oh you think you're a real fan where were you when blah blah blah blah blah like there's the Mike fans but it happens a lot with Sabrina Carpenter fans like talking about oh well where were you when she released her album when she was still on Disney channel and blah blah you know and and
Yeah like gatekeepy
Exactly
I'm not I'm not for gatekeeping in anything
exactly same next we have Josh O'connor who is currently 33 he plays Patrick Zweig he is a struggling broke ass tennis player trying to compete for a spot in the open this year just like art donaldson We'll get into that in a bit Josh O'connor is just like the goofiest hottest looking man that I've ever seen He was in god's own country where he which he brought won a british independent film award for best actor for he was an emma with um That girl whose name I keep forgetting but she's in the new Mad Max movie he was notably Prince Charles in the crown in seasons 3 and 4 and he did such a good job that it made it hard for me to watch when the fifth season came out and it was a different actor he won the golden globe for best Actor in a drama series for that He's been cast in an upcoming film the history of sound with Paul Mescal which is a gay world war one movie
We're gonna need to cover that 1
Oh yeah it's about 2 guys who go to world war one to like record the sounds of war and fall in love
Uh sounds great
Yeah
I'm already sold
also in an interview in the last year an interviewer asked Kit Connor who is the hottest person on earth right now and without skipping a beat He said Josh O'connor
He's not wrong
he's not and then I I I just have Note like I love the Twitter trend right now of people saying that he's in a gayoff with Nicholas Galitzine who is the guy from red white and royal blue the prince in it Yeah and he's because right now Nicholas Galitzine has done 5 queer roles and so has Joshua O'connor but also Nick was in bottoms but he played a straight character but bottoms is a very gay film and now O'connor's slated for for the the world war one movie so heat that will be his sixth one so they're like it's a gay off Nicholas Galitzine has said that he is straight joshua o'connor has never um explicitly stated any s3xuality So a lot of people like to joke about them being gay for pay
Ohhh
and being in competition and like just imagining that every queer role audition They like see each other in the
Yeah that's funny all the casting calls It's the 2 of them
Yeah
then we have Darnell Appling who played the umpire he's actually just Zendaya's assistant Like he is not an actor He's literally just her assistant for like many many many years
And has the smoothest butteriest voice When you first start the film you hear the voice before anything else and I thought that it might be a woman and then we zoom in and it's not but it's just like so calm and gentle and Hilarious at times when they're like foul obscene use of language or something like like very calm a little feminine but still like being firm
yeah or the one where he's like aggressive behavior with a racket or whatever he says
yeah AJ lister is Lily Donaldson tashi and art's daughter and then Nada Despotovich is Tashi's mother she was in moonstruck picture perfect and Jingle all Way there are other people but they really don't matter jess wrote a few out and I was like I don't know who these people are like I forgot Tashi even had a father in this
Yeah I based I pre-wrote them based on what the wiki and imdb said was the main characters and then after watching it I was like these people were not main characters The hell
So our summary we're not going to do the full 90s baby summeary We're just going to let you know the gist of it Ok art Donaldson is a tennis celebrity whose confidence and motivation is shaking From just like he's been failing a lot He's recovering from a previous injury and he's not He's not He's clearly not motivated Tashi Donaldson previously Tashi Duncan is his wife and former tennis hopeful whose career was ended early By a severe knee injury trigger warning to anyone who's going to go watch this film that is something that I have heard people talk about being hard to watch because it is I jumped the the yeah she's his coach and she brings him to like a small local qualifier match for the open saying like It'll boost your confidence because you're going to win no matter what only for him to be playing against Patricks Sweig who is his old doubles partner
through nonlinear flashbacks We learn the complicated past of Tashi art and Patrick's relationships from the 2 vying for Tashi's attention when they were teenagers her indecisiveness And the way it impacted both of their careers and then the entire present day storyline that we watch takes place within the qualifier match
That's the film literally
Uh huh
I was so surprised by the narrative structure I Think that's the note that I want to start on is this that like I knew that it was the gay Tennis Throuple movie with szendaya and Josh O'connor and like the theater twink and that was my impression going in for it to be a nonlinear narrative I don't know that I've ever seen that in a major theatrical release and it's very rare to see it in film in general
Especially the way it's done because it's not like you get a couple flashbacks you get inner weaving flashbacks and callbacks to different points in time throughout the entire film
Yeah and they do that really smart thing where you'll get 1 flashback and then they reference a previous moment that then you get another flashback for later so it leaves you interested and the actual present day is truly only This match
Yeah
because I think usually when you see flashbacks There's like a little more progression in the present day timeline But it's truly just this match
Yeah it's like the decision to put him in this match getting to the match and the match itself and that's really all that happens in present day Yeah
But even some of that's in flashback I remember it starts with the umpire calling that they were like neck and neck and then it's the first flashback's like 48 hours earlier and it's them like signing up and getting ready and and you get introduced to the characters Closer to this present day It's all like within the last week the first few flashbacks and then you get the big flashback of when they all met each other well when the boys met Zendaya I should say and then you get more of like as they grew up It's just Like it's such a bold choice to me and I think a nonlinear narrative is hard to pull off as well as they did
Oh it was done so well I also think it was helped by the fact which I think some people because you could argue this is very a creative and artsy decision to make in a film to have all these nonlinear flashbacks But they do Basically for every flashback tell you 11 years prior 12 years prior 48 hours prior but they do it in a way that's like so subtle in bold wide font It immediately disappears So it's not distracting from the artsyness of the film which I think sometimes that kind of can distract from it but it still kept you in focus You're like oh I know where we're at now Oh now we're here Oh now we're going back here and you were it never was confusing which I think sometimes that style can be confusing
Yeah they did a good job of putting a bit of text to let you know where we were in the timeline and where we were location wise which made it easier especially if they did I think there were some where they like went back to 1 flashback and then they Went to a different one and then they went back to that one we had already seen some of like they jumped around a bit and it was easy to follow which again hard to pull off like you were saying like I I never once was confused which was super cool
Yeah and normally I get confused easily and I wasn't confused so I feel like that was a big win
yeah that's a good sign when Jess isn't confused
Well normally I walk away normally I don't understand what happened there but I didn't have that experience
I will say I like I went into this film being like it's gonna be hot It's gonna be kind of gay It's gonna be s3xy and whatever and then I sat down and I was like sh*t It's also going to be about tennis and then when I left I was like that was a beautiful lesson in Storytelling
Yeah
and also it was hot and s3xy about tennis but I just wasn't expecting that to be my takeaway
Yeah I Really really really I Think it's a good point to bring this up I Really really loved the way this film was shot not only was it the way the story was told but it was also the way it was shot which led to the storytelling it almost looks like in the tennis scenes they like strapped a go pro on the person playing tennis and that's what you were watching so you saw almost from the perspective of the person hitting the racket so you it was You know a little shaky but not in a motion sickness way but it like added to the intensity of you watching the match and you saw the ball fly across I don't know it was just done really Well
It felt like a love letter to tennis which is why I was so surprised that it was made by the team that it was because I don't think any of them or I mean I don't know them some of them could be a tennis enthusiast but that's not the impression I've gotten I
Yeah
I need to do more research I saw some people saying that this film was partly inspired by like the the Williams Sisters playing in qualifiers and also I think it might have been the writer one of the creatives involved in the production of it saw like they were watching a tennis match and saw A very serious looking wife like at the front watching making that expression that Tashi does in the present day storyline and they were wondering like why is she so stressed like she's rich Her family has a foundation all of this stuff and then they looked her up and found out she was a tennis player in her own right who had an injury that stopped prevented her From a career so that was like a big inspiration I don't know I guess I just would have expected people who do more like sports stuff because it's It's like you were saying it's shot in such an interesting way There are definitely times when there's something like a go pro but probably way nicer strapped to A person playing tennis There's times The only time I got kind of motion sick at the end where they strap it to a ball and it's bouncing around and I didn't love that But there's also this really cool f*cking shot That's like you're looking up from the bottom of the court like they they would have had a court made of glass and And Cameras underneath it filming the players that was cool that was cinematic as hell
yeah just like the use of slow mo but then with the fast pace It just really kept your interest in all the scenes Not just the hot s3xual ones not just the tense moments Like you were even interested in just the tennis scenes because of the way it was shot at least I was I liked it
Yeah yeah yeah no I was I was and it to add to that was the soundtrack The score It's like iconic Although my only note about it was it was dramatic ass music But it was very like electro dramatic like Dooooooooo dooo right It was like everything I've seen a lot of people be like I need that music to play every time I step out
Yeah or like good getting ready music good like pre-game music like it is like pump up music But then it's complemented with moments where like when we have the Atlanta scene with Tashi and Patrick and it's like in a More of a like not a ballad but it is like a slower song and so there are moments like that where they match the really like upbeat beats of the score with slower songs to kind of create like a well-rounded picture with the music which I really liked
Justice for zendaya though in that scene where she's dancing to what is it Nellie's hot in here She said it was not that song when she was dancing while they filmed they played that song later she was like I would not have danced that way to that song
Ah that's funny
she's like set Let's set the record straight I Know how to dance
that's funny No it didn't
Though it didn't actually look that bad
No it didn't
everyone is so hot and my gay ass was thriving like I like yes it's hot It's a hot film As people said it's not as s3xual you know Funny is when I left my friend was like I didn't expect it to be that horny but also it wasn't as horny as I expected in like a weird
It was way less horny than I expected
Yeah
like way less I expected especially because my experience of Luca is call me by your name I haven't watched any of the other films and call me by your name is a very horny film I get that it was a book adaptation And the book is horny as hell too But I was expect
The book is hornier
Yeah yeah but everyone talking about it and you know the scenes that they picked for the trailer and things like that I was like oh this is gonna be horny and then I say oh its way less horny than I expect
I Think this is hornier than call me by your name I don't think it's as explicit But I think it's hornier My friend did make the argument that it was less horny than she expected because it was more s3x than she expected that it was like Less yearning if you're not being if you're just already going for it Do you know what I mean
Yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah
regardless everyone was hot and like yes there's like drama and you're like watching all of it but like by the last Scene when it's like really tense and you're just watching them play tennis and the gopro goes on the ball or on their heads and it's like for a while It's like long It's just a lot of shots of the tennis and they stop the flashbacks because like we're in present day I just kept getting distracted by how hot Josh O'connor is
Oh my God
I was like Look at those arms like everyone's so f*cking hot
Yeah yeah true
Also the dynamic of the throuple is very hot to me like 2 assholes and 1 simp that's I don't know I just I felt
Patrick and Tashi
Oh yeah Patrick and tashi are the assholes and then art's the simp Yeah yeah which I guess gets us into like I feel in our overall impressions We need to talk about the big 3 right Patrick Tashi and art and how you feel about them as characters and their relationships like How did you feel about their relationship for like spoiler guys They go off and on so they they meet Tashi the boys meet tashi they're both instantly in love with her and she says whoever wins the match tomorrow can get my number and then that begins a long distance Relationship with Patrick and then they break up and then she ends up with art and they get married but then she cheats on him a couple times with Patrick and like it's a never ending cycle But also there's there's homo 3rotic tension between Patrick and art and very early on she does make sure that they are gay for each other Jess what did you how did you feel
okay are we just saying this is so hard because I actually think that I don't like Tashi as a character
Okay
I don't think she's a good person I think she's very manipulative Regardless I still think Zendaya's Portrayal was amazing and I still loved the story But if we're just isolating the characters Yes She's very very manipulative She makes very questionable decisions for this person who's like seems to be so grounded as a coach And she's just a mean wife like she should have never got married if that was going to be her focus
Tashi Duncan is not supposed to be a good person
Yeah I know that
Although I do have to ask the question do female characters need to be likable
No that's why I wanted to preface I still Zendaya's portrayal and I still loved the movie but also like I'm like oh this character she's not a good character but you're right They don't need to be like not all characters are there to be likable and the story would have not been the story It was if That character was made to be likable
I Think she's a good character A bad person
Yeah
She's a well written character
Yeah
even though she is an asshole and manipulative I understood her motivation
Oh yeah
I understood like where she was coming from I saw an interviewer tell zendaya like I'm absolutely obsessed with you but I want to kill that cat Tashi and zenday cracked up
I Don't know if I felt that strongly But yeah
Ok Patrick how do you feel about Patrick oh wait while you're sorry while you're thinking about that I had 1 other thought which is I wonder how much zendaya could relate to tashi of thinking about how she was like growing up Acting and started acting at such a young age and if there was any like I feel like she must have thought about well what would have happened if I couldn't have continued my career and if I had failed and how frustrated would I be yeah
yeah like a little bit of leaning on her own personal experience to put herself in that situation
Yeah Patrick
I like the Patrick character because I feel like he's the glue
ok even though they kick him out for so long
While also causing chaos Yeah but you could tell like in all those final match scenes like he needs to be there He's part of them like even though they both well art Kicked him out of his life tashi did for the most part but has a few moments of ah relapsing Um I guess you would say yeah I thought he was really not even well Like yes well written but very well acted because he does have some very comedic moments like the Dunkin Donuts bagel scene but yeah I liked him What did you think
I love him He has great chemistry with Zendaya They said like the first film or for first scene they shot for this was the Atlanta scene and people were like oh so you just had insane chemistry straight off the bat and I think that that's like the charm of the film is that you know inherently the art is a better person But also Tashi sucks anyway and also she and Patrick just have this like crazy chemistry I also just like I love a chaotic bis3xual man
Mhmm
And I feel like that's what he is
Oh a thousand percent yes yes yes
yeah and I don't think he deserved to be ostracized the way that he was because like So he's ostracized because she injures herself after like during a match after they break up but I or have a fight
Yeah
but I like that's not his fault
no it's not his fault like she probably would have gotten injured Regardless
Yeah because she plays too f*cking hard
Yeah
And what did you think about art
He's just a little cutie but you know I think that he could like grow a pair
He's so there's this the scene where she walks in after sleeping with Patrick and he is sleeping with their daughter in bed is so cute
so cute
but he's not completely innocent like he does clearly Get off on the tension between the 3 of them
Oh yeah and there are scenes that we see without tashi that are just Art and Patrick and there is tension between the 2 of them
Yeah and and in the university storyline when art is talking to Patrick about his relationship with Tashi and like how you know he had he kind of mentioned that like oh Patrick doesn't love you and she says what makes you think I want to be loved this And Patrick's like you're really enjoying this like you're really you're really getting off on this I have in our notes to mention later but on the press tours Zendaya and Josh O'conner have been like throwing art under the bus of like no art's the true villain because he's 1 that planted the seeds that caused the fight that caused the injury He's the like master manipulator just so that he could like scoot in
it's not wrong he kind of ss
yeah basically everyone sucks but everyone's hot and they all need each other like that was my takeaway on this relationship
yeah art was playing the long game the whole time
Oh for sure and you could tell those first times when they met Zendaya well Tashi was more drawn to art as a person but chemistry wise to Patrick
Yes
because she would always look more at art But then she would yeah it always felt like Patrick was the third
Yeah
I was kind of surprised that they were in a relationship that was long distance
Yeah yeah because I'm like I don't know to me I'm like there had to be some shenanigans on the side during that relationship because they both didn't seem all in either
Yeah but I do I think like um art was the type of person she wanted and Patrick was the type of player she wanted
Yes yes
because Patrick is naturally more talented than art and I think he likes that she challenges him
yeah
do you feel like they should all just like be a throuple or or was there a particular relationship you were rooting for
I Think when we talk about the ending we should discuss this
Ok moments of note I have to I have to say this when they first all meet Tashi is 18 The power that this 18 year old has
Yeah
That's all I could think of when I was watching those scenes I was like she is 18
yeah she's very commanding
Yeah she has those boys making out with their best friend right in front of her and she's getting off on it and she's 18
Yeah yeah and then she gets up and leaves It's like all right I'm done here
I didn't even know that was possible when I was 18 like all the things I could have been doing with my life
Sure
but like fair I would do that sh*t for her too I will I would love a woman to boss me around
Yeah I feel like I more want to boss people around I don't want to be bossed around I Want to be tashi
I I want to be tashi with a man or art with a woman
Okay okay okay okay got it
I would say my type like I don't really have a type with a man but they can't boss me around but I but but with a woman I Love all women but any like a brunette with resting b*tch face that looks like she could ruin my life I would absolutely let ruin my life
Yeah yeah I wrote Luca loves a s3xual food scene Everyone who knows call me by your name knows the peach scene but we get quite a few We get a scene of Art and Patrick sitting on like the bench by the court eating bananas and looking at each other while they're eating their bananas and we also get a churro scene where they're sharing the churro
Well they're eating two But then Patrick's like eating art's and then it's like and they're so close They're always so close
Yeah they're basically sitting in each other they're as close to each other without sitting in each other's laps That's how close they are
And it's so s3xual
Yeah it's very The churro scene is yep up there
I also just really love that Patrick is always the one that like I think he's more comfortable with his s3xuality than art is because I think we also see him when he's on tinder and he's like is swiping on guys as well
Yep
And He's the one that comes up close with the churros and then later when they're in the sauna he stands right in front of him with his d1ck out and art never like initiates that though he does clearly enjoy it
yeah he almost he enjoys it but he also shuts it down like in the locker room scene where he's like can you put that away Please like what are you doing Yeah yeah
he's like I'm a grown up now
Yeah
I don't have time for this
Yeah
which like Yes you do anyway I thought the branding was really smart because like what has more branding than professional sports Truly
Yes I was like normally I complain whenever there's obvious branding because it just it drives me crazy a little bit but in this one I was like well I can't really complain because if you were to go to a professional tennis match There would be more branding than this
Yeah I mean the dunkin was unnecessary but it was hilarious
It was unnecessary but I loved it
Yeah I was like that doesn't even look like a good sandwich but ok the I literally looked up on the shoe brand because they sponsor art and I only really started noticing them in the last like year or so I was like would they have been sponsoring a tennis player in 2019 but they would I guess um ah I think it it works They made up 6% of the US running shoe or athletic shoe industry as of 2020
Wow okay
but yeah on is his sponsor uniqulo is his clothing sponsor which I didn't know they did sports sponsorships but I wouldn't be surprised especially for tennis and then they have that like Is it a Mercedes ad
Yeah I think so
yeah I think and that is very real like you see her editing it and then it's up on billboards and stuff and like yeah that would be part of your life
yeah it's done in a way that the branding feels not like there besides the dunkin one it doesn't feel like they're just trying to fit in the branding for the film It feels more like the branding is a part of the film
Yeah which is also smart It's smart as ah as a filmmaker because then you can more easily get brand deals and then it's also good representation because you're showing the things being used for what they're supposed to be used for
Yeah yeah I guess now is a better time than ever to talk about the ending even though we have a few notes after this but that's okay so the ending is left up to interpretation You don't know who won the Match You don't know what happens to the 3 of them in their relationships You don't know anything and both the writer and Luca have gone and said like this was intentional that doesn't this make a beautiful story like isn't that just great that it's up to whatever people want Um which is why we mentioned earlier we don't think there will be a second because it was intentionally left on this note I have to say for me I like my movies and shows to have the pretty little bow close it up
I know you do
Give me the endings and so it was hard for me to accept that it Didn't give me the and like literally the first words out of my mouth when it left I looked at my husband and I was like I wanted more from that ending and then the more I marinated on it I was like that was a very smart and clever creative decision Especially for this throuple plotline Because it really can be whatever you want it to be but in the moment I was like why
I Do think art won the match
So it's not see That's up to your interpretation
I didn't realize that I knew the the throuple relationship thing was but I didn't realize that the match was because he it ends on him scoring and I thought they were like at the very end
But he's touching the he's touching the net in his hand and that is not allowed in tennis So it would be a foul yeah because he's up over the net and he has his hand on the net
Oh when I left the theater My friend that I was with said she played tennis in high school and that's allowed the the like jumping over the net
I Think you can jump over It's if you touch the net physically so you can jump up over But then if your body touches the net That's not what is allowed But yeah there is no I would say I Initially interpreted it the same that art one mostly because I wanted him to because I you know Tashi leaves the threat of if you don't win then we're not together and I'm like no I want you guys to be together But also I want Patrick to be part of this Um but um That is what I took away from that especially with her scream after you're like oh of course this means he won but no it's technical technically it can be whoever you want
Interesting yeah I think when I left the theater I was like I don't think Jess is going to like that um ending because I know that you like things to be wrapped up
Yeah
I love an open ending I did think it was an interesting choice because it's an almost 2 hour film built entirely off of the tension of will they won't they what's going to happen with both the match and the relationship So for those things to be unanswered is A strong choice like you're going to probably have people upset with that But I also understand why they did it because I don't think that I would be entirely satisfied knowing either 1 of them won or knowing like I was fine thinking art won but knowing like what happened with the relationship I don't think there's any way that I would feel entirely satisfied by that and I kind of like that then the point is just to tell their story to how they got to hear not how it progresses you know
yeah
It's like a look inside of a relationship more than anything
Yeah yeah creatively I can appreciate it after the fact I needed to sleep on it in the moment It was not the ending that I wanted but that's just because I know I like things tied in a bow but also like I'm not the director I'm not the writer I'm not the one who gets to decide if that is the creative decision to tie things in a bow I'm just here to appreciate the art and so I think in reflecting I was able to appreciate it But in the moment I was definitely one of those that was like what the heck
yeah I knew what you were watching it and you didn't text me that night after you saw it and I was like oh I don't know what happened like maybe she's not ready to talk about any of it
mostly I just didn't want to bother you because I didn't get out until almost 2 a m your time and I was like she's sleeping
Yeah and I do like that point that you made because I know a lot of people in my book club sometimes will be like oh I Just wish that the author had done this instead and it's like that's not what they did That's not What you're reading That's not what you're watching like meet the story where it's at
Yeah I have to remind myself of music that with music all the time that I'm like oh this album wasn't my favorite but it's like you know I'm not the only fan and they're not making art actually for any of their fans they're making the art for themselves So maybe this is the art that they needed to make um and you can recognize like oh maybe that decision wasn't for me but it doesn't mean it was bad or wrong It just wasn't the music or the film or the book decision that you resonate with the most but that doesn't make it like a bad creative decision
Yeah and I think it did a good job of of sort of foreshadowing how the film was going to go the first flashback where Tashi's explaining to them that tennis is a relationship
Yes
and everything on the court that Happens for for a moment you 2 are in a dance and a relationship and you are the closest to each other because then it goes on to just talk about their relationship or show their relationship and you know relationships don't just end There is no such thing as a happily ever after So I think you know like even if we got a like oh they stay married and like Patrick's around we still wouldn't really know
It wouldn't give us the answers Yeah
yeah because there aren't any okay moving we have a silly note about Lily and then I have a note that I forgot to put in this That's gonna it's gonna be a question for you so you get to go and put in your lily your lily note
Ok Lily asks Tashi and Tashi's mom her grandma if she can watch Spider Verse and I just thought that was a very like um fun ah moment to be like oh this is zendaya playing Tashi So She's going to ask to like watch her mom but it's not her mom I don't know is one of those fun moments
I Also liked it because it was spider verse which she's not in that's the animated one but it's still a nod to her career But it's the animated one I was cute Everyone in my theater giggled I have a question because I didn't think about this one I watched it and then I saw it on Twitter as discourse
yeah
who do you think is lily's dad because the timeline works out with Atlanta that it could have actually been Patrick
Oh interesting They also don't show her enough for you really to know But you also don't see her be that s3xual with art like she is with Patrick
I mean surely they have s3x right
Well yeah
Or did when
yeah
When they were young
I would like to believe it was art But I feel like there is a timeline that exists in which it was Patrick
But it I love that it leads to the open endedness
Yeah
They just all belong together one of my favorite things is like so so in this um ah Guys this is the big spoiler okay this is the big spoiler this is the moment that like the whole theater was tense is there's just like really long drawn out serve that Patrick's about to do and you just find out from a flashback that like Tashi just slept with him the night before and you're Wondering is he going to do it because there's this like serve thing that he did in a previous flashback that showed art that he had slept with Tashi and so it's so drawn out as he like bounces the ball and prepares the racket and I was just like he's going to do it He's going to do it and then I could hear The people next to me who came together be like moving their hands to where the symbol that he made and they were like whispering about it and it was like yeah he's going to do it and then he did it and and we all were like oh my god and were squealing
I wasn't even connecting that he was gonna do it until my husband was like oh he's going to do the signal with the serve just wait and I was like maybe it is what's coming
yeah I was like he has to do what he has to do if he hadn't done it It would have been so unsatisfying and then I I loved this so he does the symbol to show art that like I just f*cked your wife last night and art literally says f*ck off and then Starts playing for real like it's like he got all of his motivation back and that's my like favorite part about his character and why I say he is complicit and he gets off on all of this is he is struggling in his career wants to retire unmotivated but he finds out that his estranged best friend f*cked his wife and suddenly he's like let's f*cking go and he's like and that leads him to win the game and it's not even like the heat
he's like fueled off of anger
but it doesn't look angry as much as it looks Excited
Yeah true
It's just like my favorite part about him like he couldn't have won if he didn't know
No
anyway that was um those are those are the big moments that we had to talk about Did you want to get into fun facts
Yeah so it was nominated for next big thing for the 2024 queerties and then Zendaya Josh and Mike spent three months training with Brad Gilbert who's a pro tennis player turned coach um in order to prep for this role which I think makes Sense because there are certain ways in which they stand that look like how an athlete would present themselves and how an athlete would behave and I'm sure they had stand in in doubles for some of the more like hardcore tennis scenes but it's still it makes sense that they spent so long training with someone to kind of get in that mindset and know how to like personify that
Yeah plus these are all actors that are known for really going in on their roles So it makes sense that they would take it that seriously I've some of my favorite behind the scenes to come out of this is zendaya training for this She's talked about how she kind of went about it like dance and there are clips of her on a tennis court next to an actual tennis player and Zendaya just has the racket and no one's hitting a ball at her but the tennis player is playing tennis And she is matching her like move for move just mimicking everything she does
Yeah impressive
It's so cool and they're like in beat with each other too She's not even falling behind in any way It's like a choreographed dance
Wow yeah
so those are our notes on challengers do you have any final thoughts jess
No it was good also like I really I told Amanda this ahead of time I really did not know what my husband was gonna like think of it because I didn't know what to expect So I didn't know how to prepare him and I thought he was gonna be like why did you drag me into this weird movie But Even yesterday which was a couple days after we watched it he was like that was one of the best movies I've seen in a while so it was really good like it was better than I expected
Yeah I was really excited when I left thinking about how this is probably the big summer blockbuster at least until like the actual like Marvel type blockbusters come out It's leading us into that summer season And that so many people are just going for a zendaya and like the throuple of it all and it actually is a really good film like that made me excited because I miss good cinema not to say that like Big blockbusters like Marvel don't have a place like I love Marvel movies Actually I am one of the few that does still and I loved the Barbie movie and I I think those have a place as well But I also want movies like this
Yeah it's so artsy But it's yeah it's done so well and everyone involved you could tell gave it 100% and it just yeah it created such a beautiful piece of art like people should go watch it It's not hitting the numbers that they had suspected um so far so like definitely go watch it bump up those box office numbers because I would like to see more movies like this
Yes please My last note is um I'm dreading and also looking forward to how much tennis fashion we're gonna see this summer I'm wearing a skort if you're listening you don't know if you're watching the video you don't know because I'm sat down but I'm wearing my one and only skort For this and um that I just feel like we're going to see a lot of them this summer
totally I also think with the rise of pickle ball I think yeah it's just all connected We're gonna get tennis fashion up next we are going back into our classic content But we finished off suite life so we are starting life with Derek so you'll get the first half a season 1 in the next episode Um I have never seen life with Derek so I'm really excited for this 1 Amanda's watching season 1 right now So um we're looking forward to it
I grew up watching it so I can't wait to hear what Jess's first impressions are
as always please please please rate and review wherever you listen on Apple or Spotify it really really helps our podcast get noticed by others Also please follow us on all our social media nineties babies nostalgia spell out the word nineties on Youtube and Instagram but on Tiktok use the numbers there comment dm engage with us We love chatting with you all Um if you watch challengers let us Tell us what you thought and with that we will see you in the next one bye
Nineties Babies Nostalgia