With Challengers having released this past weekend, all focus is on the ‘threesome’ scene in the film that played a huge part in the marketing.
Fans have made an absolutely wild connection though behind the dynamic at the core of that scene - starring Zendaya, Mike Faist and Josh O'Connor - and are connecting it to another amazing film with a near-perfect Rotten Tomatoes score.
Here's the trailer for Challengers in case you need a reminder or live under a rock so haven’t seen it:
The connection in question is to A24's Past Lives, an incredible film from last year about a Korean-American woman mourning the potential lives she could have lived.
It got a 95% score on Rotten Tomatoes, two Oscar nominations including Best Picture, and most importantly focuses on a three-way romance with the main protagonist, her husband, and the man she used to love.
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Back to Challengers now then, which features a similar story of a three-way romance involving one woman and two men she’s loved at various points in her life.
Don’t worry though, the connection isn’t that tenuous.
What film fans have figured out however, is an absolutely wild connection.
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Celine Song, who directed and wrote Past Lives, is married to… yep, the writer of Challengers, Justin Kuritzkes.
Beyond the fact that there is clearly an absurdly unfair amount of creative talent in that household, a large number of fans have begun speculating about the inspiration behind the common story thread.
READ MORE: Challengers review - Zendaya shines in a smart and sexy film that is sure to be an instant classic
Shruti Sran posted on X (formerly known as Twitter) to say: “Not only are Justin Kuritzkes (CHALLENGERS) and Celine Song (PAST LIVES) married in real life (which makes Justin the husband in Past Lives!!!) but they both wrote their own version of a movie in which two men are in love with the same woman and I just wanna talk about it.”
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Another fan noticed this, posting: “Just found out that the writer of Past Lives is married to the writer of Challengers and unfortunately, as a nosy person, I am deeply fascinated by what could be going on there.”
Writer Daniella Chamorro posted on X, saying: “Who is the sexy man who came into the lives of the writers of past lives and challengers and threatened to ruin their marriage….? and is he free on saturday night."
They followed this up with a reply saying: “Are they a charming sexy British man or a sweet tall Korean man??? Both work but I NEED TO KNOW.”
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Whilst we won’t speculate on anything going on there, anything that gets more people watching Past Lives and Challengers is a win in my book.
Topics: Film and TV, Zendaya
Michael Slavin