Zendaya seems to have a busy 2024 as her second release in two months recently opened in cinemas. The Dune: Part Two star recently featured in Luca Guadagnino’s sports romance Challengers, which also stars Mike Faist and Josh O’Connor. The film was set to release in 2023 but was postponed when the SAG-AFTRA strikes began.
Zendaya’s film has been in the news due to its eroticism and romance. The film follows the actress as a former tennis player who is caught in a battle between her husband and a former lover, who will be facing each other on the court. One scene in particular seems to have caught the attention of fans as it bears resemblance to a popular scene in Timothée Chalamet’s Call Me By Your Name.
What Is The ‘Churro Scene’ In Zendaya’s Challengers
Zendaya recently starred in Luca Guadagnino’s romance Challengers, which sees her play a retired tennis player named Tashi. The film explores the dynamics between her husband, played by Mike Faist, and his opponent, played by Josh O’Connor, who happens to be a former lover of Tashi. The film was all set to premiere at the Venice International Film Festival before being called off due to the SAG-AFTRA strikes (via Deadline).
The film was released on April 26 in the USA with a $6 million opening and a projected opening weekend earnings of $15 million (via Deadline). One particular scene from the film has been widely spoken about. The scene in question, popularly labeled ‘The Churro Scene’, sees a younger Faist and O’Connor talking about the tensions between them that have risen due to Tashi’s arrival in their lives.
While the scene is mostly just the two players talking with each other about Tashi and how their dynamics change, it also sees them care about each other. The scene ends with O’Connor’s Patrick Zweig biting a churro and offering it to Faist’s Art Donaldson, who also takes a big bite of the food. Luca Guadagnino mentioned in the New York Times Anatomy of a Scene,
“When the sugar goes on the cheek of Patrick, Art takes it off with his hand in a nice gesture of kindness – and very intimate I would say. At the same time, they’re really tense…I think it’s about being jealous of one another but at the same time wanting one another that we are trying to play out.”
Guadagnino is known for his homoerotic romances, particularly, Call Me By Your Name, which explored the Summer love story between Timothée Chalamet’s Elio and Armie Hammer’s Oliver.
Fans Compare Challengers’ ‘Churro Scene’ With the ‘Peach Scene’ In Call Me By Your Name
Filmmaker Luca Guadagnino has returned to the screens to ruin one more food item. The director recently released his romance drama Challengers. While the film has been receiving positive responses, fans seem to be obsessed with the ‘Churro Scene’ between Mike Faist and Josh O’Connor.
Many fans compared the scene to another food-related scene from Guadagnino’s previous film Call Me By Your Name, which starred Timothée Chalamet. The ‘Peach scene’ was the highlight of the film and has been widely spoken about. Fans claimed that the ‘Churro’ scene in Challengers seems to evoke similar sentiments.
Challengers did to churros what Call Me By Your Name did to peaches https://t.co/glLBpxKGLq
— chefkids (@girlflopping) April 23, 2024
Is that a churro?
— Roman Blat (@RomanBlatActor) April 26, 2024
please this is what i see behind my eyelids any time i blink
— vicki (@_vickiarg) April 26, 2024
Can we talk about how he pulled the chair closer before he sat down too 🫣
— Benny 🛩️ (@howubenny) April 27, 2024
How can I get a video tattooed?
— Ivi (@HOPELESS_Vi) April 27, 2024
i need whatch this movie rn
— juless (@julessoliv) April 18, 2024
The author of the novel on which Call Me By Your Name is based, André Aciman, mentioned that the reason the scene is so popular is because it gave the first intimate moment between Elio and Oliver in the book (and the movie). He told TIFF that the film had many such moments where the scene began s*xually but ended up being very emotional.
Call Me By Your Name was both a critical and commercial success. The film reportedly earned $43 million at the box office against a $3 million budget (via Box Office Mojo). The film also won the Oscar for Best Adapted Screenplay and was also nominated for Best Picture and Best Actor for Timothée Chalamet.
Challengers is playing in theaters now. Call Me By Your Name is streaming on Hulu.
