Zendaya admits intimacy coordinator on Challengers was 'very helpful' on steamy ... trends now
Zendaya is opening up about the importance of the intimacy coordinator on her new film Challengers.
The 27-year-old Euphoria star spoke about crafting the sports romance's intimate scenes with her costars Mike Faist and Josh O'Connor at the film's premiere in Rome on Monday.
The sizzling feature from Suspiria and Call Me By Your Name director Luca Guadagnino stars Zendaya as Tashi Duncan, an aspiring tennis star who gives up her career after suffering a major injury.
Instead, she focuses on coaching her colleague Art (Faist), whom she falls in love with and marries, but she finds her feelings dangerously divided after Art is enrolled on the Challenger Tour, where he faces off against Tashi's ex-boyfriend Patrick (O'Connor).
On the red carpet, Zendaya praised the intimacy coordinator for keeping a 'safe' environment on set, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
Zendaya, 27, spoke about using an intimacy coordinator on her new film Challengers at its Rome premiere on Monday, according to The Hollywood Reporter; seen March 10 in LA
In Challengers, Zendaya plays a former tennis star who starts coaching after an injury ends her career. She coaches — and then marries — Art (Mike Faist, L), but their relationship is complicated when he has to compete against her ex-boyfriend Patrick (Josh O'Connor, R)
'We had an intimacy coordinator which was fantastic and very helpful, because it was important that we felt safe,' she said.
The film is suffused with 'intense' erotic scenes between Zendaya and her leading men, so the trio needed to find ways to decompress when they were 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.'
Faist agreed and added that that unstructured time was essential to creating a solid bond and portraying believable romance on screen.
'We were able to spend time together during rehearsals and beyond, especially with Josh,' he explained. 'We were able to get to know each other as people before we could get into the film. We created a real friendship that
