Challengers Movie: How Massimo Gattabrusi and Fernanda Perez Turned Zendaya Into a Tennis Champion

When you first lay your eyes on Tashi Duncan in Challengers, it’s clear she’s in complete control. From the strong whip of her braid and her sexy moonlit skin as a young rising tennis star, to her sharp honey-blonde bob and perfect nude manicure as a mother and mogul, Tashi’s look is punctuated by power.

Of course, her commanding presence on screen is a testament to Zendaya, who plays the tennis champ turned coach in Luca Guadagnino’s new romance drama. But her prowess is also clear in her hair and makeup, designed by department heads Massimo Gattabrusi and Fernanda Perez.

Challengers, which hit theaters April 26, ping-pongs between past and present in a series of flashbacks. We first meet Tashi as a promising young tennis star poised to “make her family millionaires.” During a tournament she meets best friends and tennis players Patrick Zweig and Art Donaldson, played by Josh O’Connor and Mike Faist, who become smitten with her power and beauty.

After a brief relationship with Patrick, her tennis dreams are derailed by a career-ending injury, which leads her to coach Art, her eventual husband and the father of her child, to become a Grand Slam champion. Hoping to get Art out of a losing streak, Tashi encourages him to play a challengers tournament where they run into Patrick, a now washed-up tennis player who has faded into obscurity. Patrick faces off with Art in a deciding tennis match to end their years-long rivalry—all under Tashi’s watchful eye.

The time jumps presented a great challenge for Gattabrusi and Perez, who had to convey the passage of time through the characters’ hair and makeup while keeping the looks realistic enough for the world of tennis. But no matter the timeline, Tashi’s look is always underlined by power.

“We did big research with video and pictures of real tennis players,” says Gattabrusi. “We saw tennis players with long hair and long braids, and it impressed us—this powerful hairdo. In the beginning she wore one long, very strong wig, and during the tennis matches she was tied with a really tight, long, and strong braid. The choice to go in this direction was thinking about a determined person, a warrior. At this young age, she is powerful and wants to win.”

After Tashi suffers her injury, she finds herself lost and wondering what to do next. Gattabrusi showed this transition by shortening Tashi’s hair to shoulder mid-length to signify “a temporary moment, the temporary part of life.” At this point in the film, Tashi reconnects with Art and agrees to become his coach, ushering them into a tennis power-couple partnership held together by fame and sponsorship deals. But Tashi can’t help but want more from her coaching career—and marriage. Once Patrick reappears, she finds herself once again at the center of the men’s lust and ambitions.

“In the third act we are looking at another kind of power,” says Gattabrusi. “Not the warrior of the beginning with the longer, strong hair, but with the straight cut of the bob and the blonde hair. [It] makes her look more mature, more of a mother. And with a different kind of power.”

Ahead, Gattabrusi and Perez break down key beauty moments from Challengers, including Tashi’s square French manicure, Patrick’s and Art’s matchy-matchy wigs, and the exact foundation Zendaya wore for Tashi’s luminous skin.

Glamour: What references were used to create Tashi’s beauty look?

Massimo Gattabrusi: We did a lot of research a few months before we started testing and met with Zendaya and Luca. We kept images and sketched [looks] and presented it to Luca, and he chose which way he wanted to go for the look for Zendaya. We did the design and preparation of the look with Luca, but Zendaya had her amazing hair and the makeup team, Kim Kimble and Kellie Robinson. They have a really great collaboration with a really great empathy.

Fernanda Perez: Many of the tennis players had this braid because it’s less complicated to manage during the sport with the hair. Luca and Massimo found that it was so strong, the vision to see Zendaya arriving with this long braid. When we showed the mood board to Zendaya, we were on the same page. I have to say, she agreed with everything. But it was a mix of a bunch of tennis players. We tried to figure out what we liked more for the film. Not one specific reference. But you can see the braid on [Maria] Sharapova—many of others wear this look.

What are the key differences between Tashi’s look as a teenager versus as an adult?

Fernanda: Regarding the makeup, she is wearing very light makeup at the beginning to look more like a girl. And then to see her at the end as a woman, she’s wearing a specific bold makeup for the end. But at the beginning, she’s wearing nothing. When we proposed [the look], we showed the mood boards to Zendaya, of course, and we showed it to her team. We just gave them the guidelines for the character. Kellie Robinson went for this very simple makeup at the beginning, and then she constructs this amazing, beautiful makeup with the smoky eyes. Always classy, but more bold lips. The shadows of the face were different from the beginning. Zendaya had free reign to construct the character because she totally understood [the vision].

When Tashi’s talking to Josh and Art on the beach, her skin has the most gorgeous glow. What product did you use on her body?

Fernanda: So Luca is very specific. When you see a Luca movie, you are like the fly on the wall. You have to feel the weather, you have to feel what these people are feeling. You have to see the details, you have to feel like you’re in the story. It was summer, so of course all the texture we used for Zendaya was without powder. We went for a more glow foundation, the MAC Studio Radiance Face and Body Radiant Sheer Foundation. Then she had a bit of mascara, gloss, a bit of blush and lotion. That’s it. No body makeup. The lights of Sayombhu Mukdeeprom, the director of photography of the film, reflect all on her. Zendaya has amazing, beautiful skin. Beautiful color. So really you just add really just a bit of lotion to reflect the light on her skin.

Did the cast wear wigs all throughout the movie?

Massimo: Yeah. Zendaya used all wigs because sometimes you choose the wig even to change the nature of the hair, to give a different feeling to the character. If you were curly with really thick hair, your feeling in the mirror could be so different if you [wore a wig] with thin, straight hair.

[In the beginning, Josh O’Connor and Mike Faist] wore wigs. When you shoot a movie by the needs of a location, you must shoot without continuity. So you can shoot the beginning and the finale of the film the same day. We built wigs. Actually, Mike’s wig was very, very nice. It was by Diane Choi, a really great wig maker from LA. We dyed Mike’s wig and then cut his own hair very short and fresh for the last act, but we kept the wig for the first two acts. The color was complicated to do because it had to look really natural and real. I did the color on this wig many, many times. One time, I took the wig home. Do you remember, Fernanda?

Fernanda: The wig was always there.

Massimo: Fernanda prepared the meal. I was washing and dyeing the wigs. Blonde is not easy to do in the natural way. So you must find the right shadow between the root to the end of the hair. You can’t do the hair color too strong. I use Matrix to create a shadow and make the color change depending on the light.

How did Patrick’s and Art’s makeup evolve through the film?

Fernanda: At the beginning I wanted them very clean. Their faces are very free. They kind of looked like each other at the beginning. Of course, Patrick and Art are ice and fire. But we wanted them like one, even if they are ice and fire. When we see them later, I wanted the beard for Patrick because now he’s different from ice, Art, who is more cold and clean. I didn’t use any foundation on Mike and left him with his own skin. I wanted the beard for Patrick to make him more sloppy, more different from Art. It helped age him. We can see the difference in growing up and time passing.

When you are styling characters who have a sex scene, is there anything you need to do in terms of hair and makeup?

Massimo: About the hair, no. But even if it’s a wig or not, you have to be sure that it’s going to be well fixed and going to respond well to the natural movements.

Another standout beauty moment from the film is Tashi’s square French manicure. How did that look come about?

Fernanda: That was Zendaya’s idea. When we presented her the mood board, I said, “Okay, let’s talk about Tashi’s nails because it’s a detail and we can use them to show time passing. Maybe at the beginning when she is more girlish, she can have some pastel nails. Then when she’s in the middle of her crisis, something more neutral. And then go for a nude when she’s older.” And then Zendaya said, “We could do a French manicure when she’s young, because I remember I loved French manicures when I was younger.” I said, “Okay, great.” She even used it for the press tour too. She was always wearing a French manicure. That was Zendaya’s idea. Luca loves all these details, it’s very important for the atmosphere. Even if you don’t notice, you feel it.

What do you hope people take away from the hair and makeup in this film?

Fernanda: I hope people don’t take anything. I like to be discreet in the makeup. If they don’t notice the makeup, I’m really happy. I don’t like to show up. When I see the makeup showing up in a film, it kind of disturbs me because it makes me feel fake. So I really hope people don’t notice the makeup.

Massimo: [I want people to wonder] if we cut their hair or used a wig. That’s what I’m looking for. My job is for the movie, not to show what I’m doing. We work with the goal of everybody believing in what they see without being distracted by ego.

Ariana Yaptangco is the senior beauty editor at Glamour. Follow her @arianayap.

Originally Appeared on Glamour