Zendaya and 'Challengers' co-stars on the importance of chemistry and trust between actors

Challengers stars Mike Faist, Josh O'Connor and Zendaya join Yahoo Entertainment’s Taryn Ryder to dish on how onscreen chemistry plays a vital role in production and why the now-famous “three-way kiss” scene from the film’s trailer was more technically challenging than audiences might realize. “While people just see the three of us, our view is … camera, boom [microphone],” says Zendaya. “There’s a whole group of us. We’re all doing it together.”

Video Transcript

TARYN RYDER: The chemistry between all of you guys, the film doesn't work if you don't have it. And, Mike, I couldn't believe that you thought you didn't pass the chemistry test earlier. I'm going to need to hear more about that.

MIKE FAIST: I didn't think I passed it. I don't know.

TARYN RYDER: Was it you two? Who was it with?

MIKE FAIST: Yeah, it was me and Z.

ZENDAYA: It was just us.

MIKE FAIST: It was me and Z. We were in London. We were in a hotel room, and Luca was--

ZENDAYA: Yeah, what was it about it that you thought--

MIKE FAIST: Luca was directing us. I just didn't think-- genuinely, I just felt like, oh, I'm not giving him what he's actually asking for at the end of the day. And I just felt like, oh, there's either, like, a breakdown in communication that isn't happening, and I'm not able to kind of deliver what he's asking for.

TARYN RYDER: Did you think he passed the chemistry test?

ZENDAYA: Yeah, but I also knew that, like, Luca wanted him from the beginning. So it was like, really, it was already yours. You didn't feel that, I guess.

TARYN RYDER: I'm going to segue to the motel scene. It seems like you guys all felt really safe with each other. Josh, I'd love to hear how important that was to you and if you think that's what kind of made the scene work.

JOSH O'CONNOR: What's funny is that, often, the intimate scenes in any film are the ones that audiences are kind of like, so how do you--

ZENDAYA: Perplexed by.

JOSH O'CONNOR: Yeah, perplexed by and struggle with kind of the vulnerability of that. But I would argue that some, more often than not, just scenes that aren't necessarily intimate for an audience are, like, deeply vulnerable places.

ZENDAYA: I also think with those scenes, in general, like they are very technical and kind of put together more than people maybe understand, and I think we've joked about it before. But it's like, while people just see the three of us, like there's our view is like, camera, boom. Like there's a whole group of us.

We're all in that room doing it together, you know? And we're all like, OK, so that camera's going to come here. I've got to move out of the way. You guys got to separate, so then I can go like-- so everything is choreographed and like a dance in many ways. So I think that's kind of how we approach it, I feel like.