‘It wasn’t scripted’: Here’s what the Challengers cast have said about THAT churros scene

Have you ever seen ANYONE manage to make eating a churro so sexy like Josh O’Connor and Mike Faist in Challengers?? Because tell me ho that scene manages to be literally the most horny one out of the whole movie??

But it turns out the whole thing wasn’t actually scripted and is just something that Josh and Mike worked out with the director Luca and I’m OBSESSED. So this is everything the Challengers cast and crew have said about THAT spicy churros scene:

In an interview with Capital, Josh O’Connor is asked how he makes eating a churro so sexy to which he replies: “I don’t know if I did! What I will say is that I hadn’t had, do you remember that was my first churro? And I hadn’t eaten anything that day so I was starving and tasting my first churro. And churros are extraordinary. So delicious so I ate my one and then I ate his.”

Zendaya then adds: “Because the churro wasn’t scripted, the churro was something you guys kind of found, right?” And Mike Faist replies: “It was definitely a Luca thing,” referring to the director Luca Guadagnino.

At the LA premiere of Challengers, Josh also revealed that they only did two takes of the churros scene.“We actually only did two takes of that scene,” he said. “They were delicious. My first churro was that day.”

In a separate interview with USA Today, Mike Faist said the scene was “about the interplay between them,” and there was definitely some improvisation between them.

“So when Josh is holding that churro right to my mouth, it’s so obviously there that I’m going to take a bite of his churro,” Mike said laughing. “But that’s the great thing about working with Josh, he tees you up for something and I hit the ball back. It’s like a game of tennis – we’re just giving each other something to play with.”

Apparently, they chose churros literally just because “they’re a delicious snack”, screenwriter Justin Kuritzkes said. “They’re very popular in California – that’s why.”

Then in a deep dive into the scene, director Luca Guadagnino told the New York Times that it “depicts a moment and evolution in [the duo] friendship that has been diverted because of a third person.”

“What we see is basically, a sort of like, a game of revelry, a sparkling between these two young boys, over Tashi, but at the same time, a jealousy that ignites the relationship. Also, because probably, these two guys are also jealous of one another, not only of Tashi,” the Challengers director said. He notes that throughout the scene, Patrick and Art are in a “constant battle,” and “they are fighting but taking care of one another” at the same time.

“When the sugar goes on the cheek of Patrick, Art takes it off with his hand in a very nice gesture of kindness and very intimate I would say,” Guadagnino added. “But at the same time, they are really like tense. And I think it’s about being jealous of one another but at the same time, wanting one another that we’re trying to play out and that Josh and Mike do in a beautiful way in the sequence.”

Related stories recommended by this writer:

• Obsessed with Art in Challengers? Here’s where else you can watch Mike Faist

• ‘I’m the victim here’: Woman accused of being Baby Reindeer’s real-life Martha speaks out

• Ambika Mod to Grace Beverley: All the icons who made it onto The Times’ Young Power List

Featured image via YouTube.