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Challengers: Shooting Script
Tennis player turned coach Tashi has taken her husband, Art, and transformed him into a world-famous Major champion. To jolt him out of his recent losing streak, she signs him up for a “Challenger” event — close to the lowest level of pro tournament — where he finds himself standing across the net from his former best friend and Tashi’s former boyfriend.
91 pages, Unknown Binding
Published December 1, 2024
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Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews
March 18, 2025
“There's a few hundred spectators and a camera crew, but Art and Patrick are really playing for an audience of one: Tashi
sits in the middle of the stands, an Empress watching two gladiators.”
sits in the middle of the stands, an Empress watching two gladiators.”
July 30, 2025
i wish i was Art Donaldson, and i wish i wasn’t Art Donaldson
June 8, 2025
this is a sauna.
October 29, 2025
Challengers – The Shooting Script by Justin Kuritzkes is one of the best motion pictures of 2024, if you ask me, in fact, it just happened that I looked at the premiere of House of Dynamite – by the time this is posted, my take on The House of Dynamite will have been up there on my blog https://realinibarzoi.blogspot.com/20... I do not know about Goodreads, since I keep saying the leader of the (once) free world is an orange eejit for me, and that has caused some trouble in that reading arena, they flagged and kicked me out once – and then saw Challengers on HBO and they are both mesmerizing
9 out of 10
I saw Challengers for the second time last Sunday, and it was a treat again – however, I still have to complain that HBO is very slow in putting on films, at least for this smaller market, here, I mean they have motion pictures that are years old, aired at prime time on Sunday, come on, we see those on the free to air alternatives, yes, they have commercials, but still – and I still see this motion picture as one of the best of 2024
Luca Guadagnino is the outstanding director of Challengers, he has been acclaimed for his Call Me By Your Name https://realinibarzoi.blogspot.com/20... with the new darling of the romantic features Timothée Chalamet, although I am sardonic, facetious here, he has a wide range of roles
We also have Armie Hammer, and one of my favorites, Michael Stuhlbarg, the former has been in disgrace for being a…cannibal, again, I am just playing games here – a psychology classic is Games People Play https://realinibarzoi.blogspot.com/20... by the marvelous Eric Berne
In Call Me By Your Name Elio aka Timothee Chalamet and Oliver aka Armie Hammer have a homoerotic affair – come to think of it, I do not remember if it was ‘consummated’, it is suggested that it was, but I do recall the masturbation with a…peach – and the scenario, the production, everything was excellent, except it was not my cup of tea
In Challengers we have another outré, unusual relationship, this time we have a love triangle, menage a trois, involving Mike Faist aka Art Donaldson, Josh O’Connor aka Patrick Zweig, and Tashi Donaldson aka Zendaya, for the latter, this is the name of the character, after she married Art – spoiler alert, you could stop reading now
That is if you did reach this far, because I will talk about what happens – on second thought, we have ‘time travel’, ergo we see early on where this is going, we start with Patrick Zweig – I wonder if he was related to the glorious Stefan Zweig https://realinibarzoi.blogspot.com/20...
Only this was a silly joke, evidently, one is a fictional personage, and the other one of the greatest writers, and one of my favorites – so we see Patrick Zweig trying to join a tennis tournament, and we will have the story: he tries to qualify for the opens, but has to get to a tournament to get into the tournament so to speak
He is down on his luck, has to sleep in his rather old car – where he will have se with Tashi, you had the spoiler alert – and then he sleeps with a woman – I was going to say quite older than him, but then I found her quite attractive, what with my age, 62, also a perennial 27 in some ways – to have a bed and a roof above
It is dynamic, alert, audacious – they may even have had sex, the three of them, at the same time, but we are not sure, it is part of the charm and the mystery – the acting is marvelous, especially Zendaya and O’Connor, in my view
Now for my standard closing of the note with a question, and invitation – I am on Goodreads as Realini Ionescu, at least for the moment, if I keep on expressing my views on Orange Woland aka TACO, it may be a short-lived presence
Also, maybe you have a good idea on how we could make more than a million dollars with this https://realinibarzoi.blogspot.com/20... – as it is, this is a unique technique, which we could promote, sell, open the Oscars show with or something and then make lots of money together, if you have the how, I have the product, I just do not know how to get the benefits from it, other than the exercise per se
There is also the small matter of working for AT&T – this huge company asked me to be its Representative for Romania and Bulgaria, on the Calling Card side, which meant sailing into the Black Sea wo meet the US Navy ships, travelling to Sofia, a lot of activity, using my mother’s two bedrooms flat as office and warehouse, all for the grand total of $250, raised after a lot of persuasion to the staggering $400…with retirement ahead, there are no benefits, nothing…it is a longer story, but if you can help get the mastodont to pay some dues, or have an idea how it can happen, let me know
As for my role in the Revolution that killed Ceausescu, a smaller Mao, there it is http://realini.blogspot.com/2022/03/r...
Some favorite quotes from To The Hermitage and other works
‘Fiction is infinitely preferable to real life...As long as you avoid the books of Kafka or Beckett, the everlasting plot of fiction has fewer futile experiences than the careless plot of reality...Fiction's people are fuller, deeper, cleverer, more moving than those in real life…Its actions are more intricate, illuminating, noble, profound…There are many more dramas, climaxes, romantic fulfillment, twists, turns, gratified resolutions…Unlike reality, all of this you can experience without leaving the house or even getting out of bed…What's more, books are a form of intelligent human greatness, as stories are a higher order of sense…As random life is to destiny, so stories are to great authors, who provided us with some of the highest pleasures and the most wonderful mystifications we can find…Few stories are greater than Anna Karenina, that wise epic by an often foolish author…’
9 out of 10
I saw Challengers for the second time last Sunday, and it was a treat again – however, I still have to complain that HBO is very slow in putting on films, at least for this smaller market, here, I mean they have motion pictures that are years old, aired at prime time on Sunday, come on, we see those on the free to air alternatives, yes, they have commercials, but still – and I still see this motion picture as one of the best of 2024
Luca Guadagnino is the outstanding director of Challengers, he has been acclaimed for his Call Me By Your Name https://realinibarzoi.blogspot.com/20... with the new darling of the romantic features Timothée Chalamet, although I am sardonic, facetious here, he has a wide range of roles
We also have Armie Hammer, and one of my favorites, Michael Stuhlbarg, the former has been in disgrace for being a…cannibal, again, I am just playing games here – a psychology classic is Games People Play https://realinibarzoi.blogspot.com/20... by the marvelous Eric Berne
In Call Me By Your Name Elio aka Timothee Chalamet and Oliver aka Armie Hammer have a homoerotic affair – come to think of it, I do not remember if it was ‘consummated’, it is suggested that it was, but I do recall the masturbation with a…peach – and the scenario, the production, everything was excellent, except it was not my cup of tea
In Challengers we have another outré, unusual relationship, this time we have a love triangle, menage a trois, involving Mike Faist aka Art Donaldson, Josh O’Connor aka Patrick Zweig, and Tashi Donaldson aka Zendaya, for the latter, this is the name of the character, after she married Art – spoiler alert, you could stop reading now
That is if you did reach this far, because I will talk about what happens – on second thought, we have ‘time travel’, ergo we see early on where this is going, we start with Patrick Zweig – I wonder if he was related to the glorious Stefan Zweig https://realinibarzoi.blogspot.com/20...
Only this was a silly joke, evidently, one is a fictional personage, and the other one of the greatest writers, and one of my favorites – so we see Patrick Zweig trying to join a tennis tournament, and we will have the story: he tries to qualify for the opens, but has to get to a tournament to get into the tournament so to speak
He is down on his luck, has to sleep in his rather old car – where he will have se with Tashi, you had the spoiler alert – and then he sleeps with a woman – I was going to say quite older than him, but then I found her quite attractive, what with my age, 62, also a perennial 27 in some ways – to have a bed and a roof above
It is dynamic, alert, audacious – they may even have had sex, the three of them, at the same time, but we are not sure, it is part of the charm and the mystery – the acting is marvelous, especially Zendaya and O’Connor, in my view
Now for my standard closing of the note with a question, and invitation – I am on Goodreads as Realini Ionescu, at least for the moment, if I keep on expressing my views on Orange Woland aka TACO, it may be a short-lived presence
Also, maybe you have a good idea on how we could make more than a million dollars with this https://realinibarzoi.blogspot.com/20... – as it is, this is a unique technique, which we could promote, sell, open the Oscars show with or something and then make lots of money together, if you have the how, I have the product, I just do not know how to get the benefits from it, other than the exercise per se
There is also the small matter of working for AT&T – this huge company asked me to be its Representative for Romania and Bulgaria, on the Calling Card side, which meant sailing into the Black Sea wo meet the US Navy ships, travelling to Sofia, a lot of activity, using my mother’s two bedrooms flat as office and warehouse, all for the grand total of $250, raised after a lot of persuasion to the staggering $400…with retirement ahead, there are no benefits, nothing…it is a longer story, but if you can help get the mastodont to pay some dues, or have an idea how it can happen, let me know
As for my role in the Revolution that killed Ceausescu, a smaller Mao, there it is http://realini.blogspot.com/2022/03/r...
Some favorite quotes from To The Hermitage and other works
‘Fiction is infinitely preferable to real life...As long as you avoid the books of Kafka or Beckett, the everlasting plot of fiction has fewer futile experiences than the careless plot of reality...Fiction's people are fuller, deeper, cleverer, more moving than those in real life…Its actions are more intricate, illuminating, noble, profound…There are many more dramas, climaxes, romantic fulfillment, twists, turns, gratified resolutions…Unlike reality, all of this you can experience without leaving the house or even getting out of bed…What's more, books are a form of intelligent human greatness, as stories are a higher order of sense…As random life is to destiny, so stories are to great authors, who provided us with some of the highest pleasures and the most wonderful mystifications we can find…Few stories are greater than Anna Karenina, that wise epic by an often foolish author…’
December 21, 2024
Read the script that was on the Blcklist, instead of the shooting script, but couldn’t find that one here.
Never noticed how the dialogue scenes where constructed. Felt like a tennis match.
Never noticed how the dialogue scenes where constructed. Felt like a tennis match.
December 30, 2024
ATP you’ll always be famous <3
April 27, 2025
ABSOLUTE CINEMA
July 12, 2025
heck yeah
March 30, 2025
4.5
oscar nominated in my heart.
oscar nominated in my heart.
”gradually, subtly, tashi removes her face from the kiss until art and patrick are just kissing kissing each other, passionately, with their eyes closed. she sits back on the bed and watches them for a long beat.”
i’ve watched this movie like five times now and i still couldn’t get enough so i decided to order this screenplay off ebay. thank you to the individual selling it for like $15, as opposed to the freaks selling something that they received for free for like $85. just greedy!
anyways, between this and queer justin kuritzkes has established himself as an extremely talented screenwriter. haven’t read any burroughs myself but i’ve heard that queer is “unadaptable” so props to him for doing that. here’s to hoping him and luca collaborate again!
i’ve only read a few screenplays before, but this one was really easy to understand. if this is because i’ve seen the film a million times or because justin kuritzkes knows what he’s doing is undetermined. but i’ll lean towards the latter.
July 7, 2025
I spent MONTHS thinking about this screenplay after I finished reading it. Nobody was more ready to see it in theaters than me. The strike pushing the release back a year did not help.
Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews