Zendaya says femme fatale character in ‘The Challengers’ was ‘scary to take on’

In an interview with ELLE for their September cover story, Zendaya has candidly confessed that she experienced a touch of apprehension when embracing the role of Tashi, a seductive and enigmatic femme fatale character for her upcoming movie The Challengers.

In an interview conducted before the SAG-AFTRA strike, the 26-year-old shared, “I felt like it was a good step into a more, I guess you could say, ‘grown-up’ role and into that next phase.”

“It was a little scary to take on, which I think is a good feeling. To be like, ‘Ooh, can I do this?’ You could run from that feeling and stay safe and comfortable, or you can go, ‘You know what, f*ck it.’”

The Spider-Man star confessed that she had a hard time understanding Tashi’s motivations and found herself thinking about it even after filming was completed. “I still don’t understand the decisions she makes, and we had so many conversations about why she is that way.”

“What was important to me was that she was unapologetic. Sometimes characters who are messy and conflicted and wield power over other people are reserved for [actors] who don’t look like me, so when I get an opportunity to play a character like that, I’ma take it!”

Zendaya dedicated an extensive three-month period to training in order to portray a tennis player for her role in the film. “The more I had to pretend to do tennis in front of a camera with an audience, the more terrified I felt. And I was not even using a real ball,” she said with a laugh.