No prosthetics, old-age makeup, or digital aging was used to show the passage of time in Challengers. Instead, it mostly boils down to some excellent wigs. For example, Zendaya’s moodboard for 2006 included several photos of tennis pros on the court, donning visors, slicked- back ponytails, and long braids. As Tashi ages in the film, her hair changes: The head of dark, long hair she wears as a spritely tennis prodigy gets cropped to a brown, mid-length cut after her career-ending tennis injury and ends in a blond-ish power bob by the third act, when she’s become a mother, a wife to Art, and the master puppeteer his career. “Zendaya suggested the blonde for the bob,” Pérez says. “She’s a woman in that moment—she’s an entitled woman. She makes [bold] decisions. It’s a way to make her very different from the beginning, which is powerful.”
Mike Faist and Josh O’Connor showcase the duality of Art and Patrick.
\Niko Tavernise
Faist and O’Connor also wore wigs in the film. “[Faist] was ice blonde and [O’Connor] was dark to find the polarity.” This was intentional to showcase their duality as opponents (both in tennis and love). “They were almost like ice and fire; white and black,” Gattabrusi says.
The Tashi Duncan Look
Zendaya’s personal hair and makeup duo, Kim Kimble and Kellie Robinson, transformed the actor from age 30 to age 16 to age 20, sometimes within a single shoot day, given they filmed scenes out of chronological order.
“In Tashi’s youth, I wanted a lightweight sheer foundation that would showcase her natural skin,” says Robinson, who opted for MAC Face and Body Foundation. [Zendaya wore the same product on Euphoria to appear as if she wasn’t wearing makeup at all.] To create a natural sunkissed blush, Robinson applied Benefit Cosmetics Benetint to her cheeks and Colourpop SOL Bronzing Balms created the look of “sun exposure and sunburn” on the court, per Robinson. She added freckles with Freck Noir from Freck Beauty.