Daniel Craig gives his verdict on the ‘biggest c**k tease scene in movie history’

Daniel Craig is a big fan of Challengers but one scene left him a little disappointed (Picture: Instagram/Variety)

Daniel Craig has declared one iconic scene in a multi-award-nominated film as the ‘biggest c**k tease in movie history’.

While chatting with Josh O’Connor for Variety’s Actors on Actors, Daniel revealed his thoughts on one of the biggest films of the year; Challengers.

Josh, 34, stars opposite Zendaya and Mike Faist in the smash hit movie, which sees three tennis players locked in a messy love triangle across a decade.

There was one particular moment that the 56-year-old legend playfully took issue with, which he calls the ‘hotel scene’.

‘The scene in the hotel room, where they don’t have sex with each other, is the biggest c**k tease in movie history,’ Daniel told The Crown star, who laughed in response.

In the hotel scene, best friends Art and Patrick — Mike and Josh respectively — vying for the attention of tennis superstar Tashi (Zendaya).

He spoke to Challengers star Josh O’Connor for Actors on Actors (Picture: Alexi Lubomirski for Variety)

Daniel had some thoughts on Challengers’ hotel scene (Picture: Lia Toby/Getty Images for MUBI)

After a few drinks, the trio begin to kiss with Tashi eventually leaning back as the boys make out without her, until she says she is going to leave.

The pivotal scene sets up key dynamics for their 13-year relationship, with Josh confessing he and Mike ended up ‘giggling’ during the first take.

‘Obviously, I love the end of [Challengers],’ shared Daniel. ‘I love where it goes to: All of that setup, and you get to the moment. Which is what Luca’s about — he wants to hit the moment of love.

‘And you see a love between the two guys that trumps everything around it. I’m just a sucker for it. What else is there?’

Josh replied: ‘I think that’s what was going on in this film: Yes, there’s the tennis backdrop, but the desire these three people had for each other that’s torn apart … and there’s an invisible magnet that’s dragging them back together. That was definitely a Luca component that was bubbling underneath.’

Josh revealed he and co-star Mike Faist broke into giggles filming (Picture: Alexi Lubomirski for Variety)

Challengers caused quite a stir online (Picture: Metro Goldwyn Mayer Pictures via AP)

Fans have endlessly debated the film’s complex romance, with the Skyfall icon saying he admires how Luca lets viewers discover and interpret for themselves.

Daniel is a big fan of Challengers’ director Luca Guadagnino, working with him in his upcoming film Queer, as leading man William Lee.

He previously revealed he wouldn’t have taken on a role like this while portraying James Bond as it would have felt reactionary, due to how different from 007 he is.

Adapted from the William S Burroughs novel of the same name, Queer follows an American expat living in Mexico City as he attempts to seduce a mysterious man named Eugene Allerton (Drew Starkey).

The Knives Out star told The Times earlier this month: ‘I couldn’t have done this while doing Bond. It would look reactionary like I was showing my range.’

Daniel is working with Luca Guadagnino in Queer (Picture: A24)

He wouldn’t have taken a role like this while portraying Bond (Picture: Alexi Lubomirski for Variety)

After saying farewell in 2021 with No Time To Die, the question of who could possibly take over has loomed large in the acting world, with plenty of big names in the running.

He didn’t want to face the ‘conversation’ around an alternative portrayal of masculinity, given the fervour with which Bond is dissected by fans.

‘I had it all the way through Bond anyway,’ Daniel explained. ‘Could there be this Bond? That Bond? So anything that is going to inflame that conversation? No – life’s too short.’

In The Times interview, he added: ‘I was so exhausted at the end of a Bond it would take me six months to recover emotionally. I always had the attitude that life must come first and, when work came first for a while, it strung me out.’

The most hotly tipped 007 names include Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Rege-Jean Page, and James Norton — maybe Josh might make the list too.

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