Romeo Beckham makes his acting debut in Forty Love, a gay tennis romance whose new trailer shows the two rivals in a heated will-they-won’t-they match. Opposite The Animal Kingdom actor Paul Kircher, Beckham plays a rival who gives an ambitious young player something more than a trophy to think about.
David and Victoria Beckham’s 24-year-old son steps into a story where competitive tension spills well beyond the court. And judging by the trailer, neither player is particularly good at keeping things professional.
A Rivalry With Benefits
Forty Love follows Sacha Gallo, played by Kircher, a rising tennis star training with his father to win a Paris tournament. His carefully focused world shifts when a charismatic new rival, played by Beckham, enters the picture.
Suddenly, preparing for the next match means navigating an attraction that threatens to throw Sacha off his game.
The trailer leans into that push and pull. Beckham’s character tells his opponent to “sleep with your eyes open,” but other moments show the pair kissing and lying in bed together. The hostility and intimacy sit side by side, teasing a relationship in which wanting to beat someone and wanting to be with them become difficult to separate.
For viewers drawn to Challengers‘ tangled sports romance, the setup offers another reason to pay attention to tennis.
Some Familiar Faces
Beckham arrives on-screen after modeling for fashion houses including Saint Laurent and Balenciaga. He joins a cast that also includes Guillaume Canet, Benjamin Voisin and Catherine Deneuve.
Behind the camera, fashion photographer Pierre-Ange Carlotti makes his feature directing debut. Gaëlle Macé, whose credits include the Jodie Foster thriller A Private Life, wrote the screenplay, while 070 Shake and Johan Lenox composed the score.
Hugo Sélignac and Paco de Bary produced the film through Chi-Fou-Mi Productions, with Studiocanal and Manna Studios coproducing. Together, the team brings a fashion-world newcomer and an established French cast to a coming-of-age story about ambition, attraction and the disruption of falling in love.
When Does Forty Love Come Out?
Forty Love opens in French theaters Nov. 25. Studiocanal is handling worldwide sales, but it hasn’t yet announced a U.S. release date.