I don’t know how to start this article off other than saying: Mike Faist Nation, we are so back. That’s right. Luca Guadagnino’s highly anticipated tension-filled film about sexy tennis players, Challengers, finally comes out this month. This means that the cast is currently on their press tour to promote the film. The dynamic trio of Zendaya, Josh O’Connor, and Mike Faist are making their way around the globe and charming the public one interview at a time. Everybody already knows how mesmerizing the two-time Emmy award-winning Zendaya is, and Josh O’Connor turned heads with his bloody brilliant performance as Prince Charles in The Crown. It is the stunningly beautiful, extraordinarily humble, triple-talent Michael David Faist that is garnering newfound attention from the internet.
As we all know, I am a proud member of Mike Faist Nation and I have been for quite some time. I was moved by his Tony-nominated performance as Connor Murphy in the Broadway musical Dear Evan Hansen, I searched up “slime tutorials” of him as Jack Kelly performing “Santa Fe” in the Broadway musical Newsies, I actually watched the weirdly unpopular Amazon Prime series Panic where he played the brooding Dodge Mason, and my most notable Mike Faist fan moment by far: I watched West Side Story in the movie theater five times. I proudly announced this fact about myself for one of my Hinge prompts and received the response “five times is crazy” at least six or seven times from guys on the app. That’s okay though because I do not care at all about what men think about me. The only man I care about and the only man that is worth caring about is Broadway’s sweetheart and Hollywood’s soon-to-be newest heartthrob, Mike Faist.
I’ve kept up with this project since early 2022. I remember the day Mike announced that he was headed out to Boston to film with Zendaya and Josh; my excitement was through the roof. However, I knew it would be a long time until I would actually be able to sit down in a theater and watch the film, right? Wrong! Could I possibly be breaking my NDA by saying this publicly? Maybe! But I don’t care! I am a gatekeeper at heart and I must let the internet know that I was here first. I saw Challengers on April 6th, 2023.
One fateful day in 2023, I received a text from my dear friend Renee ominously asking me for my email. Minutes later, I received a surprise email inviting Renee and I to a private test screening of Challengers. Needless to say, I absolutely lost my mind. Obviously, I will not spoil the film because I’m not a jerk and I believe that everybody deserves to witness the magic of Mike Faist on their own. I will say that the moment this man appeared on screen I slapped my hand over my mouth, started hyperventilating, and grabbed Renee’s hand as tight as I could to prevent myself from screaming. The universe holds a lot of mysterious questions that have yet to be answered but the only question that mattered in that moment was, how is this man so damn fine?
Now, I haven’t seen the actual final cut of Challengers. But I have seen enough to say that, like all of his other performances, Mike puts his entire heart and soul into portraying the boyishly charming Art Donaldson. His transformation from shaggy blonde college tennis player to slicked-back devastatingly handsome tennis DILF is insane. The newly released Challengers poster alone not only shows that this is an event that is not to be missed, but also that you can take the boy out of Newsies but you can not take the Newsies out of the boy with how high Mike is jumping in the photo.
There is no doubt in my mind that my TikTok For You page will be filled with edits upon edits of Mike Faist, crowning him the new “White Boy of The Month.” The Challengers press interviews alone have people questioning “who is this beautiful man with the carved jawline?” The answer? It is my husband, Michael David Faist. I knew that the day would soon come where I would no longer be able to gatekeep my sweet Broadway boyfriend and I fear that day is today. He will be everywhere and will no longer remain a secret kept amongst the niche community of musical theatre girlies.
Despite the desire to gatekeep my man, I am even more excited to celebrate his talent with a bunch of people who appreciate a hardworking theatre artist! Mike has had such a long career as a triple-threat performer and I am so happy to see him finally receive his flowers. If you want to pregame Challengers before the official release date, I highly recommend checking out some of Mike’s prior work to really get yourself excited for the magic you are going to witness on screen on April 26th, 2024. Let the Challengers era commence and let’s go, Mike Faist Nation!