Romeo Beckham is swapping fashion shoots for a queer tennis romance in his first acting role — and if the trailer for Forty Love is anything to go by, things get considerably stranger than a little courtside sexual tension.
Romeo Beckham has made his acting debut — and apparently decided subtle was not the way to go.
The 24-year-old son of David and Victoria Beckham stars opposite acclaimed French actor Paul Kircher in Forty Love, a new queer tennis drama from French filmmaker and fashion photographer Pierre-Ange Carlotti.
The first trailer has now landed, serving rivalry, lust, bed scenes, kisses, a cheeky Rafael Nadal reference and — rather unexpectedly — what appears to be cannibalism.
So, not exactly Wimbledon.
The film follows 21-year-old tennis prodigy Sacha Gallo, played by Kircher, who has been trained by his father with one goal: winning a major title in Paris.
Then Beckham’s charismatic rival arrives and complicates considerably more than Sacha’s sporting ambitions.
The official synopsis describes love as an opponent “as exhilarating as it is destabilising” — and considerably more dangerous than anything Sacha has faced on court.
Heated Rivalry, but make it tennis?
The obvious comparisons began almost immediately.
Two male professional athletes.
Intense rivalry.
Even more intense chemistry.
Secret or complicated queer desire.
It is not difficult to see why viewers are already invoking Heated Rivalry, while the combination of tennis, desire and competition has also invited comparisons with Luca Guadagnino’s Challengers.
The trailer certainly leans into that tension.
At one point, Beckham’s character tells Sacha: “It’s not my fault if you’re fucking in love with me.”
Their rivalry quickly spills beyond the court, with the pair shown kissing and sharing intimate moments together.
Beckham also delivers a line that will be instantly recognisable to committed tennis fans.
During a press conference, his character says: “I don’t want to sound like I want to be his boyfriend.”
The moment appears to deliberately reference Rafael Nadal’s famously awkward 2017 US Open answer when asked what he admired about longtime rival Roger Federer.
In other words: someone involved with this film has absolutely spent time on gay tennis Twitter.
Then things get… bloody
Anyone expecting the trailer to remain a straightforward sports romance should probably keep watching.
The mood eventually turns considerably darker.
Knives appear. Beckham’s character is shown unconscious and being dragged along a hallway.
And in the trailer’s most startling image, Sacha appears to sit over Beckham’s motionless body on a clay court while eating something very much resembling his bloodied internal organs.
Whether that sequence is literal, imagined or part of some other narrative device remains unclear.
But it confirms that Forty Love is apparently playing with thriller and possibly body-horror elements alongside its queer romance.
Which certainly differentiates it from your average boy-meets-boy tennis movie.
And yes, the nepo-baby discourse has arrived
Beckham’s casting has inevitably prompted discussion of his famous family.
He is the second son of former footballer David Beckham and fashion designer and Spice Girl Victoria Beckham, and has spent much of his adult life working in fashion, including modelling for major luxury brands.
Forty Love marks his first professional acting role.
Some social-media users responded to the trailer by describing Beckham as a “nepo baby”, with one calling him a “nepo baby with a damn smart agent”.
Another joked that the Beckham family would apparently “do anything for money”.
That criticism is hardly surprising whenever the child of two extremely famous people enters another high-profile industry.
But it is also too early to make much of a judgement about Beckham’s performance based on less than two minutes of trailer footage.
Other viewers were considerably more enthusiastic, celebrating both the queer storyline and the fact Beckham had chosen a gay role for his acting debut.
One reaction summed up the pitch rather efficiently: “Heated Rivalry but tennis.”
A serious French cast surrounds Beckham
Whatever audiences ultimately make of Beckham’s performance, he is surrounded by some significant French acting talent.
Kircher, who plays Sacha, has already built an acclaimed film career in France, while the supporting cast includes Guillaume Canet, Benjamin Voisin and French cinema legend Catherine Deneuve.
Carlotti makes his feature-film directing debut, working from a screenplay written with Gaëlle Macé.
The film was produced by Chi-Fou-Mi Productions, Manna Studios and StudioCanal, and was filmed in France, including locations around the Côte d’Azur.
When can we watch it?
Forty Love opens in French cinemas on 25 November 2026.
International release dates — including for Aotearoa New Zealand — have not yet been announced.
Until then, we have a trailer featuring Romeo Beckham making his acting debut as a queer tennis player, flirting with his rival, quoting Nadal and possibly getting his organs eaten on a clay court.
Suddenly “nepo baby” feels like the least interesting part.
