International correspondent
A24 Acquires Luca Guadagnino's 'Queer' Starring Daniel Craig
Luca Guadagnino's adaptation of the William S. Burroughs novella "Queer," which premieres in competition at the Venice Film Festival on Tuesday, is his most personal film yet — and one he's dreamed of making for years.
The stars aligned when producer Lorenzo Mieli and Fremantle's head of literary acquisitions Raffaella de Angelis secured the book rights, and Guadagnino quickly reteamed with "Challengers" writer Justin Kuritzkes. Then CAA executive Bryan Lourd brought in Daniel Craig to play the famed counterculture author's alter ego, Lee, an American expat living in Mexico, and "Outer Banks" star Drew Starkey was cast as a younger man with whom he falls madly in love.
From the director of “Call Me by Your Name,” the film features intimate love scenes between the two men, which is sure to make it one of the most talked about indie films of the year. Venice Film Festival artistic director Alberto Barbera called the film’s highly explicit erotic sequences “a sign of great courage in an era when such behavior is still rejected by a significant portion of the public.” A24 will release “Queer” in U.S. theaters later this year.
