Daniel Craig was in the Sala Grande this evening for the Venice Film Festival world premiere of Luca Guadagnino’s Queer which earned an 11-minute, 44-second ovation from the audience.
The crowd chanted Guadagnino’s name at the beginning of the ovation as he held up stars Craig, Drew Starkey and Lesley Manville’s hands separately for individual applause. The cast came down together from the gallery and bowed in unison, then one-by-one came down from the gallery again.
The erstwhile James Bond plays William Lee, an American ex-pat in his late forties who leads a solitary life amidst a small working-class and collegiate community in 1950s Mexico City. When young student Eugene Allerton (Drew Starkey) arrives in town, it stirs William into finally establishing a meaningful connection with someone.
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Also starring are Lesley Manville, Jason Schwartzman, Andra Ursuta, Michael Borremans and David Lowery.
Queer is an adaptation of the eponymous William S. Burroughs novel. Guadagnino’s Challengers scribe Justin Kuritzkes wrote the script.
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Earlier today, Guadagnino explained he had read Burroughs’ book when he was a “lonely” 17-year-old in Palermo who was “dreaming of building worlds through cinema.” He “fell” into Burroughs’ vivid imagination and “the profound connection that he was achingly describing on the page between these two characters — particularly Lee — the romanticism of the idea of the adventure and the adventure with someone you want and love.” It all, “transformed me and changed me forever,” he said.
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Craig was also asked about filming scenes of intimacy for the movie and said, “We just wanted to make it as touching and as real and as natural as we possibly could… Drew’s a wonderful, fantastic, beautiful actor to work with, and we just, we kind of had a laugh. We tried to make it fun.”
Call Me By Your Name filmmaker Guadagnino, whose Challengers opted out of Venice’s opening night slot amid the actors strike last year, returns to the Lido after debuting such titles here as A Bigger Splash, Sighs and Bones and All.
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As Venice kicked off last week, Deadline reported that A24 has taken U.S. rights to Queer which will have its North American debut at TIFF and then screen as a Spotlight Gala at the New York Film Festival.
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Queer was filmed at Rome’s legendary Cinecitta studio and produced by Fremantle, Fremantle North America, Lorenzo Mieli for The Apartment, a Fremantle Group Company, and Guadagnino for his Frenesy Film Company, in collaboration with Cinecitta and Frame by Frame. Fremantle Group financed the film.
