Luca Guadanino’s Queer to feature numerous sex scenes. (Eric Charbonneau/Cindy Ord/Getty)
Film director Luca Guadagnino says his latest project, Queer, will include “many pretty-outrageous sex scenes.”
The Italian director has weighed in on the conversation around evocative sex scenes with his much-anticipated next film being “quite scandalous.” Speaking to Italian news outlet Cinecittà, Guadagnino said that Queer “will be my most personal film.”
Based on a novel written by William S Burroughs in 1953, the film has its premiere later this summer.
The semi-autobiographical book’s queer themes and detailed descriptions of gay sex was deemed too controversial for its time and went unpublished until 1985.
The story follows Lee, played by former Bond star Daniel Craig as he navigates life in Mexico City.
Lee spends his time exploring bars in the American expatriate scene, in pursuit of sexual encounters and becomes infatuated with Allerton (Love, Simon‘s Drew Starkey).
“It’s a homage to [legendary filmmakers] Powell and Pressburger. I’ve seen The Red Shoes at least 50 times and I think they’d appreciate the sex scenes of Queer, which are numerous and quite scandalous.”
The Red Shoes is an Oscar-winning romantic musical directed by Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger in 1948, based on a story by bisexual author Hans Christian Andersen.
Guadagnino is known for his erotic films, in particular queer romance Call Me By Your Name.
Queer follows the director’s tennis drama Challengers, which focused on the love triangle between Tashi (Zendaya), Art (Mike Faist) and Patrick (Josh O’Connor).
Speaking about the way he shot Challengers, which gives us a hint for what to expect from Queer, the director noted: “I am passionate about observing the bodies in space, the details of a nape of a neck. When I choose my actors, I don’t care that they are good at acting, I look for a three-dimensionality that can be captured with the camera.”
Queer will reportedly run for three hours and also stars The Crown’s Lesley Manville, Jason Schwartzman, seen recently in The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes, and 13 Reasons Why‘s Henry Saga. Steve Buscemi was set to direct an adaptation of the book, starring Stanley Tucci, in 2011 but the project never got off the ground.
Gay British designer Jonathan Anderson, who has made a name for himself in the world of fashion with creations for Loewe and his own label, will be responsible for Queer’s costumes.
Guadagnino is set to start production on his next film in July. After the Hunt stars Julia Roberts, The Amazing Spider-Man‘s Andrew Garfield and Ayo Edebiri, seen recently in The Bear. After that, he’s reported to be directing the third film adaptation of William Golding’s classic novel The Lord of the Flies, with a script by gay screenwriter Patrick Ness.
Queer is set to have its world premiere at The Venice Film Festival, held between 28 August and 7 September.