First take this month in the studios of Cinecittà For Queerthe movie of Luca Guadagninoadaptation of the novel by William S. Burroughs with Daniel Craig in the role of the writer symbol of the counterculture. With the ex James Bond55, on set too Drew Starkey, in the role of a young man with whom the protagonist is madly infatuated. For the 29-year-old actor, star of the series Outer banks, Queer it is her most notable film role. The story of the independent and boldly ambitious film is entirely set in Mexico Cityeven if the capital of the Central American country is entirely reconstructed in the Roman studies, as reported variety.
The novel
Written between 1951 and 1953 but not published until 1985, Queer it is Burroughs’ second novel after Junkies. The title was suggested to him by Jack Kerouac, his friend and cohabitant for several months. Another giant of the beat generationthe poet Allen Ginsberginstead acted as his literary agent
Set in the decadent Mexican capital in the 1940s, Queer is a semi-autobiographical story, starring Lee, who escaped from a drug bust in New Orleans. In Mexico City (where Burroughs himself had relocated from Texas in a regrettable court incident), Lee prowls the city’s clubs and bars populated by expatriate American college students, discharged soldiers and other fringes of society.
The protagonist of the novel falls in love with a retired US Navy soldier, Eugene Allerton, a drug addict, who, while indifferent to his advances, eventually relents, but only enough to make Lee’s desires even more of an obsession. Finally, they embark on a journey to South America in search of a drug called yage (better known as ayahuasca), which Lee believes will make him a psychic, able to control other people’s minds.
Naked lunch
The interior monologues of Queerfull of self-deprecating black humor, are considered precursors of the comic-grotesque fantasies of The naked lunch (Naked lunch), the novel considered Burroughs’ masterpiece, adapted for the big screen by David Cronenberg.
The cast
According to some sources, Queer will also be played by Lesley Manville (The Crown), Jason Schwartzmanwho often collaborates with the director Wes Anderson And Henry Zaga (The new mutants).
Production
Lorenzo Mieli with the Italian company The Apartmentproperty of Fremantle – the platform behind Bones and all of Guadagnino and the imminent Priscilla Of Sophia Coppola – is the main producer of Queer in tandem with the Frenzy Movie by Guadagnino; on board too Fremantle North America.
Screenplay and costumes
Burroughs’ novel has been adapted for the screen by the American playwright Justin Kuritzkeswho also wrote Guadagnino’s romantic-sports comedy, Challengerswith Zendaya, Josh O’Connor And Mike Fast, whose release is scheduled for September 15th in the US. And in continuity with Challengers it is also the collaboration of the British designer Jonathan Andersonwho shocked the fashion world with his creations for Loewe and his subversive signature JW Anderson: “It’s one of my favorite books ever. And the movie has it all: Mexico, lots of drugs and Daniel Craig,” Anderson recently told The Guardian.
Craig over 007
Craig, before becoming a world star playing the agent of theMI6 British 007 in five films, he had already played a gay character in the 1998 drama Love is the devil – Study for a portrait of Francis Bacon, by the British director John Maybury. The experimental biopic, screened at Cannes, is about the painter’s destructive drug-and-alcohol relationship Francis Baconinterpreted by Derek Jacobi And George Dyer (Craig), a young criminal who became an artists’ muse.
Most recently, the actor played the detective Benoît Blanc in Dinner with murder – Knives out and the sequel Glass onion – Knives outreceiving two nominations for the Golden Globes, again for Best Actor. In particular, a scene in Glass onion suggests that Blanc is in a same-sex relationship, as confirmed by the actor and director Rian Johnson.
An Oscar-worthy director
Guadagnino got his first big break with the tender romantic drama Call me by your name with Timothee Chalamet And Armie Hammer as young American lovers in Italy. The film earned four Academy Award nominations, including one for Chalamet. In 2022 he won the Silver Lion at the Venice Film Festival for his direction by Bones and all. The film stars Chalamet again, with Taylor Russell: an atypical love story, with horror overtones, between two outcasts in Reagan America.
