{"id":122187,"date":"2024-11-05T03:20:01","date_gmt":"2024-11-04T20:20:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/hotvideos24.online\/?p=122187"},"modified":"2024-11-05T03:20:01","modified_gmt":"2024-11-04T20:20:01","slug":"daniel-craig-drew-starkey-on-queer-sex-gay-roles-and-more","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hotvideos24.online\/?p=122187","title":{"rendered":"Daniel Craig, Drew Starkey on &#8216;Queer&#8217; Sex, Gay Roles and More"},"content":{"rendered":"<p> <script async src=\"https:\/\/pagead2.googlesyndication.com\/pagead\/js\/adsbygoogle.js?client=ca-pub-3711241968723425\"\r\n     crossorigin=\"anonymous\"><\/script>\r\n<ins class=\"adsbygoogle\"\r\n     style=\"display:block\"\r\n     data-ad-format=\"fluid\"\r\n     data-ad-layout-key=\"-fb+5w+4e-db+86\"\r\n     data-ad-client=\"ca-pub-3711241968723425\"\r\n     data-ad-slot=\"7910942971\"><\/ins>\r\n<script>\r\n     (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({});\r\n<\/script><br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-margin-lr-auto  lrv-a-font-body-m   \">\n\t<a href=\"https:\/\/variety.com\/t\/luca-guadagnino\/\" id=\"auto-tag_luca-guadagnino\" data-tag=\"luca-guadagnino\">Luca Guadagnino<\/a>\u2019s new film \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/variety.com\/t\/queer\/\" id=\"auto-tag_queer\" data-tag=\"queer\">Queer<\/a>\u201d opens with a series of tableaux \u2014 little still-life images of glasses, trinkets and books. The objects are meant to evoke the lives of its two lead characters, gay men seeking refuge from their pasts and leaning into their desires in 1950s Mexico City. It\u2019s an example, the film\u2019s stars <a href=\"https:\/\/variety.com\/t\/daniel-craig\/\" id=\"auto-tag_daniel-craig\" data-tag=\"daniel-craig\">Daniel Craig<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/variety.com\/t\/drew-starkey\/\" id=\"auto-tag_drew-starkey\" data-tag=\"drew-starkey\">Drew Starkey<\/a> say, of Guadagnino\u2019s keen eye for how to evoke character through the material world. But it\u2019s apparently even more than that too.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-margin-lr-auto  lrv-a-font-body-m   \">\n\t\u202f\u201cThe opening credits?\u201d Craig asks, sitting next to his co-star in a New York photo studio. \u201cIs the sperm still in there?\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-margin-lr-auto  lrv-a-font-body-m   \">\n\t\u201cI think so,\u201d Starkey says matter-of-factly.<\/p>\n<div class=\"post-content-image \/\/  size-large alignnone\">\n<figure class=\"o-figure  lrv-u-font-family-secondary u-color-medium-grey lrv-u-border-b-1 u-border-color-light-grey-tint-two u-margin-b-150 lrv-u-max-width-100p\" style=\"width:792px\">\n<div class=\"c-lazy-image  \">\n<p>\t\t\t<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"c-lazy-image__img lrv-u-background-color-grey-lightest lrv-u-width-100p lrv-u-display-block lrv-u-height-auto\" src=\"https:\/\/variety.com\/wp-content\/themes\/pmc-variety-2020\/assets\/public\/lazyload-fallback.gif\" data-lazy-src=\"https:\/\/variety.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/Queer-Variety-Cover-Daniel-Craig-Drew-Starkey-FORWEB.jpg?w=792\" alt=\"\" data-lazy-srcset=\"https:\/\/variety.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/Queer-Variety-Cover-Daniel-Craig-Drew-Starkey-FORWEB.jpg 1200w, https:\/\/variety.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/Queer-Variety-Cover-Daniel-Craig-Drew-Starkey-FORWEB.jpg?resize=116,150 116w, https:\/\/variety.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/Queer-Variety-Cover-Daniel-Craig-Drew-Starkey-FORWEB.jpg?resize=232,300 232w\" data-lazy-sizes=\"(min-width: 87.5rem) 1000px, (min-width: 78.75rem) 681px, (min-width: 48rem) 450px, (max-width: 48rem) 250px\" height=\"1024\" width=\"792\"\/><\/p><\/div><figcaption class=\"c-figcaption  lrv-u-flex lrv-u-flex-direction-column lrv-u-padding-t-1 lrv-u-padding-b-1\">\n<p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<cite class=\"u-color-medium-grey lrv-a-font-secondary-regular-xxs\">Richard Phibbs for Variety Magazine<\/cite><\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-margin-lr-auto  lrv-a-font-body-m   \">\n\t\u202fWe missed this visual, evidently. \u201cSee, that\u2019s why you need to see the film again,\u201d Craig remarks drolly. \u201cI think there may have been a lot more at one point, but it\u2019s still there. It\u2019s a little Easter egg.\u201d As for whether it\u2019s, ahem, authentic \u2014 \u201cthere\u2019s a whole story attached to that,\u201d Craig laughs. \u201cIt\u2019s a very, very secret recipe.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-margin-lr-auto  lrv-a-font-body-m   \">\n\t\u202fLater, speaking on a Zoom call from Milan, Guadagnino offers a fact check. \u201cI don\u2019t think the semen is anymore in the opening credits. We removed it,\u201d he says. \u201cThey must have seen an early cut. There was a shot of the sheets with the semen. But, of course, there\u2019s a lot of semen in the movie.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-margin-lr-auto  lrv-a-font-body-m   \">\n\t\u202fWelcome to the world of \u201cQueer.\u201d Guadagnino, who pushed tennis-as-sex metaphors to thrilling heights earlier this year with \u201cChallengers\u201d and gave the world Timoth\u00e9e Chalamet fornicating with a peach in 2017\u2019s \u201cCall Me by Your Name,\u201d returns to the big screen with another big swing. \u201cQueer\u201d is based on Beat Generation writer William S. Burroughs\u2019 novella, published in 1985, which fictionalizes the author\u2019s own experiences of recreational heroin use and his sensual love affair with a discharged serviceman. (In the era the book and film depict, to be gay was perhaps the more dangerous of the two experiences.)<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-margin-lr-auto  lrv-a-font-body-m   \">\n\tCraig, in his first film outside the James Bond and \u201cKnives Out\u201d franchises in seven years, plays William Lee. On the run after a drug bust and enmeshed in a hard-drinking and edgy crowd at one of his regular watering holes, Lee encounters the beautiful and aloof Eugene Allerton (Starkey), with whom he comes to share both painful intimacies and, well \u2026 substances that were once visible in the film\u2019s opening sequence.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-margin-lr-auto  lrv-a-font-body-m   \">\n\t\u202fThere are universal aspects to \u201cQueer\u201d \u2014 the struggle to be truly vulnerable, the experience of falling in love and battles with insecurity. But a gay audience will likely find it particularly striking: It\u2019s a film that\u2019s utterly unafraid to depict both the literal fact of sexuality and the inner turmoil that leads many to use sex to escape. \u201cI\u2019ve been in the characters\u2019 world before,\u201d says the singer Omar Apollo, who plays one of Craig\u2019s other love interests (and who, unlike Craig and Starkey, is openly queer). \u201cYou\u2019re in a hotel, the guy\u2019s sitting down \u2026 I feel like I\u2019ve been there before.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-margin-lr-auto  lrv-a-font-body-m   \">\n\t\u202fThe film\u2019s first cut came in at three and a half hours. \u201cI\u2019d love people to see it, because there\u2019s other things going on,\u201d Craig says. But even whittled down to a (relatively!) slight 135 minutes, \u201cQueer\u201d is capacious, making room both for a frank depiction of male sexuality and for touches of surrealistic fantasy. It\u2019s at once as direct a documentation of gay love as anything on-screen since 2005\u2019s \u201cBrokeback Mountain\u201d (pushing much farther even than Guadagnino\u2019s\u00a0\u201cCall Me by Your Name,\u201d which panned away from its key sex scene) and a joyful-yet-melancholy ayahuasca journey.\u202f<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-margin-lr-auto  lrv-a-font-body-m   \">\n\t\u202fAnd it\u2019s a turning point for both of its leads. For Craig, post-Bond and in the middle of his run as \u201cKnives Out\u201d sleuth Benoit Blanc, it\u2019s a test of his star power. \u201cQueer\u201d isn\u2019t designed to be a blockbuster \u2014 indeed, it\u2019s about as risky as a film can get. (A24, which picked up the title earlier this summer before film festival season, will give the movie a limited theatrical release on Nov. 27.) How many of Craig\u2019s fans \u2014 and how many awards voters \u2014 will join Craig on this trip? And for Starkey, it\u2019s an introduction: After showing promise as bad boy Rafe Cameron in Netflix\u2019s teen drama \u201cOuter Banks,\u201d he gets the opportunity to share the screen with a movie star \u2014 and to prove he can more than hold his own.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-margin-lr-auto  lrv-a-font-body-m   \">\n\tTogether, the pair have crafted a love story every bit as distinctive as the Zendaya-led throuple in \u201cChallengers.\u201d \u201cAt its very core, there\u2019s a deep love for each other,\u201d Starkey says. \u201cIt\u2019s their souls, beyond language, beyond their bodies \u2014 and beyond Allerton\u2019s ability to communicate that.\u201d Thwarted by social taboos and by their own limitations, Lee and Allerton connect fleetingly but intensely. The sex scenes that they share will likely unsettle Gen Z audiences, who have made clear that lovemaking in movies is better left off-screen.<\/p>\n<div class=\"post-content-image \/\/  size-large alignnone\">\n<figure class=\"o-figure  lrv-u-font-family-secondary u-color-medium-grey lrv-u-border-b-1 u-border-color-light-grey-tint-two u-margin-b-150 lrv-u-max-width-100p\" style=\"width:731px\">\n<div class=\"c-lazy-image  \">\n<p>\t\t\t<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"c-lazy-image__img lrv-u-background-color-grey-lightest lrv-u-width-100p lrv-u-display-block lrv-u-height-auto\" src=\"https:\/\/variety.com\/wp-content\/themes\/pmc-variety-2020\/assets\/public\/lazyload-fallback.gif\" data-lazy-src=\"https:\/\/variety.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/Daniel-Craig-Queer-Variety.jpg?w=731\" alt=\"\" data-lazy-srcset=\"https:\/\/variety.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/Daniel-Craig-Queer-Variety.jpg 1500w, https:\/\/variety.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/Daniel-Craig-Queer-Variety.jpg?resize=107,150 107w, https:\/\/variety.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/Daniel-Craig-Queer-Variety.jpg?resize=214,300 214w\" data-lazy-sizes=\"(min-width: 87.5rem) 1000px, (min-width: 78.75rem) 681px, (min-width: 48rem) 450px, (max-width: 48rem) 250px\" height=\"1024\" width=\"731\"\/><\/p><\/div><figcaption class=\"c-figcaption  lrv-u-flex lrv-u-flex-direction-column lrv-u-padding-t-1 lrv-u-padding-b-1\">\n<p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<cite class=\"u-color-medium-grey lrv-a-font-secondary-regular-xxs\">Richard Phibbs for Variety Magazine<\/cite><\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-margin-lr-auto  lrv-a-font-body-m   \">\n\t\u201cI don\u2019t know; I can\u2019t speak to that generation,\u201d Craig says when asked about a 2023 UCLA study indicating that young people are rejecting sex scenes in films.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-margin-lr-auto  lrv-a-font-body-m   \">\n\t\u201cI don\u2019t know if that\u2019s true,\u201d Starkey says with a laugh. \u201cMaybe it\u2019s because there\u2019s a much louder voice online.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-margin-lr-auto  lrv-a-font-body-m   \">\n\tFilming the love scenes for \u201cQueer,\u201d Craig says, \u201cyou kind of have to leave your ego at the door. You\u2019ve got to kind of just let it go. There are no rules.\u201d\u202f<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-margin-lr-auto  lrv-a-font-body-m   \">\n\t\u201cThat\u2019s what I learned from you,\u201d Starkey says. \u201cThere\u2019s no ego involved. I\u2019ve never seen a freer actor.\u201d<\/p>\n<hr class=\"separator larva \/\/ lrv-u-margin-tb-00 lrv-u-border-b-1 lrv-u-border-color-grey-light  \"\/>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-margin-lr-auto  lrv-a-font-body-m   \">\n\tCraig and Starkey are speaking in early October, the morning after the film premiered at the New York Film Festival. It was a packed screening topped off with an after-party downtown at the Chelsea Hotel. As if the venue weren\u2019t gay enough, literati from playwright Jeremy O. Harris to Evan Ross Katz \u2014 the social-media-age Cindy Adams \u2014 are in attendance to toast the film. In the downstairs ballroom, Guadagnino embraces his two co-stars, signifying their close relationship.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-margin-lr-auto  lrv-a-font-body-m   \">\n\tThe Italian-born director brought the actors into his arms \u2014 and home \u2014 for \u201cQueer\u201d; though the film is set in Mexico, Craig and Starkey rehearsed and shot the movie together at Cinecitt\u00e0, the famous studio in Rome where Fellini, Rossellini and Visconti all made classics. They\u2019re about a month removed from the film\u2019s premiere at the Venice International Film Festival, where it received a nine-minute standing ovation and, more crucially, launched Starkey as a viral sensation before most people had the chance to see the film. Posing on a gondola with Apollo and mugging for cameras on the red carpet, the 30-year-old actor emerged as the fest\u2019s breakout star.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-margin-lr-auto  lrv-a-font-body-m   \">\n\t\u201cIt\u2019s head-spinning,\u201d Starkey says. \u201cI can\u2019t really make sense of it \u2014 it all feels absurd. I\u2019m just trying to remain very present and calm. I\u2019m in a moment \u2014 but the next year, it changes.\u201d\u202f<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-margin-lr-auto  lrv-a-font-body-m   \">\n\t\u201cI always say,\u201d Craig begins, then deflates the potential appearance of bluster by repeating the words in the pompous cadence of the stereotypically vain thespian. \u201c<em>I always say.<\/em> It\u2019s tectonic, this business. It\u2019s not a ladder you climb up. Everything\u2019s lateral. I met Luca 20 years ago, and it\u2019s taken this long.\u201d\u202f<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-margin-lr-auto  lrv-a-font-body-m   \">\n\tLee\u2019s journey involves not only moments of connection; he also must admit to himself that he\u2019s more than just a social drinker. Indeed, the film\u2019s chilling undertow is the growing realization that Lee is, in fact, a heroin addict, and that he is medicating himself in part to hide from reality.\u202f<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-margin-lr-auto  lrv-a-font-body-m   \">\n\t\u201cUnfortunately,\u201d Craig says, \u201cI\u2019ve known people \u2014 that\u2019s touched upon my life in certain ways. So I\u2019ve seen him close-up.\u201d Craig spoke to an on-set expert to ensure authenticity in depicting addiction, but, he says, \u201cwe didn\u2019t want to make this a withdrawal movie. It just has to be part of the story.\u201d Lee is not exactly a secret addict. Yet the extent of his substance problems comes as something of a shock to Eugene. \u201cI don\u2019t think he\u2019s hiding it,\u201d Craig says. \u201cI just think he\u2019s a proud human being who\u2019s not showing it. He gets very messy in the movie, but he doesn\u2019t want to be that \u2014 he wants to be dignified and elegant, poised.\u201d\u202f<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-margin-lr-auto  lrv-a-font-body-m   \">\n\tCraig\u2019s work in \u201cQueer\u201d represents a bit of a break in routine, and possibly a return to his roots. Before emerging as an action star in \u201cLayer Cake,\u201d Craig, a London theater-trained actor, gained notice in intimate and dark character dramas such as 2003\u2019s \u201cSylvia,\u201d in which he plays poet Ted Hughes opposite Gwyneth Paltrow\u2019s Sylvia Plath.\u202f<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-margin-lr-auto  lrv-a-font-body-m   \">\n\tNow, though, he enters \u201cQueer\u201d as an actor who\u2019s known for two characters in huge movies who define elegance and poise. Since making Steven Soderbergh\u2019s \u201cLogan Lucky\u201d in 2017, Craig has filmed his final James Bond (definitively so, as his Bond ends in 2021\u2019s \u201cNo Time to Die\u201d by, well, finding time to die) and appeared in three \u201cKnives Out\u201d mystery movies, with the third, \u201cWake Up Dead Man,\u201d coming via Netflix in 2025. Craig\u2019s cerebral investigator Benoit Blanc, it was revealed in 2022\u2019s \u201cGlass Onion,\u201d is a gay man living a life as emotionally fulfilled and stable as Lee\u2019s is turbulent and tortured, with a domestic partner played by Hugh Grant in a glancing cameo.<\/p>\n<div class=\"post-content-image \/\/  size-large alignnone\">\n<figure class=\"o-figure  lrv-u-font-family-secondary u-color-medium-grey lrv-u-border-b-1 u-border-color-light-grey-tint-two u-margin-b-150 lrv-u-max-width-100p\" style=\"width:731px\">\n<div class=\"c-lazy-image  \">\n<p>\t\t\t<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"c-lazy-image__img lrv-u-background-color-grey-lightest lrv-u-width-100p lrv-u-display-block lrv-u-height-auto\" src=\"https:\/\/variety.com\/wp-content\/themes\/pmc-variety-2020\/assets\/public\/lazyload-fallback.gif\" data-lazy-src=\"https:\/\/variety.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/Drew-Starkey-Queer-Variety.jpg?w=731\" alt=\"\" data-lazy-srcset=\"https:\/\/variety.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/Drew-Starkey-Queer-Variety.jpg 1500w, https:\/\/variety.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/Drew-Starkey-Queer-Variety.jpg?resize=107,150 107w, https:\/\/variety.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/Drew-Starkey-Queer-Variety.jpg?resize=214,300 214w\" data-lazy-sizes=\"(min-width: 87.5rem) 1000px, (min-width: 78.75rem) 681px, (min-width: 48rem) 450px, (max-width: 48rem) 250px\" height=\"1024\" width=\"731\"\/><\/p><\/div><figcaption class=\"c-figcaption  lrv-u-flex lrv-u-flex-direction-column lrv-u-padding-t-1 lrv-u-padding-b-1\">\n<p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<cite class=\"u-color-medium-grey lrv-a-font-secondary-regular-xxs\">Richard Phibbs for Variety Magazine<\/cite><\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-margin-lr-auto  lrv-a-font-body-m   \">\n\t\u201cWe had discussions about not wanting to dig into it,\u201d Craig says. \u201cBecause the classic idea of the detective is that they come from somewhere that we don\u2019t know. Columbo has a mystery wife we don\u2019t know \u2014 and I think it\u2019s good that way. So I didn\u2019t want it, but it was too tempting. Hugh will do it? Great! That forced the decision, really.\u201d\u202f<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-margin-lr-auto  lrv-a-font-body-m   \">\n\t\u201cGlass Onion\u201d was well positioned to be among the films, like that year\u2019s \u201cTop Gun\u201d and \u201cAvatar\u201d sequels, to welcome audiences back to multiplexes after the pandemic; the first \u201cKnives Out,\u201d released by Lionsgate in 2019, made $312 million worldwide. But the streaming company limited its theatrical release to a single week.\u202f<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-margin-lr-auto  lrv-a-font-body-m   \">\n\tDoes Craig wish the next installment in his current signature franchise could play in theaters for more than a week? \u201cYou know I do,\u201d he says. \u201cHopefully, Netflix will push it out a bit, and people will get to see it. The people I speak to \u2014 the fans, I suppose \u2014 all they want to do is take their families and go see it at the cinemas. That\u2019s all they want to do. Hopefully we can give them that experience.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-margin-lr-auto  lrv-a-font-body-m   \">\n\t\u201c\u2018Glass Onion\u2019 had a release,\u201d Starkey says.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-margin-lr-auto  lrv-a-font-body-m   \">\n\t\u201cYeah, limited. But yeah.\u201d Craig sounds slightly clipped as he recalls the weeklong run.\u202f<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-margin-lr-auto  lrv-a-font-body-m   \">\n\t\u201cOh, what?\u201d Starkey says incredulously.\u202f<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-margin-lr-auto  lrv-a-font-body-m   \">\n\tThe younger actor is still learning the ropes of Hollywood \u2014 and, indeed, nearly had his own reason to begrudge Netflix. After successfully auditioning for Guadagnino, Starkey ran into challenges, as he was contractually bound to \u201cOuter Banks,\u201d whose producers initially declined his request to be released to shoot \u201cQueer.\u201d Starkey\u2019s agents had to perform acrobatic feats of scheduling to accommodate both his teen-heartthrob role and his adult breakthrough.\u202f<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-margin-lr-auto  lrv-a-font-body-m   \">\n\t\u201cIt was a tight window,\u201d Starkey chuckles. \u201cBut Luca kept saying, very emphatically, <em>It\u2019ll happen. We\u2019ll make it work<\/em>.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-margin-lr-auto  lrv-a-font-body-m   \">\n\t\u201cLuca doesn\u2019t go over,\u201d Craig says. \u201cHe shoots very rapidly and finishes on time.\u201d\u202f<\/p>\n<hr class=\"separator larva \/\/ lrv-u-margin-tb-00 lrv-u-border-b-1 lrv-u-border-color-grey-light  \"\/>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-margin-lr-auto  lrv-a-font-body-m   \">\n\tGuadagnino\u2019s career has been building up steam since the 2009 Tilda Swinton romance \u201cI Am Love,\u201d and it was turbocharged with \u201cCall Me by Your Name,\u201d which situated queer longing in the picturesque hills of Italy. But this year represents a Steven Soderbergh moment for Guadagnino, as all his momentum culminates in a double bill for the ages. In 2000, Soderbergh had Julia Roberts star vehicle \u201cErin Brockovich\u201d and gritty drug-world drama \u201cTraffic\u201d; Guadagnino had Zendaya star vehicle \u201cChallengers\u201d in the spring (meant to be released last year, but fortuitously delayed to 2024 by the strikes) and gritty drug-world drama \u201cQueer\u201d in the winter. To top it off, Guadagnino went on to work with Roberts, filming the thriller \u201cAfter the Hunt\u201d in London over the summer. It comes out next year.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-margin-lr-auto  lrv-a-font-body-m   \">\n\tGuadagnino had wanted to make \u201cQueer\u201d for as long as he could remember. \u201cI read the book when I was 17 \u2014 I was lonely in Palermo, Sicily, and in a way, I was found by the book,\u201d the director says. From the earliest moments in his film career, Guadagnino made attempts to adapt Burroughs. \u201cI was doing the wrong things,\u201d he says. \u201cI was writing the script by myself. I was calling the publisher in America to check for the rights, and they were just laughing at me on the phone. I couldn\u2019t speak proper English at the time.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-margin-lr-auto  lrv-a-font-body-m   \">\n\tAfter what Guadagnino describes as \u201cmany, many false moves,\u201d lightning finally struck. Preparing to shoot \u201cChallengers\u201d in Boston in May 2022, Guadagnino realized that the film\u2019s screenwriter, Justin Kuritzkes, was a kindred creative spirit and gave him a copy of the novella. \u201cHe read it immediately,\u201d Guadagnino recalls, \u201cand that evening we were talking about adapting it.\u201d Producer Lorenzo Mieli, a past collaborator, looked into the rights, and, in short order, Guadagnino\u2019s next project was set.\u202f<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-margin-lr-auto  lrv-a-font-body-m   \">\n\t\u201cIt\u2019s been almost 30 years in the making, and then in three months, the movie got made,\u201d Guadagnino marvels. The moment he handed Kuritzkes the book to the moment cameras rolled took less than a year \u2014 and the project\u2019s fast pace was aided by casting kismet.<\/p>\n<div class=\"post-content-image \/\/  size-large alignnone\">\n<figure class=\"o-figure  lrv-u-font-family-secondary u-color-medium-grey lrv-u-border-b-1 u-border-color-light-grey-tint-two u-margin-b-150 lrv-u-max-width-100p\" style=\"width:731px\">\n<div class=\"c-lazy-image  \">\n<p>\t\t\t<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"c-lazy-image__img lrv-u-background-color-grey-lightest lrv-u-width-100p lrv-u-display-block lrv-u-height-auto\" src=\"https:\/\/variety.com\/wp-content\/themes\/pmc-variety-2020\/assets\/public\/lazyload-fallback.gif\" data-lazy-src=\"https:\/\/variety.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/Daniel-Craig-Queer-Variety-2.jpg?w=731\" alt=\"\" data-lazy-srcset=\"https:\/\/variety.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/Daniel-Craig-Queer-Variety-2.jpg 1500w, https:\/\/variety.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/Daniel-Craig-Queer-Variety-2.jpg?resize=107,150 107w, https:\/\/variety.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/Daniel-Craig-Queer-Variety-2.jpg?resize=214,300 214w\" data-lazy-sizes=\"(min-width: 87.5rem) 1000px, (min-width: 78.75rem) 681px, (min-width: 48rem) 450px, (max-width: 48rem) 250px\" height=\"1024\" width=\"731\"\/><\/p><\/div><figcaption class=\"c-figcaption  lrv-u-flex lrv-u-flex-direction-column lrv-u-padding-t-1 lrv-u-padding-b-1\">\n<p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<cite class=\"u-color-medium-grey lrv-a-font-secondary-regular-xxs\">Richard Phibbs for Variety Magazine<\/cite><\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-margin-lr-auto  lrv-a-font-body-m   \">\n\tBryan Lourd, who represents both Guadagnino and Craig, suggested Craig for the role of Lee. Craig devoured the book in an evening. \u201cI thought,\u201d he says, <em>\u201cThis is a story about love \u2014 about someone opening themself up to somebody else<\/em>. And if Luca\u2019s into that idea \u2026? And that\u2019s what he hit me with as soon as we met: <em>This is a story about love<\/em>.\u201d Craig was ready to sign on.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-margin-lr-auto  lrv-a-font-body-m   \">\n\tFor his part, Guadagnino \u2014 who first met Craig some 20 years before, having been dazzled by the actor\u2019s performance in the tiny art film \u201cLove Is the Devil\u201d\u202f\u2014 was thrilled. \u201cHe\u2019s one of the rare few actors and stars who can reclaim the word \u2018iconic,\u2019\u201d Guadagnino says.\u202f\u00a0<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-margin-lr-auto  lrv-a-font-body-m   \">\n\t\u201cWe both agreed that this was a love story,\u201d Guadagnino continues. \u201cIt made me feel that we both came, strangely, from the same cloth \u2014 a fabric that belongs to the same roll of textile.\u201d\u202f<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-margin-lr-auto  lrv-a-font-body-m   \">\n\tAnd in keeping with his search for kindred spirits, Guadagnino runs his sets in an unusually collaborative way. \u201cTwo days into shooting,\u201d Craig recalls, \u201cDrew\u2019s driver came up to me and said, <em>The script is fantastic<\/em>.\u201d Starkey laughs at the memory. \u201cLuca gave him the script,\u201d Craig goes on. \u201cThat\u2019s his M.O. \u2014 \u2018What do think? What do <em>you <\/em>think? What do <em>you<\/em> think?\u2019 He wants everybody\u2019s opinion. It\u2019s kind of freeing. It democratizes the process.\u201d\u202f\u202f\u00a0<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-margin-lr-auto  lrv-a-font-body-m   \">\n\tAs the actors read the script aloud, Guadagnino circled them and considered where he might put the camera. Once filming began, though, he was clear and certain about what he wanted. Apollo, describing the love scene he shares with Craig, remarked, \u201cOnce he\u2019s got something \u2014 boom, that was it. We would hear him screaming from the back. When we did the scene where Daniel grabs me and pulls me in, he screamed, \u2018Come on!\u2019\u201d Apollo, recalling the moment, sounds briefly like Zendaya at the end of \u201cChallengers,\u201d who shouts, \u201cCome on!\u201d as she sees her two lovers finally embrace each other.\u202f\u202f\u00a0<\/p>\n<hr class=\"separator larva \/\/ lrv-u-margin-tb-00 lrv-u-border-b-1 lrv-u-border-color-grey-light  \"\/>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-margin-lr-auto  lrv-a-font-body-m   \">\n\tGuadagnino may be a collaborator, but he\u2019s also a star-maker. He was so certain he wanted Starkey for the role that, after an initial wobbly audition (\u201cIt was in a different color than he wanted,\u201d Starkey says), the director let him retape. \u201cWhat a gift,\u201d Starkey says. \u201cWe never get that.\u201d\u202f\u202f\u00a0<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-margin-lr-auto  lrv-a-font-body-m   \">\n\tThe director first came across Starkey in a self-taped audition for another movie entirely. \u201cI said to myself, \u2018Not only is this guy incredibly beautiful, I couldn\u2019t grasp whether he was acting or not.\u2019 It\u2019s not about drama. It\u2019s about becoming.\u201d\u202f\u00a0<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-margin-lr-auto  lrv-a-font-body-m   \">\n\tThe pair met twice in Los Angeles \u2014 first alone and then with Jonathan Anderson, the in-demand fashion designer behind Loewe who also designed the costumes for \u201cChallengers\u201d and \u201cQueer.\u201d \u201cI immediately, completely knew this guy Starkey was going to be Eugene,\u201d Guadagnino says. \u201cBut for the sake of playing devil\u2019s advocate, I asked my casting director, Jessica Ronane, to do a casting on the character. I think we got 300 people taping, and none of them could really let us forget the incredible Drew.\u201d\u202f\u202f\u00a0<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-margin-lr-auto  lrv-a-font-body-m   \">\n\t\u201cDrew was fantastic because he\u2019s such a natural,\u201d Anderson says in an email. \u201cThere was something so special about his connection to Allerton. It really helped me to have that as a core to build around.\u201d\u202f\u202f\u00a0<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-margin-lr-auto  lrv-a-font-body-m   \">\n\tAnderson\u2019s costumes aimed to evoke \u201ca seismic moment when men\u2019s style really started to change,\u201d he says. And Starkey aimed for authenticity in pinpointing a particular midcentury moment in which the ideal male form was less creatine, more calisthenics. \u201cI lost some weight for it,\u201d he says. \u201cIt changes how you move and breathe. It\u2019s nice \u2014 my body felt different than it ever had. That helped a lot.\u201d Starkey shed 30 pounds by shifting his exercise routine from weightlifting to yoga, which \u2014 frightened to show up at a studio and expose his naivete \u2014 he did via YouTube while rehearsing in Rome.\u202f\u202f\u00a0<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-margin-lr-auto  lrv-a-font-body-m   \">\n\t\u201cIt informs your movement \u2014 in a way, I felt more elusive. I could kind of slink back,\u201d he says. Eugene is slippery, flexible in a way that Starkey had never been as he evades Lee\u2019s attempts to know him more deeply. To get into character, Starkeywent through dozens of glasses to find the pair that brought out the character\u2019s earnest side. He almost looks like Clark Kent. When we compare Eugene to Superman\u2019s alter ego, Starkey laughs. \u201cYeah, this is Americana. Listen, Eugene is actually a Superman origin story. This is the Man of Steel himself.\u201d\u202f\u202f\u00a0<\/p>\n<hr class=\"separator larva \/\/ lrv-u-margin-tb-00 lrv-u-border-b-1 lrv-u-border-color-grey-light  \"\/>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-margin-lr-auto  lrv-a-font-body-m   \">\n\tBut DC Comics might blush at the comparison. Eugene\u2019s all-American boy is also rapaciously physical and eager to please. In sex scenes that are both explicit and truly revealing, Eugene and Lee capture the tension and longing of a one-night stand that turns into something more. There was an intimacy coordinator on set, Starkey says, \u201cbut it was mostly conversations between me and Daniel and Luca. We\u2019d all have a conversation about how we\u2019d want it to feel \u2014 then just dive in.\u201d\u202f\u202f\u00a0<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-margin-lr-auto  lrv-a-font-body-m   \">\n\tThe nearly 20 years since \u201cBrokeback Mountain\u201d have seen straight actors grow more comfortable with the idea of playing queer characters. But even \u201cCall Me by Your Name,\u201d in 2017, was a challenge to cast because of the trepidation many leading men had about playing gay love scenes in an indie art-house film. Guadagnino eventually made stars of Chalamet and Armie Hammer, rather than casting established names. (\u201cWell, it worked out,\u201d Craig says of that film with a chuckle.)\u202f\u202f\u00a0<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-margin-lr-auto  lrv-a-font-body-m   \">\n\t\u202f\u201cIt wasn\u2019t part of the audition process \u2014 he didn\u2019t ask us the intricacies of our sexuality,\u201d Starkey says.\u202f\u202f\u00a0<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-margin-lr-auto  lrv-a-font-body-m   \">\n\t\u201cI\u2019m not dismissing it, but I didn\u2019t really \u2026\u201d Craig trails off. \u201cThere\u2019s kind of a trust in the director, and a trust in the process of what you know, and realizing that the story has massive, universal themes that appeal hopefully to everybody. The movie\u2019s not defined by that. I really, genuinely don\u2019t think it is. Other people see it differently \u2014 that\u2019s up to them.\u201d\u202f\u202f\u00a0<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-margin-lr-auto  lrv-a-font-body-m   \">\n\tGuadagnino hardly finds the subject novel. \u201cI\u2019ve been shooting sex on-screen since I did my short film \u2018Qui\u2019 when I was 22. I always said to myself, if you start to give that scene a level of awareness or alarm, it\u2019s going to become what it shouldn\u2019t be.\u201d For the director, any special emphasis on sex as something other than a fact of life pulls viewers out of the moment. \u201cQuality means making an audience surrender to what they are seeing,\u201d he says, \u201cnot judging, not feeling the fakeness of it, but believing it completely.\u201d\u202f\u202f\u00a0<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-margin-lr-auto  lrv-a-font-body-m   \">\n\tImmersive and complete, \u201cQueer\u201d arrives at a place of totalizing emotion \u2014 these characters\u2019 frantic scrabbling in bed gives us perspective on all the companionship and love they\u2019ve been denied by an unkind and unfeeling society. Part of what helped Guadagnino shoot rapidly \u2014 quickly enough, after all, to ensure Starkey was back in teen-soap land right on schedule \u2014 was the actors\u2019 connections to their roles. \u201cDaniel and Drew knew that we had to show the love,\u201d he says. \u201cAnd how can you show the love if not the behavior, from the way in which bodies interact, and their faces interact, and their saliva mixes? There was a huge level of commitment from these incredible actors who are basically so happy to do what they love doing \u2014 perform!\u201d\u202f\u00a0<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-margin-lr-auto  lrv-a-font-body-m   \">\n\tStarkey deflates the idea that the film\u2019s sex scenes will \u2014 or should \u2014 be controversial. \u201cWe can go on our phones and go on any website and see whatever you want. Daniel doesn\u2019t \u2014\u201d Both men cackle. \u201cBut as a culture, we\u2019re so attuned to that.\u201d This film, though, \u201ccame from a loving place that\u2019s so much deeper than abrupt images.\u201d\u202f\u00a0<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-margin-lr-auto  lrv-a-font-body-m   \">\n\t\u201cI\u2019ve been in movies with terrible love scenes,\u201d Craig adds. \u201cIt doesn\u2019t work. You need a director who has a sensitivity, a director who understands \u2014 to put it crassly \u2014 how to make it real. That\u2019s one\u2019s job on the day: to make it as real as possible.\u201d\u202f\u202f\u00a0<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-margin-lr-auto  lrv-a-font-body-m   \">\n\tAnd do they ever. But audiences anticipating one sort of physical frankness may be stunned by the emotional bareness that occurs outside the bedroom. Deep in the film, the characters are meeting each other in a whole new way while under the influence of hallucinogens: \u201cThe discussion was, <em>How do we put an ayahuasca trip on-screen without making it terrible?<\/em>,\u201d Craig recalls. Guadagnino came up with the idea to have the characters perform a choreographed dance together; the actors spent their time off set during the shoot\u2019s first six weeks rehearsing.\u202f\u202f\u00a0<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-margin-lr-auto  lrv-a-font-body-m   \">\n\t\u201cA big part of it was embarrassing ourselves in front of one another. We both realized we weren\u2019t dancers,\u201d Starkey says. \u201cYou can grow to know someone by really making a fool out of yourself in front of them. And we did that for weeks.\u201d\u202f\u202f\u00a0<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-margin-lr-auto  lrv-a-font-body-m   \">\n\tIt will be a different kind of provocation \u2014 and will, Starkey hopes, distract at least a few of audience members from the rest of the movie\u2019s content. The actor, raised as one of four children in western North Carolina, is close to his family, and he\u2019s anticipated what it will be like for his parents to finally see the movie. \u201cI keep telling them, when we watch the film, the roles will be reversed,\u201d he says. \u201cI grew up with them shielding my eyes during certain scenes. I was like, \u2018When we watch this one, I\u2019ll be shielding your eyes.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n<hr class=\"separator larva \/\/ lrv-u-margin-tb-00 lrv-u-border-b-1 lrv-u-border-color-grey-light  \"\/>\n<h6 class=\"heading larva \/\/   lrv-a-font-primary-m   \">\n\t\tGrooming (Craig): Nicole Elle King\/The Wall Group; Hair (Craig): Daniel Erdman; Clothing (Craig): Suit: Dries Van Noten; Shoes: Loewe; Styling (Starkey): Warren Alfie Baker\/The Wall Group; Grooming (Starkey): Melissa DeZarate\/A Frame; Clothing (Starkey): Sweater: The Frankie Shop; Pants: Officine Generale; Boots: Saint Laurent\t<\/h6>\n<\/div>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/pagead2.googlesyndication.com\/pagead\/js\/adsbygoogle.js?client=ca-pub-3711241968723425\"\r\n     crossorigin=\"anonymous\"><\/script>\r\n<ins class=\"adsbygoogle\"\r\n     style=\"display:block\"\r\n     data-ad-format=\"fluid\"\r\n     data-ad-layout-key=\"-fb+5w+4e-db+86\"\r\n     data-ad-client=\"ca-pub-3711241968723425\"\r\n     data-ad-slot=\"7910942971\"><\/ins>\r\n<script>\r\n     (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({});\r\n<\/script><br \/>\n<br \/><div data-type=\"_mgwidget\" data-widget-id=\"1660802\">\r\n<\/div>\r\n<script>(function(w,q){w[q]=w[q]||[];w[q].push([\"_mgc.load\"])})(window,\"_mgq\");\r\n<\/script>\r\n<br \/>\n<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/variety.com\/2024\/film\/features\/daniel-craig-drew-starkey-queer-sex-gay-roles-1236199554\/\">Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Luca Guadagnino\u2019s new film \u201cQueer\u201d opens with a series of tableaux \u2014 little still-life images of glasses, trinkets and books. The objects are meant to evoke the lives of its &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/hotvideos24.online\/?p=122187\" class=\"more-link\">Read More<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-122187","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-entertainment","entry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/hotvideos24.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/122187","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/hotvideos24.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/hotvideos24.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hotvideos24.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hotvideos24.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=122187"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/hotvideos24.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/122187\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/hotvideos24.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=122187"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hotvideos24.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=122187"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hotvideos24.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=122187"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}