Everything We Know About Luca Guadagnino's New Film, 'Queer'
After the success of Call Me By Your Name, director Luca Guadagnino returns to the cinema with an adaptation of William S. Burroughs' LGBTQIA+ novel, Queer.
Italian director Luca Guadagnino’s next LGBTQIA+ film is on the way. This time, he is adapting the novel Queer by William S. Burroughs, and A24 has acquired the U.S. distribution rights to Guadagnino’s film. The film sold for an undisclosed price, and the announcement comes just ahead of the movie’s world premiere on Sept. 3 at the 81st Venice Film Festival.
Queer is a sequel to Junkie, which is considered to be an autobiography that was published in 1953. Along with Queer and Junkie, Burroughs is also behind the raw, masterpiece novel Naked Lunch.
After the success of Bones and All, starring Timothée Chalamet and Taylor Russell, and his latest release, Challengers, starring Zendaya, Mike Faist, and Josh O’Connor, the Italian director’s next film will star the James Bond 007 actor, Daniel Craig, as Queer’s protagonist. The film also stars Drew Starkey, Lesley Manville, Jason Schwartzman, Andra Ursuta, Michael Borremans, and David Lowery. The screenplay was written by Justin Kuritzkes, who also collaborated with Guadagnino on Challengers.
Queer's Plot
The film will be inspired by the story told in William S. Burroughs' dramatic novel by the same name. Protagonist Willliam Lee (Daniel Craig), an expat in his late 40s, lives in the "Interzone" between Mexico City and Panama amidst a small American community. But when Eugene Allerton (Drew Starkey), a drug addict discharged from the Navy arrives in the town, Lee finds himself establishing a meaningful connection with the younger man and an eventual infatuation.
In addition to its screening in Venice, Queer will also have its North American premiere as a special presentation at the Toronto International Film Festival and serve as the Spotlight Gala of the New York Film Festival.
Queer is said to be a three hour long film and set to be released later this year.
