Luca Guadagnino’s Queer, is coming soon – and this is what we know so far about it.
When it comes to Luca Guadagnino, I could point to plenty of films he has worked on or directed that readers would recognize. Probably one of his most famous is Call Me By Your Name, which starred Timothée Chalamet and shot the French-American actor into stardom, so much so that he’s in plenty of blockbusters now, like the Dune films or the box-office hit, Wonka.
But Guadagnino has also done plenty of other famously acclaimed films, like The Protagonist, I Am Love, A Bigger Splash, Suspiria, and, of course, Challengers. But keep in mind that Guadagnino isn’t done yet – he’s working on another film, titled Queer.
Who is going to star in this movie? And what is it going to be about? Here is what we know so far about it.
What Is The Queer Release Date?
As of June 2024, there is no set release date for Queer, but that doesn’t mean we have to count it out entirely from the 2024 release schedule. In fact, there’s a decent chance it could come out later this year.
According to Variety, Queer is expected to launch from the Venice Film Festival later this year. Whether that means it’ll come to America right after, we’re not sure, but that does at least bode well for a soon-ish release.
As we’ll talk about in a bit, Queer has wrapped filming, and since it’s not a special effects-heavy movie like Avatar or one of the upcoming MCU films, I doubt post-production would take as long to accomplish.
The Queer Cast
In terms of the cast, there are plenty of stars who readers might recognize that have been confirmed for Queer, so let’s get into who we know and who they will be playing:
Daniel Craig as Lee
When Queer was first announced by Deadline in December 2022, Daniel Craig was the first star who was attached to the film. According to the casting announcement, Craig will portray the main character, Lee, who recaps his life in Mexico City.
Craig has appeared in various films over several decades, but people nowadays most likely recognize him from the James Bond movies, as he was the most recent iteration of the famous spy, and for his starring role in the Knives Out films, a role he will reprise in the upcoming Wake Up Dead Man.
Drew Starkey as Allerton
Variety reported in August 2023 that Drew Starkey would co-star alongside Craig, where he would play Allerton. Starkey is primarily known for his role in Outer Banks, a great teen dramedy on Netflix, but has also appeared in films such as Love, Simon, The Hate U Give, Just Mercy, and more.
Lesley Manville
The Variety article confirmed three other actors. One is Lesley Manville, a veteran actor who has appeared in movies such as Mrs. Harris Goes to Paris, Another Year, Mr. Turner, All or Nothing, and many more.
Jason Schwartzman
Jason Schwartzman is a famous actor who has appeared in many Wes Anderson movies, including Asteroid City, as well as in films like Klaus, The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes, and many others.
Henry Zaga
Henry Zaga is a Brazilian actor who has appeared in movies such as The New Mutants and XOXO.
I have a feeling this cast will be epic.
Queer Is About An American Expat Who Becomes Obsessed With A Younger Man In Mexico
From the Deadline article regarding the announcement of the movie, Queer is an adaptation of the novel of the same name, and it’s the kind of romantic drama that I think everyone is looking for.
Queer follows the story of Lee, a man who recounts his life living in Mexico, working part-time jobs, and using his GI Bill benefits to survive. However, while there, he becomes enamored with Allerton, a young drug addict (according to the Variety article), and an intense and tumultuous love story between the two starts.
In a world filled to the brim with a lot of cookie-cutter romantic movies, this one sounds like it will be a lot more mature, which is precisely the kind of romance movie I’m looking for – and anything with Daniel Craig is a win.
Queer Is Based On The Novel Of The Same Name
As mentioned above, Queer is based on the short novel of the same name by William S. Burroughs. The novel tells the same story, of a man who falls for someone and pursues him after they meet in Mexico City.
Luca Guadagnino Directed Queer
As mentioned before, Luca Guadagnino is the director behind Queer and has been working on the film for the last few years, as previously confirmed by Deadline in 2022.
Guadagnino has had quite the run of movies over the last few years, from Call Me By Your Name to Bones and All and 2024’s Challengers. The latter was a huge hit for Guadagnino, who delivered a sports drama that critics loved.
While Challengers was certainly a huge hit for the director, Luca Guadagnino actually says that Queer is the “movie of his life” in an interview with W Magazine in April 2024, and that he’s been working on it for decades:
It’s the movie of my life. I’ve wanted to make it since I was 20. In the process, I wrote a script that I discarded, but the brilliant writer of Challengers, Justin Kuritzkes, has written the adaptation of Queer. It’s a real labor of love…It’s a very romantic movie. And it’s made in order to change people, to make people realize who they really are. It’s really about the simplest thing: the power of loving someone and the power of wanting to be loved. It’s so basic, in a way, and so fundamental.
Justin Kurtitzkes is relatively new to Hollywood in terms of writing big-budget films, as this is only his second screenplay. But he worked with Guadagnino on another movie – Challengers, for which Kuritzkes wrote the script as well.
In fact, Justin Kuritzkes even talked about the reason as to why it took so long for this book to get adapted in an interview with IndieWire in April 2024 – mainly because the book is “wild” and needed a different kind of writing process to make it happen:
It’s not like one of those novels that’s written for the screen or something. It’s a pretty wild book, but the characters were there, and the story was there, and the point of view was there, the voice was there. And so it was a process of the meeting place between Burroughs’ voice and his point of view, and my voice and my point of view, and then Luca’s voice and his point of view, and trying to hold all that.
It sounds complicated – but honestly, after seeing Challengers, I’m here for it.
Also, your fun fact of the day is that Kuritzkes is married to Celine Song, according to the Oscars official website. Song directed the Academy Award-nominated movie, Past Lives, in 2023. Talk about a talented couple.
Jonathan Anderson Is The Costume Designer
Something else that’s of importance is that Jonathan Anderson is the costume designer for the upcoming film, as confirmed by Anderson on his Instagram page. This is the second person on this list that Guadagnino has worked with previously, as he also worked with Anderson on Challengers. I’m starting to see a bit of a pattern here.
Filming Took Place In 2023
According to Max Blizz, filming for the movie began in April 2023, and then on Jonathan Anderson’s Instagram page, he confirmed that they wrapped filming in June 2023, tagging star Drew Starkey in his picture.
We also know that apparently, the film is three hours long, according to World of Reel in May 2024. The reporter spoke to a producer on Queer at the Cannes Film Festival, who said that it clocks in at three hours – and now I’m even more curious as to how this movie is going to go down. Can I get a trailer, please?What are you the most excited for when it comes to this new Luca Guadagnino movie? All I know is that I need to see a trailer soon, or else I might lose my mind.
