Daniel Craig was in the Sala Grande this evening for the Venice Film Festival world premiere of Luca Guadagnino’s Queer which earned an 11-minute, 44-second ovation from the audience.
The crowd chanted Guadagnino’s name at the beginning of the ovation as he held up stars Craig, Drew Starkey and Lesley Manville’s hands separately for individual applause.
The cast came down together from the gallery and bowed in unison, then one-by-one came down from the gallery again.
Pedro Almodóvar was in the audience, and during the ovation congratulated Guadagnino and hugged him and Craig.
The erstwhile James Bond plays William Lee, an American ex-pat in his late forties who leads a solitary life amidst a small working-class and collegiate community in 1950s Mexico City.
When young student Eugene Allerton (Drew Starkey) arrives in town, it stirs William into finally establishing a meaningful connection with someone.
Queer is an adaptation of the eponymous William S. Burroughs novel.
Guadagnino’s Challengers scribe Justin Kuritzkes wrote the script.
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Fremantle Group financed the film.
This evening, Daniel Craig attended the world premiere of Luca Guadagnino’s Queer at the Venice Film Festival in the Sala Grande. The film received an 11-minute, 44-second standing ovation from the crowd.
At the start of the ovation, the audience chanted Guadagnino’s name as he raised the hands of stars Craig, Drew Starkey, and Lesley Manville for individual applause. The ensemble descended from the gallery as a group and bowed together before descending from the gallery one at a time once more. While in the audience, Pedro Almodóvar gave Guadagnino a congrats and gave him and Craig a hug. The video is shown below.
In 1950s Mexico City, William Lee, an American expat in his late forties, lives alone in a small working-class and collegiate neighborhood. The former James Bond plays this character. William is finally inspired to build a meaningful relationship with someone when young student Eugene Allerton (Drew Starkey) moves to town.
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Lesley Manville, David Lowery, Michael Borremans, Andra Ursuta, and Jason Schwartzman are also in the film.
The William S. Burroughs book of the same name is adapted as Queer. The script was written by Guadagnino’s Challengers writer Justin Kuritzkes.
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This morning, Guadagnino revealed that he had read Burroughs’ book as a “lonely” seventeen-year-old in Palermo who “dreamed of building worlds through cinema.”. The romanticism of the idea of the adventure and the adventure with someone you want and love is what “fell” into Burroughs’ vivid imagination and “the profound connection that he was achingly describing on the page between these two characters — particularly Lee.”. “Everything changed and transformed me for all time,” he remarked.
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Craig responded, “We just wanted to make it as touching and as real and as natural as we possibly could… Drew’s a wonderful, fantastic, beautiful actor to work with, and we just, we kind of had a laugh,” when asked about filming the movie’s intimate scenes. To make it enjoyable, we tried. “.
Following the premiere of films such as A Bigger Splash, Suspiria, and Bones and All at the Lido, Call Me By Your Name director Guadagnino, whose Challengers chose not to participate in Venice’s opening night slot due to the actors’ strike last year, is back.
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Last week, as Venice got underway, Deadline revealed that A24 had taken U.S. S. rights to Queer, which will premiere in North America at TIFF before playing as a Spotlight Gala at the New York Film Festival.
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Filmed at the storied Cinecitta studio in Rome, Queer was produced by Fremantle, Fremantle North America, Guadagnino’s Frenesy Film Company, Lorenzo Mieli’s The Apartment, a Fremantle Group Company, and Cinecitta in association with Frame by Frame. The movie was financed by Fremantle Group.
