Daniel Craig and Drew Starkey sign on for new movie, Queer
Variety has exclusively reported that Luca Guadagnino will direct an adaptation of William S. Burroughs’ book Queer with Daniel Craig playing an outcast American expat who lives in Mexico, opposite Outer Banks star Drew Starkey as the object of his obsession.
Set in Mexico City during the early 1950s, Queer follows William Lee’s hopeless pursuit of desire from bar to bar in the American expatriate scene culminating with an intense gay male infatuation.
Drew Starkey came to the attention of gay audiences with his roles in Love, Simon and The Hate U Give, and the highly-rated Netflix teen drama series Outer Banks, as well as Scream: Resurrection. Queer will be the first major or lead role for Starkey, 29. Craig, 55, last played gay in the Knives Out franchise.
Craig also played gay in British director John Maybury’s 1998 drama Love Is the Devil: Study for a Portrait of Francis Bacon.
Queer will also star Lesley Manville (The Crown, Phantom Thread), according to Variety sources and will start filming this month at Rome’s Cinecittà Studios, which will stand in for Mexico City.
Guadagnino’s last film was the controversial Bones and All. American playwright Justin Kuritzkes has reportedly adapted the Burroughs novel. Guadagnino made a name for himself with Call Me By Your Name starring Timothée Chalamet and Armie Hammer as intergenerational male lovers.
