In Challengers – Rivals, Luca Guadagnino is currently developing a fiery love triangle with lots of homoerotic undertones in the cinema. The Call Me by Your Name director remains in this territory in his next film, as he adapts the cult novel Queer by William S. Burroughs. The main role will be James Bond star Daniel Craig take over.
Daniel Craig stars in Luca Guadagnino’s Challengers follow-up Queer
As Variety reports, in Queer Daniel Craig takes on the role of social outsider and emigrant Lee, who flees to Mexico City in the 1940s after a drug raid in New Orleans. There he wanders aimlessly through the streets and nightlife, which is populated by American emigrants, students and discharged soldiers. He meets former Navy soldier Allerton, who is a drug addict and much younger than Lee. The two start one sexual and romantic relationshipwhich sparks an obsession for Lee.
Outer Banks star Drew Starkey will take on the role of young Allerton. Lesley Manville (The Crown), Jason Schwartzman (Asteroid City) and Henry Zaga (The Ministry of Ungetlemanly Warfare) are also on the Queer cast list. The script was written by Justin Kuritzkes, who was already responsible for the script of Guadagnino’s Challengers.
Watch the trailer for Luca Guadagnino’s Challengers here:
Challengers: Rivals – Trailer 2 (German) HD
William S. Burroughs’ semi-autobiographical work Queer is considered Cult novel of queer literature. Written between 1951 and 1953, the novel was first published in 1985 and follows Burroughs’ debut novel Junkie. The novel is characterized by extensive internal monologues that were long considered unfilmable and were also seen as a precursor to Burroughs’ most successful work, Naked Lunch. The latter was adapted by David Cronenberg in 1991.
After Craig already played a gay character in Knives Out and the sequel Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery, the James Bond star becomes here to be seen again as a queer icon be.
When will Luca Guadagnino’s Queer with Daniel Craig be released in cinemas?
Filming for Queer was completed in Rome in summer 2023. The film is scheduled to celebrate its world premiere in the 2024 festival season. With a German cinema release is probably im Spring 2025 to be expected.