The film has been directed by Luca Guadagnino ("Call me by your name") and contains several realistic and sweaty sex scenes.
There is nothing intimate when you do sex scenes on a film set. We had rehearsed all the movements for months and we wanted it to look touching and natural, says Daniel Craig when he meets the press at the film festival in Venice.
Book by cult author
The film is based on the book "Svängd" by William S Burroughs. It is a kind of continuation of Burroughs' autobiographical novel "Tjacket". "Svängd" was written in the early 1950s, but was not published until 1985.
Guadagnino read the book when he was 17 years old. Then, he had already begun to identify as homosexual, but the book opened up a new world for him.
The deep feeling between the two, there was no form of condemnation whatsoever. And I felt that I owed it to the boy I was to make a film of the book.
He describes the film adaptation as "quite simple and straightforward", while it was complicated to carry out.
We filmed everything in a studio in Cinecitta in Rome. Burroughs was an author who created worlds. To do something realistic would have been a betrayal. I wanted to make a Burroughs film, he wrote with words, our task was to give life to those words.
Said yes immediately
Guadagnino says that Daniel Craig was the first actor he thought of, but did not believe that there was a possibility that he would want to participate. A mutual friend, however, asked the question and Craig said yes immediately.
I have wanted to work with Luca for many years, so it was not something to think about. This is one of those films where if I saw it without having been in it, I would think "I would have wanted to be in it", says Daniel Craig.
At the press conference, someone asks if there could be a James Bond who is gay. Guadagnino laughs and answers:
No one really knows what James Bond desires.
"Queer" is competing in Venice. It has not yet been bought for Swedish distribution.
Age: 56 years.
Family: Wife Rachel Weisz, two children.
Lives: In New York.
Occupation: Actor.
Previous films in selection: "Elisabeth", "Road to Perdition", "Lara Croft: Tomb raider", "Rage of love", "Casino Royale", "The Golden Compass", "Quantum of solace", "Cowboys and aliens", "Skyfall", "Spectre", "Logan Lucky", "Knives out", "No time to die", "Glass onion".
Currently in: "Queer", which is being shown in competition at the film festival in Venice.
