Watch A 35 Minute Talk With The Cast Of 'Call Me By Your Name'

Luca Guadagnino, Armie Hammer and Timothee Chalamet have nearly traveled the globe promoting their awards season hit “Call Me By Your Name” and there’s almost no end in sight. “We’ve been doing this since Sundance [Film Festival]….. in January!” Hammer laughed. It’s safe to say however that the time spent in promotion for this film is well warranted and necessary. A touching, relatable and sweet story of young first love “Call Me By Your Name” has taken audiences by storm. The cast appeared as part of the TimesTalks ScreenTimes series this weekend and spoke about making the film, the struggle of doing dancing scenes and why the film is so special. “Call Me By Your Name” is the fourth film shown to date in this TimesTalks series this year and the first to receive a standing ovation.

This film, based on the beloved book of the same name by André Aciman, follows a teenager, Elio through what becomes a summer he will never forget. Chalamet plays Elio opposite Hammer’s Oliver, an older man and student of his father’s played brilliantly by Michael Stuhlbarg. Oliver comes to spend the summer at the family home in the Italian city of Crema to study and assist with archaeology research. During Oliver’s time there Elio is inexplicably drawn to him as and they begin to bond and develop a deep relationship. In previous interviews, Guadagnino always maintained that the story was always just about two people and, “the newborn idea of desire and what it means.”

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Guadagnino explained that the film had taken on many different incarnations over its ten years in development even having James Ivory attached to direct at one point. That possibility didn’t happen to Guadagnino’s disappointment, but they worked together together extensively early on in creating the script, “he wrote the script really and it was very important to us to maintain the essence of the book,” he said, “After nine years of trying to get it made we figured maybe a much smaller version of this film can happen if I directed it, so here we are.” Luca Guadagnino has been widely praised for his work in the film, Armie Hammer even remarked that making the film felt like, “a vacation and no one wanted it to end.”

In terms of casting, Guadagnino has said many times that he dislikes auditioning actors describing it as, “silly.” Armie Hammer quickly replied, “I love you for that by the way.” Guadagnino and Hammer knew each other the longest, having met way back in 2010 when Hammer just finished work on his film “The Social Network” as the Winklevoss twins. “I thought there were actually two actors for a while,” Guadagnino said as the audience laughed. Soon after, Chalamet finished his run in a play called “Prodigal Son in New York City, he headed straight for Crema where he spent time soaking in the environment, “that was all Luca’s idea,” Chalamet said, “I didn’t understand it then, but when it came to the end of the film it was crucial.” When the cast finally came together in Italy everyone hit it off extremely well, “we were pretty much the only native English speakers in Crema so we all just hung out together,” Hammer said. “The same way this film has a really relaxed feeling, the production was very much like that too,” Hammer continued.

Guadagnino also said how important it was to him that the viewer was absorbed  in what was happening in the present, “there is no retrospective gaze on what you see, I wanted to be immersed with Oliver and Elio instead of being driven by the consciousness of a third party.” He insisted it was important to grow with the characters and said, “it’s more cinematic this way,” which explains why so many described it as being visceral to watch. “We made the conscious decision to go away from one of the most important foundations of the book which was the idea that it was a remembrance of things past,” he said.

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Timothee Chamalet has had a whirlwind year between this film and “Lady Bird” helmed by the superbly talented Greta Gerwig, “I’m still pinching myself but I have a great big brother in Armie,” he said. ,“I’m asking him for advice honestly,” Hammer countered. “There is nothing I feel like I can teach him. You guys saw the performance!” Chalamet went on to say playing Elio was interesting for him because, “he is wise beyond his years to some extent and better read than Oliver.  I guess I felt a certain license with the character to not feel sheepish.”

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When asked about the now, nearly-iconic dancing scene in the film Hammer proclaimed, “I guarantee you that Timothee Chalamet is hands down the best dancer in this room.” Of course, the forever charming Chalamet had to delight the audience some of his very special moves you’ll have to check out in the video below. In any event, Armie Hammer by contrast was mortified at the mere mention of his own dancing on YouTube saying, “I had to get off Twitter because of it, I said, ‘I can’t, I’m done.’” Some in the audience quickly said they missed him to which Hammer adorably groaned while Chalamet cheered at the prospect of him returning to social media and said, “I get messages from people all the time telling me, ‘get Armie back on Twitter.'” [editor’s note: he returned today]

Michael Stuhlbarg’s performance was also widely acclaimed as supporting actor and father to Elio. While we won’t spoil the film here, Stuhlbarg at one point delivers a monologue which is directly derived from the book and it’s extremely poignant. “It’s moving and it’s humbling,” Stuhlbarg said, “to be the [person] to deliver those words.” Stuhlbarg thanked Timothee Chalamet for his work as well in that scene saying, “Tim is the inspiration behind it, we are in it together.”

Finally the cast was asked about their families and the impact they had on their careers.  Stuhlbarg mentioned that the most impactful thing for him was when his father recognized his talent and wanted him to do this, “I feel he’s with me every day,” he said.  Chalamet chimed in saying, “I wouldn’t be doing this if it wasn’t for my parents, I get the performance instinct from my mom and the ability to listen from my dad and they’re here right now and I just want to thank them for everything.”

When asked about the potential sequel, Guadagnino said, “I think that these characters in the film carry such insightfulness and capacity for being unbiased by cynicism, that I am curious to see what growing up, history, meeting other people and meeting back together will carry with them.” Armie Hammer quickly replied, “my only question is, is Timmy doing it and is Luca directing it and is Michael gonna be in it? Other than that I’m in!”

For more on the film, what might be next for a sequel and the dangers of making bets with Sicilians watch the discussion below.