Three days later I’m shaking Hammer’s hand again at the Director’s Guild of America Theater. I’m moderating a SAG nominating committee screening for “Call Me” with Hammer, Chalamet and Guadagnino. And you can bet I’m absolutely not going to accidentally delete this public conversation.
Remarkably, since our initial sit down all three men had flown to New York for a series of Q&A’s and already made it back to LA. In fact, after an 11 PM event following a New York Times screening series the night before, Hammer awoke for a 4 AM flight back to Los Angeles for this specific afternoon Q&A. Minutes after it ends all three gentlemen jumped in a car for a 90 minute drive Santa Barbara for yet another post screening discussion.* This is a textbook example why it’s called an awards season “campaign” and not an awards season “tour.”
*True fact: There are approximately just 50 Academy members who live in Santa Barbara, but when hunting for Oscars every vote truly counts.
Hammer joked beforehand that after so many Q&A’s he had his answers down pat. As a moderator that makes you want to come up with something surprising, but it’s also a huge reassurance that the talent on hand know what works with a crowd and what will entertain them. Having moderated at least 100 of these I can vouch that Hammer is truly a pro’s pro and if they gave awards for Q&A performances he’d absolutely get nominated. He does it effortlessly. Every answer sincere and honest, even if he’s told the same story for the 25th time. For example, let’s take Hammer recalling his initial sitdown with Guadagnino about seven years ago.
“We had one of the best meetings I’ve ever had,” Hammer says. “I went to his place and we sat down and talked about music and about literature and about art philosophy and we sat there and had coffee. And then there would be times we would sit in silence and be totally fine with it. And then we’d start talking again. It was one of those meetings as an actor where you come out of it and you go ‘I fucking nailed that meeting.’ And then I didn’t hear anything from him for six years.”
Cue the roar of laughter from the audience. But, wait. Hammer’s saving his best anecdote for later on. When the subject of prepping for the film comes up Guadagnino reveals for the most part that he’s not one for formal rehearsals, but there was one day both he, Chalamet and Hammer got together to go over some scenes at the villa where principal photography took place. Hammer says that both he and Chalamet were “really amped” for it.
“We also met every night and were going over scenes,” Hammer remembers. “We’d gather at my place or his place and discussing all the scenes and all that, but Luca was like, ‘I want you guys to come to rehearsal’ and I was like, ‘Great!’ And we had our scripts and we were ready and we showed up and Luca goes, ‘Let’s do scene seventy one.’ I don’t remember the exact scene, but ‘Let’s do scene seventy one.’ And we go through the script and look up the scene and all it says is ‘Elio and Oliver roll around in the grass making out.’ (Laughs.) Alright and he just goes, ‘Alright, whenever you’re ready.’ [And I went,] ‘Alright, let’s do this!’ And he went ‘No, no, no, no. Come on guys. What are you doing? I want to see you guys really make out.’ And we’re like, ‘O.K., alright let’s do it.’ And we start going for it. We’re rolling around in the grass and we’re going for it and we’re going for it. And we keep going for it. And we keep going for it. And no one says ‘stop.’ And all of a sudden we stop and look up and Luca’s gone. He’s just gone.”
That’s how you charm audiences. That’s how you get votes. And you can just imagine George Clooney, the current master of the public interview, raising a glass out of respect in his own Italian villa.
Then Hammer, Chalamet and Guadagnino were off to Santa Barbara. Hammer will get a well deserved few days off for the Thanksgiving holiday, but then starts the circuit all over again. And judging by the love for this movie it won’t be ending anytime soon and Hammer will be casually enjoying every moment of it.
“Call Me By Your Name” opens in New York and Los Angeles on Friday.