Those lucky enough to be at the Venice Film Festival this year have only six days before Luca Guadagnino‘s latest “Bones And All” has its world premiere at the festival. And Guadagnino’s new film is one of the most anticipated on the Lido this year, a favorite for Venice’s top prize, the Golden Lion. But the lead-up to the film has had an unfortunate slant. The film’s subject matter, about two young cannibals who fall in love on the fringes of society, relates to the allegations against disgraced “Call Me By Your Name” star Armie Hammer.
Well, based on how Guadagnino sees it, people are fishing for a connection between the two that isn’t there. In a recent interview with Deadline about the upcoming film, Guadagnino shot down any link between “Bones And All” and the accusations against Armie Hammer of cannibalistic sexual fantasies. “It didn’t dawn on me,” said Guadagnino, ” I realized this afterward when I started to be told of some of these innuendos on social media.” So, in short, people want a correspondence between the movie and Hammer, but it’s not there. Guadagnino made the film because of how strongly he responded to David Kajganich‘s adapted screenplay, nothing more.
Guadagnino didn’t stop there, however. He cited social media’s toxic environment for establishing the connection between his new film and Hammer. “I responded immediately to these characters who are disenfranchised and living on the edge of society,” Guadagnino continued. “Any link with anything else exists only in the realm of social media, with which I do not engage. The relationship between this kind of digital muckraking and our wish to make this movie is non-existent and it should be met with a shrug. I would prefer to talk about what the film has to say, rather than things that have nothing to do with it.”
So, that’s that: Guadagnino never anticipated any link between “Bones And All” and Hammer’s apparent sexual proclivities, and he finds the insinuations on social media about it repulsive. In fact, for Guadagnino, social media is a major impediment to frank, constructive conversation. “It’s also a travesty towards the fundamental need for new attitudes to the ways in which we work together and deal with one another,” Guadagnino said. “The muckraking of social media doesn’t address anything constructively, and the idea that this very profoundly important fight for equality can be misdirected in this way is something that frustrates me greatly. We mustn’t diminish that most important thing with this muckraking.”
What an eloquent condemnation of the most abysmal aspects of the social media landscape. But would anyone expect anything different from Luca Guadagnino? And it’s a safe bet once “Bones And All” has its premiere next week and hits theaters in November, any Armie Hammer-related nonsense will fall by the wayside. The movie will speak for itself, like the rest of Guadagnino’s filmography; a testament to his craft.
After “Bones And All” has its world premiere at Venice on September 2, it screens at Fantastic Fest, Telluride, and the New York Film Festival. After that, it hits US theaters on November 23. Watch a teaser for the film below.