Audiences didn’t take to Luca Guadagnino‘s “Bones And All,” likely due to its grim subject matter. But pay no mind to the film’s scant $11 million gross at the box office: critics loved the movie, and they love Guada, undeniably one of the best filmmakers working today. So, news about another project Guadagnino has in the works is cause for excitement because it’s another chance to see a cinematic vision only he may pull off.
But what does Guada have on his mind for a future project? Deadline reports that the director is raising finances to adapt the early William S. Burroughs novel “Queer,” with Daniel Craig in the lead role. Based on Burroughs’ time in Mexico City in the 1950s, the novel follows Lee, an insecure American ex-pat who pursues a young man named Allerton. Burroughs wrote “Queer” as a sequel to his 1953 novel “Junkie,” but publishers didn’t release it until 1985.
Craig teaming up with Guada sounds like a great idea, but remember that the director has several other projects in development. There’s that “Scarface” remake, an Audrey Hepburn biopic with Rooney Mara over at Apple, and a potential sequel to 2017’s “Call Me By Your Name,” among others. So, there’s no saying that Guadagnino will get “Queer” off the ground as his next project after “Challengers,” his tennis romantic comedy with Zendaya, hits theaters next August.
If Guadagnino makes “Queer,” then it becomes only the second Burroughs film adaptation after David Cronenberg‘s “Naked Lunch” from 1991. Given Burroughs’ usual subject matter, that’s no surprise. But he’s also a difficult writer to adapt visually, and he’s certainly not a literary talent for a mainstream general audience. While not as visceral and unsettling as “Naked Lunch,” “Queer” remains a downbeat read. One imagines the audience for this project would be even less than for “Bones And All.”
Still, maybe this Daniel Craig-Luca Guadagnino team-up will happen someday. It’s an intriguing role for Craig, as it’s a much different register than either James Bond or “Knives Out” detective Benoit Blanc. But he has the acting chops to pull a role like this off. Stay tuned for more news about “Queer” in the coming months.