Off the back of a string of award-nominated films about romance and angst in the Italian countryside (with the notable exception of “Suspiria”), Luca Guadagnino is bringing his sunny, sentimental cinematic style to television for the first time, with the eight-episode series “We Are Who We Are.” A story about two American kids who live on a U.S. military base in Italy, the series explores friendship, first love, identity, and all the messy exhilaration and anguish of being a teenager.
The trailer more or less delivers that in miniature, set to dreamlike electronica as the characters ask questions about their identities and what they mean against a militaristic backdrop. The series itself was at one point going to screen in its 8 hour entirety as an official selection of the 2020 Cannes Film Festival Directors’ Fortnight.
An HBO–Sky co-production; showrunner, executive producer, writer, director Luca Guadagnino; executive produced by Lorenzo Mieli for The Apartment and Mario Gianani for Wildside, both Fremantle companies, with Small Forward, alongside Guadagnino, Elena Recchia, Nick Hall, Sean Conway, and Francesco Melzi d’Eril; Paolo Giordano and Francesca Manieri write alongside Guadagnino.
READ MORE: Luca Guadagnino Talks His ‘Scarface’ Idea & Why Remakes Aren’t “A Lazy Way” To Make Films
Caitlin is the lynchpin of her group of friends, which includes Britney (Francesca Scorsese), an outspoken, witty, sexually uninhibited girl; the cheerful and good-natured Craig (Corey Knight), a soldier in his twenties; Sam (Ben Taylor), Caitlin’s possessive boyfriend, and Craig’s younger brother; Enrico (Sebastiano Pigazzi), a playful eighteen-year-old from Veneto, who has a weak spot for Britney; and Valentina (Beatrice Barichella), an Italian girl.
“We Are Who We Are” stars Chloë Sevigny, Jack Dylan Grazer, Alice Braga, Jordan Kristine Seamón, Spence Moore II, Kid Cudi, Faith Alabi, Francesca Scorsese, Ben Taylor, Corey Knight, Tom Mercier, and Sebastiano Pigazzi. The show will debut Monday, September 14 on HBO, and will also be available to stream on HBO Max.