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Daniel Craig is no stranger to boundary-breaking storytelling and taking risks with his movie choices, especially with titles like The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo and Munich. His latest film Queer is also no exception. The Luca Guadagnino-directed movie follows a man who pursues a young American serviceman while in Mexico City, and it is a beautiful adaptation of the William S. Burroughs novel of the same name. The James Bond actor is the star of the sensual romance story, and recently he got candid about the importance of the sex scenes within the film.
Craig opened up about what was special about his upcoming A24 film and why he thinks the intimate scenes are imperative to the storytelling during a conversation with EW. The movie was an unexpected role for the Knives Out star, whose masculine public image was used as a tool in Queer to expand the image of LGBTQ+ romances further in the movie.
According to the actor, the physical sex scenes are important, but less interesting than the connection between the central characters. He explained:
I feel like the physical act is the least interesting thing. We’re all grownups. This is what people do. But the only thing that’s interesting, and what I think hopefully works about the scenes, is the emotional journey of each character. That’s what we wanted to get across. I think that’s why they work.
Sexuality and sensuality are common themes and subjects explored in Guadagnino’s previous works, like the award-winning 2017 film Call Me By Your Name and this year’s Challengers. Queer feels like a continuation of this thesis from the filmmaker.
He has often explored meaningful relationships between LGBTQ+ characters and individuals experimenting with sexuality through intimacy. While this may have been new territory for Craig, he clearly understands the vision of the director, as he explained the 2024 movie schedule entry’s intent further by saying:
I think people love asking about that stuff. but it’s certainly not provocative for the sake of being provocative in any way. Luca wanted everything to be imbued with meaning and leading with love. And it’s truthful. It’s just two people who are in this type of strange, loving relationship and they’re working through that. It’s just a representation of reality. It’s two people; this is the way it works.
Hollywood has become more progressive in many of its themes, especially with many of the queer storylines taking place in popular shows like The Last of Us and Heartstopper. However, true intimacy and sex scenes between LGBTQ+ characters and same-sex partners are rare on the big screen and in mainstream media.
Guadagnino, however, consistently pushes things further by focusing on intimacy within the physical and outside of it. Craig seemingly was drawn to this, as he continues to emphasize this idea whenever asked about some of Queer’s more explicit sequences.
The 007 actor is one of the most bankable leading men in the movie business, and his participation in such a film hopefully encourages more movies like Queer to be greenlit by major studios. Other leading men also have the ability to support LGBTQ+ films, especially ones helmed by artists from the community. Inclusive storytelling and representation are important, and the focus on emotionality hopefully helps audiences think more about what’s beneath the surface rather than what is provocative.
You can see Daniel Craig alongside Drew Starkey in A24’s Queer, which is currently in select theaters nationwide.