Daniel Craig, Drew Starkey to star in Luca Guadagnino’s ‘Queer’

Daniel Craig
| Photo Credit: PAUL HACKETT

Actor Drew Starkey will feature opposite Hollywood star Daniel Craig in filmmaker Luca Guadagnino’s feature adaptation of author William S Burroughs’ novel “Queer”.

According to entertainment news outlet Variety, the movie will also feature actors Lesley Manville, Jason Schwartzman and Henry Zaga in pivotal roles.

“Queer” centres on Lee (Craig), who recounts his life in Mexico City among American expatriate college students and bar owners surviving on part-time jobs.

Lee is self-conscious, insecure and driven to pursue a young man named Allerton, who is based on Adelbert Lewis Marker (1930-1998), a recently discharged American Navy serviceman from Jacksonville, FL, who befriended Burroughs in Mexico City, as per the book description reads.

Starkey, best known for starring in Netflix series “Outer Banks”, will essay the role of a younger man with whom Lee becomes madly infatuated.

Playwright Justin Kuritzkes, who penned Guadagnino’s upcoming movie “Challengers” starring Zendaya, Josh O’Connor, and Mike Fast, has adapted the novel for the big screen, continuing his collaboration with the Italian director.

“Queer” was published in 1985, though it is said to be written between 1951 and 1953.

The project is set to start shooting later this month at Rome’s refurbished Cinecitta Studios where the Mexico City-set movie will be filmed in its entirety.