Queer hasn’t even hit cinemas yet, but there’s already Oscars buzz surrounding Daniel Craig’s portrayal of William Lee.
The James Bond icon, 56, plays the American expat and war veteran in Luca Guadagnino’s new romance/drama, which is based on William Burroughs’ semiautobiographical novella about infatuation and lust and set in 1940s Mexico City.
Craig’s character pursues a steamy romance with a younger man named Eugene Allerton (played by Drew Starkey), who is a drug addict and discharged Navy serviceman.
Ahead of the film’s premiere at the Lido at the Venice Film Festival on Tuesday, initial reviews suggest cinemagoers might well be left hot under the collar due to the explicit nature of some intimate scenes.
One raunchy moment, in particular, sees Craig perform oral sex on Allerton, who initially shuns his advances before succumbing to temptation.
As reported by MailOnline, Craig could be set for major recognition next awards season, as he’s been hailed as ‘brilliant’ in the lead role by critics.
‘It’s a long way from Bond, and very explicit. Craig is brilliant in the film,’ Venice Film Festival boss Alberto Barbera also said in an interview.
Continuing to heap praise on the 007 legend, he said Craig has given ‘the performance of a lifetime’ in Queer.
As for the sexy scenes, he admitted some are rather ‘full on’.
Speaking in an interview, director Guadagnino described the project as his ‘most personal film’.
He also declared it a ‘tribute’ to British film-making partnership Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger.
‘I’ve seen The Red Shoes at least 50 times and I think they would appreciate the sex scenes in Queer, which are numerous and quite scandalous.’
Should Craig earn himself an Oscar for the highly-anticipated flick, it would be his first, which may come as a surprise given the calibre of his previous roles.
Having acted for over 30 years, Craig played Bond five times, making his debut in 2006’s Casino Royale before bowing out in 2021’s No Time to Die.
Craig has also starred in Layer Cake, The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo, and two Knives Out movies, with a third – Wake Up, Dead Man – having recently wrapped production.
Speaking about Queer, the action star – who is married to Rachel Weisz – Craig and Guadagnino previously said it was a ‘labour of love’.
This isn’t Craig’s first time portraying a queer role as his Knives Out detective, Benoit Blanc, is famously married to Hugh Grant’s Phillip, as viewers learned in Glass Onion.
Speaking about sexuality in a candid interview at the time, Craig told The Sunday Times: ‘It’s normal. But we don’t want to make a song and dance out of it. It just feels right.’
Meanwhile, Guadagnino is known and revered for his LGBTQ+ pictures, as the Italian filmmaker was behind Call Me by Your Name (2017) and 2024’s wildly successful Challengers.