Luca Guadagnino’s Bones & All is in theaters now, and critics love it. Myself included. Daniel Craig returned for Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery, and everybody loves that one. It’s a good moment for them both, which makes the timing on Deadline‘s story just right. Guadagnino is putting together an adaptation of Beat Generation stalwart William S. Burroughs’ novel, Queer, with Craig eyed to star.
Guadagnino is raising money to start work on the film, penned by Burroughs in the early 1950s and finally published in 1985. Like all of Burroughs’ work, the story is semi-autobiographical. It centers on Lee (Burroughs’ alter ego), a drug addict staying in Mexico City among American expatriate college students and bar owners surviving on part-time jobs and GI Bill benefits. Lee, who is insecure and self-conscious, becomes infatuated with a young man named Allerton, and is driven to pursue him. Allerton is based on a young American Navy serviceman whom Burroughs befriended while staying in Mexico City.
Queer is a sequel to Burroughs’ 1953 novel, Junkie, and was followed-up by his most infamous book, Naked Lunch, published in 1959.
Who knows where this film fits in Guadagnino’s busy schedule? He’s got the tennis rom-com Challengers coming up next August. Other projects on the fire include an Audrey Hepburn remake and a Scarface remake. There’s also constant chatter about a sequel to Call Me By Your Name, although that one seems less and less likely.
