After working with him on last year’s tennis rom-com Challengers, Luca Guadagnino was eager to get Josh O’Connor back in front of the camera. For good reason, the rising star actor has become one of Hollywood’s most sought-after stars. The filmmaker signed up O’Connor for one of his two upcoming films, Separate Rooms, but it appears a reunion will have to wait for another time.
Speaking with Deadline, O’Connor revealed that he has exited Separate Rooms, Guadagnino’s adaptation of Pier Vittorio Tondelli‘s novel about a writer mourning the loss of his boyfriend, and enters a passionate romance with a shy German musician.
“Unfortunately not. Luca’s working all the time. He’s such a busy bee and rightly so. We’re constantly talking. He may well do it, but unfortunately it won’t be with me, ” O’Connor said.
It’s unclear if O’Connor’s replacement has been found or if a new search is underway. It’s always possible Guadagnino puts the film on hold to focus on other projects. Guadagnino’s next film is After the Hunt, starring Julia Roberts, Ayo Edibiri, and Andrew Garfield, which arrives in October.
Coming up next for O’Connor is Steven Spielberg’s untitled UFO movie with Colman Domingo, Colin Firth, Eve Hewson, and Emily Blunt. In that same interview, O’Connor calls the mysterious project “like old-school Spielberg. I think people will be excited…’Close Encounters,’ ‘E.T.’; that world.”
O’Connor is currently at Cannes with two movies: Kelly Reichardt’s art heist film The Mastermind, and Oliver Hermanus’ History of Sound alongside Paul Mescal.
