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Bond fans will be shocked and moved by Daniel Craig’s explicit gay sex scenes in Queer – and rumours of the footage are setting the Lido at the Venice Film Festival alight ahead of the film’s premiere on Tuesday.
Five-time 007 actor Daniel Craig stars in this film, directed by film darling Luca Guadagnino.
The film is based on William Burroughs’ semi-autobiographical novella about obsessive lust. Craig plays American expat and war veteran William Lee, who has a romance with a younger man, Eugene Allerton (Drew Starkey), a drug addict and discharged naval officer.
Allerton initially rebuffs Lee’s advances, but eventually gives in. One particularly candid scene shows Craig performing oral sex.
I’m told, ‘It’s very far from Bond, and very explicit. Craig is brilliant in the film.’
Daniel Craig is being tipped for Oscar glory for his role in the racy film Queer, with sources saying his ‘brilliant’ performance
Venice Film Festival president Alberto Barbera said he thinks Craig has given “the best performance of his life” in Queer, and he would be surprised if we don’t see the British actor at next year’s Academy Awards.
Barbera told a reporter that Craig “had some sex scenes that were pretty intense.”
In an interview, Guadagnino said: ‘Queer will be my most personal film. It’s an homage to Powell and Pressburger.
“I’ve seen The Red Shoes at least 50 times and I think they would appreciate the sex scenes in Queer. They’re numerous and quite scandalous.”
The novella was written between 1951 and 1953, but not published until 1985. Much of it was written after the death of Burroughs’ wife, Joan Vollmer, whom he shot in the head during a drinking party in Mexico City.
Their four-year-old son was in the room at the time. Burroughs said he tried to shoot a glass off her head, William Tell-style, but later changed his story and said the weapon misfired.
He was convicted in absentia of manslaughter after fleeing to the US.
Craig, 56, now lives primarily in New York with actress Rachel Weisz and their young daughter.
The James Bond star plays an American expat and war veteran who becomes entangled in a romance with a younger man, and is said to feature several explicit sex scenes
He has been acting for over 30 years, but has never received an Oscar nomination.
Besides the Bond films, he also appeared in Layer Cake and The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo.
Production recently wrapped on Wake Up, Dead Man, the third installment in the hugely successful Knives Out series.
The 53-year-old Italian Guadagnino is known for Call Me By Your Name, Challengers and Bones And All.