Film industry news site Above the Line has reported that Italian director Luca Guadagnino’s next project will be an adaptation of William Burroughs novel Queer.
The director has reportedly signed Daniel Craig on to play the lead role in the project. Guadagnino is known for his previous films A Bigger Splash, Call Me by Your Name and his current film in theatres Bones and All. He also created the TV series We Are Who We Are.
Guadagnino has also got a documentary that’s about to come out and his already wrapped another film Challengers, which stars Zendaya.
Beat Generation writer William Burroughs wrote his short novel between 1951 and 1953 but it remained unpublished until 1985. It is a partial sequel to his previous novel Junkie.
It follows a character named Lee who is an American living among expatriates in Mexico City. The self-conscious protagonist starts to pursue a young man named Allerton who is a recently discharged naval serviceman. The book is based around Burroughs own experiences.
Steve Buscemi had previously tried to make a film version of the novel and had a reading of a screenplay at the Sarasota Film Festival in 2011. Actors Stanley Tucci and Ben Foster took part in the reading.
Burroughs wrote many novels during his lifetime and homosexuality and drug use are common themes in his work. He died in 1997.
His most well-known work is The Naked Lunch, which was often described as being an unfilmable novel. It was adapted for the screen in 1991 by director David Cronenberg. While the film was a flop at the box office, it went on to develop a cult following.So far its the only work of Burroughs to make it to the screen.
Back in the mid-80’s Australian director Russell Mulcahy wanted to adapt Burrough’s novel The Wild Boys for the screen. Burroughs himself had explored making the novel into a pornographic style film in the 1970’s. Nothing came of Mulcahy’s attempts either, but he did speak to pop band Duran Duran about creating a soundtrack for the film. Their track The Wild Boys was inspired by the proposal.
The Duran Duran video for the song cost over a million pounds, a huge amount for a music video in 1984. It was directed by Mulcahy who hoped it would show studio executives his vision for the aesthetic of the proposed film. The project never came to fruition.
The Wild Boys also appears in Luca Guadagnino’s TV series We Are Who We Are. Fraser, the protagonist in the story, can be seen reading it during the first episode.
OIP Staff
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