Daniel Craig speaks out about reaction to same-sex on-screen intimate scenes in new movie
Now that Luca Guadagnino’s Queer has premiered at the Venice Film Festival, the cast have been answering questions about what it was like to film certain scenes, and Daniel Craig’s response to his sex scenes was classic.
The film stars the James Bond star alongside the likes of Jason Schwarzman, Lesley Manville, and Omar Apollo as they tell the tale of love and exploration.
Craig’s character, an American expat named William Lee, moves to live in Mexico City during the 1940s where he then becomes infatuated with a younger student named Eugene Allerton (Drew Starkey).
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As he is slowly introduced to the gay scene in the city, he begins exploring the world of drugs and partying.
Adapted from a 1985 novel of the same name from William S Burroughs, the film was received well and went on to bring in a staggering nine-minute standing ovation from viewers at the festival.
Of course, Craig is proud of his work on the film - and recently opened up about the not-so-PG scenes he shared with Apollo and Starkey.
It was when he and Starkey were being interviewed by YouTube reporter Jake’s Takes that he got candid about flaunting it all for Queer.
Jake asked the stars: “Do you feel like people are making too big of a deal about the scenes of physical intimacy? Or did you guys sort of go into this whole process knowing ‘we’re going to have to talk a lot about this when this move comes out?’”
To which Craig quipped: “I think a bit of both.
“I mean, you’re just- we knew that the film had to have that intimacy. It was important that the movie showed it, didn’t shy away from it.”
He added: “The physical act of sex is part of all our lives. Everybody does it, we wanted to be sensitive to it, we wanted to make it as real as we possibly could.
“But, I think at the end of the day, I don’t think it’s the most interesting thing [or] part of the movie.”
He went on to say that he ‘thinks it's just a cog in the wheel of the movie’ and it’s the ‘emotional journey of these characters [that] hits’.
In other words, he doesn’t understand why queer sex is even being spoken about in such a shocked and sensationalised way.
Obviously, we’re all doing the deed and it’s not hurting anyone as long as it’s consensual and between adults.
He was also similarly asked about the reaction to the sex scenes at the Los Angeles premiere on Wednesday night (November 13). Craig revealed that 'It’s pretty prudish to me'.
Apollo made his Hollywood debut in the film, having actually landed the role because of a 2022 interview with Variety.
According to Variety, he said: “Someone on Luca’s side saw the video of [Marc Malkin] asking me if I wanted to get into film and I said yes. So they reached out.”
You can see Apollo and Craig when the film hits cinemas on November 27 in the UK.
Topics: LGBTQ, Sex and Relationships, Film, Daniel Craig
Britt Jones