A24 dropped the second trailer for Luca Guadagnino's Queer, an adaptation of a William S. Burroughs novel of the same name starring Daniel Craig as William Lee -- a lonely heroin addict and an expatriate in Mexico City, who begins a steamy affair with a younger man, Eugene Allerton (Drew Starkey). Craig has been getting rave reviews for his performance in the film, which made its debut in September 2024 at the Venice International Film Festival.

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The trailer -- seen below -- features several shots of Lee and Allerton exchanging longing glances and becoming more and more intimate, showcasing the sumptuous cinematography of longtime Guadagnino collaborator, Sayombhu Mukdeeprom (Call Me By Your Name, Suspiria, Challengers).

Viewers are also treated to a couple of minutes of Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross' lush, sweeping score -- all synths and piano with a brooding undercurrent that suggests the romance at the center of the film might not be as serene and swoon-worthy as some of the images suggest. Reznor and Ross have, of course, worked with Guadagnino before, scoring Bones and All and Challengers.

Related Queer Review: Daniel Craig at His Best, Boldest, and Most Boy-Obsessed [TIFF 2024]

Luca Guadagnino adapts William S. Burroughs' novel, Queer, and casts Daniel Craig as Lee, who becomes obsessed with a young Navy officer.

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The reunions don't stop there. Queer was adapted for the screen by playwright and novelist Justin Kuritzkes, writer of Challengers. In an interview with Slant, Kuritzkes shared his insights on the adaptation process, as well as how he and Guadagnino saw the challenges of bringing Burroughs' tale to the screen. He stated:

One of the things that Luca has said about the movie, which I think is really beautiful, is that it's not a story of unrequited love so much as it's a one of unsynchronized love. I see the movie so much as the two of them trying to get in sync, the sort of terror of actually being in sync, their reaction to that, and what that does to each of them. It's terrifying to get what you want. That was my guiding principle as I was working through writing the movie.

Craig Wouldn't Have Made 'Queer' 10 Years Ago Close ✕ Remove Ads

Craig concedes that he never would have been able to make a movie like Queer 10 years ago when he was still playing James Bond. "I wouldn't have done it," he told the New York Times. "I was so wrapped up in Bond and what that was, I would have been terrified of doing something like this... Especially early on with Bond, I was like, 'This is enough. Stay in my lane.'"

One big reason the film couldn't have been made with Craig a decade ago is the level of graphic sex scenes present in the picture. It's certainly a bold move for the actor, though perhaps not as bold as one might think, given his career before Bond and the Knives Out franchise, where he was known to play darker characters more closely aligned with Lee than with 007 or Benoit Blanc.

As far as the sex scenes are concerned, Craig told the Venice Film Festival press conference (via IndieWire):

You know as far as I do: There's nothing intimate about filming a sex scene on a movie set. You're in a room full of people watching you. We just wanted to make it as touching and as real, as natural, as we possibly could. Drew was a wonderful, beautiful, fantastic actor to work with, and we had a laugh. We tried to make it fun.

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Queer will have a limited U.S. release on November 27, 2024. Watch the trailer below: