Daniel Craig Talks About Filming Explicit Gay Sex Scenes in His New Movie ‘Queer’

Daniel Craig has officially entered the Oscar race.

The James Bond actor, 56, presented his new film “Queer” at the 2024 Venice Film Festival on Tuesday, and according to The Hollywood Reporter, it received a nine-minute standing ovation at its premiere. Directed by Luca Guadagnino (“Call Me By Your Name”), the film is set in Mexico City and stars Craig as American expat William Lee.

“His encounter with Eugene Allerton, a young student new to the city, shows him, for the first time, that it may finally be possible to establish an intimate relationship with someone,” according to the synopsis for Venice. Drew Starkey plays Eugene in the film, which is based on the novel by William S. Burroughs.

According to IndieWire’s Ryan Lattanzio, “Queer” contains “the most explicit gay sex scenes I can recall in a mainstream film,” while Vulture’s Nate Jones reports that they are “significantly more explicit” than those in “Brokeback Mountain” and “Call Me by Your Name.”

At a press conference in Venice, the first question asked was about the filming of the sex scenes. One journalist noted that they were “like nothing we’ve seen before in a mainstream film,” not only because they are explicit, but also because of the “happiness” depicted in them.

“There’s nothing intimate about filming a sex scene on a movie set,” Craig joked. “There’s a room full of people watching you. We just wanted to make it as touching and as real and as natural as possible.”

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Craig added that his co-star Starkey is a “wonderful, fantastic, beautiful actor to work with, and we had a lot of laughs. We tried to make it fun.” He also recalled rehearsing dance routines with the actor months before filming began, noting, “Dancing with someone is a great way to break the ice.”

Starkey also said that he and Craig both felt open to “trying new things” in the film.

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“When you roll around on the floor with someone the second day you know each other, I think that’s a good way to get to know someone,” he joked.

Guadagnino, for his part, recalls being moved by the “deep connection” between the two characters described in the book and by the “romanticism of the idea of ​​adventure, and adventure with someone you desire and love.” “Queer” is the director’s second film of the year following the tennis drama “Challengers.”

Craig has already garnered buzz for the role, with some pundits predicting he’ll be nominated for Best Actor at the 2025 Oscars. He left the role of James Bond in 2021’s “No Time to Die,” and “Queer” is his first film role since 2018 that isn’t part of the James Bond or “Knives Out” franchises.

At the Venice press conference, a reporter asked if there might one day be “a gay James Bond,” prompting laughter and Guadagnino to say, “Guys, let’s be adults in this room for a second.” Craig ignored that part of the question but said he took the role in “Queer” in order to work with Guadagnino and because “if I wasn’t in the movie and I saw it, I would have wanted to be in it.”

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Daniel Craig’s ‘Queer’ arrives in Venice as actor talks sex scenes