is sitting in the restaurant of the Carlyle Hotel talking about how easy it can be to close yourself off to new experiences.

B次元官网网址淲e get older and maybe out of fear, we want to control the way we are in our lives. And I think itB次元官网网址檚 sort of the enemy of art,B次元官网网址� Craig says. B次元官网网址淵ou have to push against it. Whether you have success or not is irrelevant, but you have to try to push against it.B次元官网网址�

Craig, relaxed and unshaven, has the look of someone who has freed himself of a too snug tuxedo. Part of the abiding tension of was this evident wrestling with the constraints that came along with it. Any such strains, though, would seem now to be completely out the window.

Since exiting that role, Craig, 56, has seemed eager to push himself in new directions. He performed . His drawling detective Benoit Blanc (B次元官网网址淗alle Berry!B次元官网网址�) stole the show in And now, Craig gives arguably his most transformative performance as the William S. Burroughs avatar Lee in Luca GuadagninoB次元官网网址檚 tender tale of love and longing in postwar Mexico City, B次元官网网址淨ueer.B次元官网网址�

Since the movieB次元官网网址檚 itB次元官网网址檚 been one of the fallB次元官网网址檚 most talked about performances B次元官网网址� for its explicit sex scenes, for its vulnerability and for its extremely un-007-ness.

B次元官网网址淭he role, they say, must have been a challenge or B次元官网网址榊ouB次元官网网址檙e so brave to do this,B次元官网网址橞次元官网网址� Craig said in a recent interview alongside Guadagnino. B次元官网网址淚 kind of go, B次元官网网址楨h, not really.B次元官网网址� ItB次元官网网址檚 why I get up in the morning.B次元官网网址�

In B次元官网网址淨ueer,B次元官网网址� which A24 release Wednesday in theaters, Craig again plays a well-traveled, sharply dressed, cocktail-drinking man. But the similarities with his most famous role stop there. Lee is an American expat living in 1950s Mexico City where he, in sweaty, rumpled linen suits, cruises for younger men while juggling an increasingly debilitating drug habit. (No matter what youB次元官网网址檝e heard, the most truly unexpected sight in B次元官网网址淨ueerB次元官网网址� is Daniel Craig as an awkward suitor.)

Lee, though, is thunderstruck with infatuation for a poised and prim young man named Allerton (Drew Starkey). The film, adapted by B次元官网网址淐hallengersB次元官网网址� screenwriter Justin Kuritzkes, proceeds as a love story but also as a profound romantic mystery.

Allerton is enigmatic and aloof, and itB次元官网网址檚 unclear how much heB次元官网网址檚 embraced his homosexuality. Their evolving relationship is a constant confusion to Lee. B次元官网网址淨ueerB次元官网网址� becomes consumed not just with the question of their unsettled love, but of the tantalizing possibilities of liberation and the painful, long-term sacrifices of repression.

The film, classically filmed on soundstages in RomeB次元官网网址檚 Cinecitt脿, is populated with expansive windows and doorways that seem to ask: What doors to yourself, or to life, are you willing to walk through?

B次元官网网址淢aybe another portal is his open chest. He just goes, B次元官网网址楶lease come in, come in,B次元官网网址橞次元官网网址� says Craig. B次元官网网址淚t applies to art. It applies to everything. Letting oneB次元官网网址檚 self go. If you donB次元官网网址檛 do it, how can you ever know? That tragedy of not doing that is greater than the embarrassment of doing it. WeB次元官网网址檙e defined by those moments in our lives.B次元官网网址�

B次元官网网址業 just recognized so many things within himB次元官网网址�

B次元官网网址淨ueerB次元官网网址� could be such a defining moment for Craig. For his performance, heB次元官网网址檚 widely expected to land his first Oscar nomination. For Guadagnino, making B次元官网网址淨ueerB次元官网网址� is especially long in coming. He first read the book B次元官网网址� written in the early B次元官网网址�50s but, by BurroughsB次元官网网址� own wishes, not published until 1985 B次元官网网址� when he was 17.

For years, Guadagnino, the Italian filmmaker of and contemplated B次元官网网址淨ueerB次元官网网址� as a movie; he even once drafted his own script. In Lee, he saw a poetic figure.

B次元官网网址淚B次元官网网址檓 really interested in the repression of others,B次元官网网址� Guadagnino says. B次元官网网址淚 realize many, many times I go back to the theme. The idea of being so vulnerable and ready to be. He doesnB次元官网网址檛 have a sense of pride or a protection of social codes.B次元官网网址�

While they were making B次元官网网址淐丑补濒濒别苍驳别谤蝉,B次元官网网址� released earlier this year, Guadagnino approached Kuritzkes about adapting BurroughsB次元官网网址� novel. There were considerable hurdles. Burroughs never completely finished the novel, so the filmmakers resolved to finish it for him, writing into the movie an extended third-act ayahuasca trip. But adapting B次元官网网址淨ueerB次元官网网址� also meant leaving room for its unspoken spaces.

B次元官网网址淭here is so much in the movie that is about the way Lee looks at Allerton and the way Allerton looks at him, and looks away,B次元官网网址� says Kuritzkes. B次元官网网址淎 lot of that stuff is in the book, but when youB次元官网网址檙e making the movie, you realize the way DanielB次元官网网址檚 face registers DrewB次元官网网址檚 face tells you what would be communicated in 15 pages of prose.B次元官网网址�

B次元官网网址極pen to playB次元官网网址�

Guadagnino, convinced Craig was right for the role, approached the actor with the script. In Craig, Guadagnino saw someone, he says, who was B次元官网网址渙pen to play.B次元官网网址� Within days, Craig, long an admirer of GuadagninoB次元官网网址檚 films, was in.

B次元官网网址淚 just recognized so many things within him,B次元官网网址� Craig says. B次元官网网址淪omeone who is both repressed and open, and the complicated relationship with love.B次元官网网址�

Though it inverts the presentation of masculinity many associate with Craig, Lee of B次元官网网址淨ueerB次元官网网址� is more in line with some of the actorB次元官网网址檚 earlier work, like 1998B次元官网网址檚 B次元官网网址淟ove Is the Devil.B次元官网网址� ItB次元官网网址檚 worth noting, too, that CraigB次元官网网址檚 other major post-Bond movie role, Benoit Blanc, is also gay. (Hugh Grant plays his subtly suggested partner.)

For B次元官网网址淨ueer,B次元官网网址� there was extensive preparation, on accent and movement and BurroughsB次元官网网址� own tortured history. But after months of research, the characterization only really emerged once shooting began.

B次元官网网址淚 canB次元官网网址檛 tell you how nervous I was. It was terrifying,B次元官网网址� Craig says. B次元官网网址淏ut something clicked that day, the first day. And Luca said, B次元官网网址楾hatB次元官网网址檚 it.B次元官网网址� I was very nervous to try to expose it, but it became a kind of unfolding of the character. I kind of introduced myself to him.B次元官网网址�

B次元官网网址淚 think Daniel loves the camera in a way that is intimate,B次元官网网址� adds Guadagnino. B次元官网网址淏ecause he knows the camera cannot lie and you canB次元官网网址檛 lie to the camera. The love you feel from the camera, to me, is not the love of vanity. ItB次元官网网址檚 the love of recording the truth.B次元官网网址�

Starkey, the 31-year-old B次元官网网址淥uter BanksB次元官网网址� actor, was met with the very different challenge of playing a character with few words on the page and a cryptic presence. He theorized that Allerton is in retreat because itB次元官网网址檚 B次元官网网址渁s if youB次元官网网址檝e lived your whole life and never seen your own reflection, and someone puts a mirror in front of your face.B次元官网网址�

B次元官网网址淎 question I asked early on was: Is Allerton aware of the game that heB次元官网网址檚 playing? Is he aware that he may have some power over Lee, and does he like it?B次元官网网址� says Starkey. B次元官网网址淟ucaB次元官网网址檚 answer to that was: B次元官网网址楾hatB次元官网网址檚 a very good question.B次元官网网址橞次元官网网址�

Sex scenes in B次元官网网址楺ueerB次元官网网址� and the B次元官网网址榮alaciousB次元官网网址� response

When B次元官网网址淨ueerB次元官网网址� premiered in Venice, much of the reception focused on the filmB次元官网网址檚 steamy sex scenes with Craig and Starkey. Guadagnino laments the temptation of the press to be B次元官网网址渟alacious.B次元官网网址�

B次元官网网址淭hey canB次元官网网址檛 help themselves,B次元官网网址� he says. B次元官网网址淏ut we are practical people. People make love. People laugh. People sleep. People inject heroin.B次元官网网址�

B次元官网网址淥ur job is only to make that as truthful as possible, and not shy away from it, not be coy about it,B次元官网网址� adds Craig.

B次元官网网址淎nd can we just clear the table forever? When we were shooting the sex scenes it was so funny,B次元官网网址� says Guadagnino. B次元官网网址淲e had fun. It was fun, light and then, done, letB次元官网网址檚 move on to the next.B次元官网网址�

As intimately as Craig and Starkey would be working together, they decided to let their relationship unfold naturally.

B次元官网网址淲e didnB次元官网网址檛, like, grab coffee and have a list of ice-breakers or something,B次元官网网址� Starkey says. B次元官网网址淲e just started working. We jumped into movement rehearsals and that was a great way to learn how to be free with the other person. It never felt like there any walls up.B次元官网网址�

Not having walls up was, in many ways, the abiding nature of B次元官网网址淨ueer.B次元官网网址� And for Craig, it was one of the most rewarding experiences of his career. He and Guadagnino are already planning another film together.

B次元官网网址淚 donB次元官网网址檛 have any grand plan for my career. ItB次元官网网址檚 been OK B次元官网网址檛il now. ItB次元官网网址檚 been going along,B次元官网网址� Craig says, with a grin. B次元官网网址淭hen something comes along like this and you find a group of people to have this wonderful experience with. It makes me go: I want to keep acting. I never wanted to give up, but if I could get this again, IB次元官网网址檇 love to do it.B次元官网网址�