Guadagnino, convinced Craig was right for the role, approached the actor with the script. In Craig, Guadagnino saw someone, he says, who was “open to play.” Within days, Craig, long an admirer of Guadagnino’s films, was in.

The star kills off his Bond to inhabit a dissolute American expat in Luca Guadagnino’s handsome adaptation of the William S. Burroughs novella.

Mounting a risqué novella by William Burroughs, filmmaker Luca Guadagnino finds an expressive way forward for the former James Bond, who finds a new register.

The actor who redefined James Bond goes for broke in Luca Guadagnino's beautiful, filthy, extraordinary take on William S. Burroughs' novel

One of the first real signs that “Queer” is going to be an unconventional movie is when Daniel Craig in a linen suit saunters through Mexico City during the early ’50s and the soundtrack blasts a song by Nirvana.