Outer Banks’ Drew Starkey has been tapped to star alongside Daniel Craig in a new LGBTQ+ drama.
Back in December, Deadline revealed that Craig secured the lead role in Luca Guadagnino’s upcoming film adaptation of Queer.
Written by William S. Burrough, the short novel follows Lee (Craig), a man who travels to Mexico City to escape his drug-fueled life in the US. While navigating the diverse city and his emerging heroin withdrawal, Lee becomes infatuated with a young American serviceman named Alberton, who’s dealing with his own set of drug-induced problems.
At the time of the announcement, Craig was the only actor attached to the film.
However on 21 April, Variety announced that Starkey would be joining the No Time To Die star as Lee’s love interest Alberton.
In addition to the 29-year-old’s involvement, Phantom Thread’s Lesley Manville, Moonrise Kingdom’s Jason Schwartzman, and Trinkets star Henry Zaga have also joined the cast.
For the film’s screenplay, Guadaginino teamed up with screenwriter Justin Kurtizkes. The Call Me By Your Name director had previously worked with the aforementioned creative on his forthcoming Zendaya-led project, Challengers.
Lastly, Queer is reportedly set to start filming this month in Rome, Italy at Cinecittà Studios.
In a February interview with The Guardian, the film’s costume designer Jonathan Anderson teased what moviegoers can expect from the gritty project.
“It is one of my all-time favourite books. And the film has everything – Mexico, lots of drugs, and Daniel Craig,” he told the news outlet.
Craig’s upcoming role in Queer isn’t the first time he’s played a gay character.
Back in 1998, the 55-year-old starred in the film Love Is The Devil: Study for a Portrait of Francis Bacon as the painter’s lover George Dyer.
Recently, Craig portrayed the queer Southern detective Benoit Blanc in Rian Johnson’s hit murder mystery films Knives Out and its sequel, Glass Onion.
As of this writing, a release date for the film has yet to be announced.