Legendary filmmaker James Ivory has unveiled some behind the scenes casting tea regarding the hit film Call Me By Your Name.
According to a published excerpt in GQ, the Academy Award winner revealed that former Disney star Shia LaBeouf initially read for the part of Oliver.
“Shia came to read for us in New York with Timothée Chalamet, paying for his own plane ticket, and [director Luca Guadagnino] and I had been blown away,” Ivory wrote.
“The reading by the two young actors had been sensational; they made a very convincing hot couple.”
He went on to say that Shia’s chances of landing the role were nixed after abuse allegations against singer FKA Twigs made headlines.
“He had had some bad publicity. He’d fought with his girlfriend; he’d fended off the police somewhere when they had tried to calm him down,” Ivory explained.
“And Luca would not call him, or his agent. I emailed Shia to offer reassurance, but then Luca cast Armie Hammer and never spoke to, or of, Shia again.”
Ivory also opened up about his rocky relationship with Guadagnino and revealed that he was dropped from CMBYN as co-director.
“I was never told why I had been dropped, by Luca or anybody else; it was presented in an ‘it has been decided that…’ sort of way,” Ivory said.
“Luca would be the sole director. I didn’t care all that much. I could see that it might be very awkward sometimes to have two directors on the set.”
Upon its release in 2017, CMBYN became an instant success and received widespread critical acclaim.
It was subsequently nominated for four Academy Awards, including Best Actor for Chalamet, and won Best Adapted Screenplay – which was penned by Ivory.
A sequel for the film was reportedly in the works after the Chalamet, Hammer and Guadagnino expressed enthusiasm to revisit the characters.
However, plans for a second movie have seemingly been thrown out after multiple women accused Hammer of sexual abuse.
The 35-year-old actor denied all of the claims, and an attorney for the actor stated: “These assertions about Mr. Hammer are patently untrue. Any interactions with this person, or any partner of his, were completely consensual in that they were fully discussed, agreed upon, and mutually participatory.”
Following the allegations, Hammer dropped out of the film Shotgun Wedding, the Paramount+ drama series The Offer, Starz series Gaslit and the Broadway play The Minutes.
After months of remaining silent, Chalamet made his first comments about the controversy during a profile for Time Magazine.
“I totally get why you’re asking that,” the Dune star told the interviewer, “but it’s a question worthy of a larger conversation, and I don’t want to give you a partial response.”
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