Luca Guadagnino and Daniel Craig present ‘Queer’ to Venice Film Festival

VENICE, Italy -- VENICE, Italy (AP) — Venice Film Festival regular Luca Guadagnino is back on the Lido to debut his new Daniel Craig film “Queer” on Tuesday night.

A festival favorite, Guadagnino had to forgo a splashy red carpet premiere for the sexy tennis drama “Challengers” last year, when the studio delayed its release amid the actors strike. But the filmmaker is returning with another highly anticipated project, adapting a William S. Burroughs novel about an American expat in Mexico City in 1950 who develops an obsession with a young, male student.

“Challengers” screenwriter Justin Kuritzkes wrote the script for “Queer,” adapting a novel that was written in the 1950s but not published until 1985. It’s a story that others have tried to adapt over the years, including Steve Buscemi and Oren Moverman.

“‘How can a man who sees and feels be other than sad?’ William Burroughs asks in the last entry of his personal diary before his death,” Guadagnino wrote in his director's statement. “In adapting his second novel, published almost 40 years after he wrote it, we have tried to respond to this humble appeal of the great iconoclast of the beat generation.”

Craig, in a performance Venice Film Festival director Alberto Barbera has called “career defining” stars alongside Drew Starkey, Lesley Manville and Jason Schwartzman in the film, which is playing in the main competition. A24 also recently acquired “Queer” for theatrical distribution.

The 81st edition of the Venice Film Festival has entered its final week, with the premiere of “Joker: Folie à Deux” still to come on Wednesday. There have been many movie star moments, with the likes of Brad Pitt, George Clooney, Angelina Jolie, Nicole Kidman, Cate Blanchett, Julianne Moore, Tilda Swinton and Michael Keaton all having already graced the red carpet outside the Sala Grande theater. Though no clear favorite has emerged, the films have inspired hearty debate and discussions: “Babygirl’s” depiction of sexuality and desire; the authenticity of “Maria” and Jolie’s performance; the merits of Almodóvar working in the English language; what we really want out of a Pitt and Clooney reunion; and whether or not “Disclaimer,” Alfonso Cuarón’s seven-part Apple TV+ miniseries, which is not in competition, can reasonably be considered the best film of the festival.

Awards will be presented on the final day of the festival, Sept. 7.

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