Drew Starkey from ‘Outer Banks’ will play the role of Daniel Craig’s lover in ‘Queer’, the film adaptation of William Burrough’s novel of the same title!
Originally written in the early 1950s but only published in 1985, ‘Queer’ tells the story of Lee (Craig), believed to be the fictionalized version of the author himself, an outcast American expat who lives in Mexico where he tries to fight his drug addiction. While in Mexico, he meets a freshly discharged American Navy serviceman, Allerton (Starkey), and becomes infatuated with him. At first, Allerton is indifferent towards Lee’s advances but eventually relents to toy with the older’s feelings, making the latter more obsessed.
‘Queer’ will be directed by Luca Guadagnino, known for his highly popular but also controversial age-gap film ‘Call Me By Your Name’. According to Variety, filming will begin this month in Rome in Cinecittà Studios’ Mexico-inspired set.
Although Craig is most well-known for his role as the fictional British MI6 agent James Bond, this isn’t the first time he’s played a queer character. In 1998, he starred in ‘Love Is the Devil – Study for a Portrait of Francis Bacon’ as the gay love interest of Francis Bacon, played by Derek Jacobi. Additionally, although not explicitly, his character in the 2022 film ‘Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery’ as private investigator Benoit Blanc is also confirmed to be gay.
As for Starkey, ‘Queer’ will be his most prominent role to date for a film. He is part of the Netflix action-adventure series ‘Outer Banks’ where he plays the role of Rafe Cameron, a handsome but violent teen with killer tendencies and an identity crisis.
