Luca Guadagnino's 'Queer' Film Cut Down, Nixing Daniel Craig at Gay Clubs in Mexico City

Luca Guadagnino's upcoming film "Queer" still doesn't have a distributor to get the project to theaters, and in order to increase its chances of getting picked up, the film has reportedly been cut by 50 minutes to be shown at the upcoming Venice Film Festival, according to the website World of Reel.

The website cites the Italian entertainment publication Lucy Sulla Cultura, which quotes Venice Film Festival chief Alberto Barber this week, offering an update on the out director's new film starring Daniel Craig. He notes that what has been nixed from the film features scenes of the "Knives Out" star frequenting gay clubs in Mexico City.

"I've seen two versions of the film, the one that will screen is the third, and shortest, it lasts 135 minutes. The first version was 200 minutes, the second was 150 minutes. It's a sorry situation, I feel sorry that you won't get to see the original cut, because I know exactly what Luca cut out: all of [Daniel] Craig's wanderings in the gay clubs of Mexico City, with this incredible fauna of gay life, in search of adventure."

He adds that he hopes "sooner or later Guadagnino will make the director's cut because there are beautiful things that you won't get to see [..] I feel bad that 'Queer' has been trimmed out because it was far from inessential to the story and the construction of the character."

When asked in an interview why he thought the film has yet to find a distributor, Venice Film Festival chief Alberto Barbera made similar remarks about when speaking with Vanity Fair, saying that the "bold" project is "not an easy" film.

"I think it's the best film by Luca Guadagnino so far, and the performance of Danny Craig is absolutely outstanding. I think it's the performance of his life," said Barbera, explaining that there were three versions of the film. "The first one was more than three hours long. The second one was two and one half [hours]. The final version is two hours and 15 minutes. I haven't seen the last one, but the two versions I saw were really, really amazing."

Based on a short novel by William Burroughs published in 1985, the film follows a gay drug addict who skips out on Texas to cruise Mexico City in search of some company.

With Daniel Craig in the leading role, Barbera says he takes "some risks, of course, because it's something that's not in line with his previous films."

With all the versions of the film floating around, some are wondering if the project was cut to make its queer content more palatable for a wider audience. However, time will tell when the film comes out.

Barbera called the film "completely abstract" and "not realistic" in its setting, which means viewers will be able to fully focus on the story.

Along with Craig, the film stars Drew Starkey, Jason Schwartzman, Lesley Manville, Omar Apollo, Henrique Zaga, Andres Duprat, Ariel Shulman, Drew Droege, Colin Bates, and filmmakers Lisandro Alonso, David Lowery, and Michael Borremans. Production wrapped in July, 2023.