Advertisement
Advertisement
Advertisement
them

We Will Be Seated For Omar Apollo and Daniel Craig’s Sex Scene in Queer

Abby Monteil
3 min read
Generate Key Takeaways

Getty Images

Omar Apollo is opening up about filming a sex scene with Daniel Craig in Luca Guadagnino’s highly anticipated new film Queer. The musician alluded to the moment during a conversation with Queer co-star Drew Starkey for Interview magazine, praising Craig’s openness during filming.

“We were drinking gin and tonics before our scene,” Apollo recalled. “[...] I remember asking him, ‘How do you feel when the camera’s on?’ And he said, ‘To be honest, every time the camera’s on me, I’m terrified.’ I thought that was beautiful. You have to be vulnerable. You have to be open to these emotions. It was such an honest answer.”

Advertisement
Advertisement

Apollo also talked about his choice to lose weight for the role, saying “Luca did not tell me to lose weight, but when you’re about to have a sex scene with Daniel Craig, you’re like, ‘Oh, dude, I can’t be looking off,’” he said. “[...] I read in the script that my character had a flat brown stomach… I had to get it together, and I was on tour with SZA.”

Ultimately, Apollo looked back fondly on his experience working with Craig, which marked his acting debut. As he told Starkey, the actor has “this presence to him that is felt from far away.” Although Apollo hadn’t yet seen Queer at the time of their interview, Starkey assured him that his work paid off, describing his and Craig’s sex scene as “so good” and “very sensual.”

New York Times journalist Kyle Buchanan also teased the scene in a tweet, noting that Apollo is “nude for most of his screen time.”

Based on William S. Burroughs’ novel of the same name, Queer follows American expat William Lee (Craig), who becomes infatuated with discharged service member Eugene Allerton (Starkey) while living abroad in 1940s Mexico City. If you also loved Guadagnino’s most recent movie, the tennis throuple masterpiece Challengers, you’ll be happy to know that Challengers screenwriter Justin Kuritzkes also worked on the script for this follow-up.

Advertisement
Advertisement

If it’s cylindrical and it can be eaten, it appears in Luca Guadagnino’s tennis threesome movie.

During a recent interview with Variety, Guadgnino described Queer’s sex scenes as a natural extension of the movie’s exploration of “the fever dream of connection and disconnection.”

“The only way we can really communicate the depths of [the characters’] connection, and the dramatic denial inhabiting them, is that you have to see their interaction,” the director said. “From the way they travel; the way they drink together; the way they fuck together; to the way they are apart and together. It’s integral to this idea of connection and disconnection, or as Burroughs would say, disembodiment.”

Will queer internet fervor for Queer hit a fever pitch ahead of awards season? We’ll have to see. The film officially premieres tonight at the Venice International Film Festival, with World of Reel reporting that “there were some boos and cheers at the end of this morning’s press screening,” and that the “overall consensus seems to be mixed.”

Advertisement
Advertisement

This news comes after Deadline reported that Queer had faced a “polarizing” response from distributors before A24 ultimately acquired the film.

Still, seeing Apollo sharing a steamy scene with Craig on the big screen? I’m already seated.

Get the best of what’s queer. Sign up for Them’s weekly newsletter here.

Originally Appeared on them.

Advertisement
Advertisement