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Daniel Craig is branching out post-Bond with a role in a film adaptation of Queer, an early novel by Beat Generation writer William S. Burroughs.
Deadline reports that director Luca Guadagnino (Call Me by Your Name, Bones and All) is currently in the process of raising funds for the movie, which would be the first screen adaptation of Queer. Craig would play Lee, an insecure American man living a somewhat piecemeal existence in Mexico City who pursues a discharged serviceman called Allerton. There is no word yet on who might portray Allerton in the film.
Burroughs wrote Queer in the early 1950s, but it wasn't published until 1985. It's partially a sequel to his semi-autobiographical 1953 novel Junky. Burroughs writes in his introduction to Queer: "In my first novel, Junky, the protagonist “Lee” comes across as integrated and self-contained, sure of himself and where he is going. In Queer he is disintegrated, desperately in need of contact, completely unsure of himself and of his purpose." You can read the full introduction here.
Craig certainly seems keen to add new beats to his résumé after completing his 007 stint with last year's No Time to Die. His latest film, the crime sequel Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery, opened in theaters on November 23. It sees him reprise his role as detective Benoit Blanc from the 2019 hit Knives Out. And earlier this year, he took on the title role in a Broadway production of Macbeth.
Would you like to see Daniel Craig in Queer?