Daniel Craig Earns Venice Standing Ovation for Luca Guadagnino’s Queer

Daniel Craig delivers a career-best performance in Luca Guadagnino‘s romantic drama “Queer,” playing a gay American expat in 1950s Mexico City. The drama, with its explicit love scenes, swept up a packed theater at its world premiere at the Venice Film Festival on Tuesday night, earning a 9-minute standing ovation.

As the audience applauded, Craig looked flushed and misty-eyed as he hugged Guadagnino and Starkey. The crowd chanted “Luca! Luca! Luca!” as the ovation continued, with each actor coming down the Sala Grande steps individually to bow. During his turn, Craig blew kisses to the crowd as his wife, Rachel Weisz, smiled proudly. When Craig and Starkey at last embraced, Guadagnino — and the rest of the audience — erupted in cheers as the two gripped each other in celebration.

Based on the 1985 novel of the same name by William S. Burroughs, “Queer” follows Lee (Craig), an American expat who “spends his days almost entirely alone, except for a few contacts with other members of the small American community,” according to its official synopsis. “His encounter with Eugene Allerton, a young student new to the city, shows him, for the first time, that it might be finally possible to establish an intimate connection with somebody.”

Guadagnino’s “Challengers” collaborator Justin Kuritzkes penned the screenplay, and the cast also includes Jason Schwartzman, Lesley Manville, Henry Zaga, Drew Droege, Ariel Schulman, Colin Bates, Ronia Ava, Perla Ambrosini and Simon Rizzoni.

“Queer” marks Craig’s first time at Venice Film Festival, though he previously shot scenes for James Bond film “Casino Royale” in the historic Italian city. It’s also the festival debut for relative newcomer Starkey, who is poised to break out in a big way after this role.

Italian auteur Guadagnino has a long history at the festival, having premiered numerous films there over the years including his directorial debut “The Protagonists” in 1999; the 2004 documentary “Cuoco Contandino”; Desire Trilogy installments “I Am Love” (2009) and “A Bigger Splash” (2015) starring Tilda Swinton; 2018’s “Suspiria” with Dakota Johnson; his 2020 Ferragamo documentary “The Shoemaker of Dreams”; and romantic horror “Bones and All” (2022) starring Timothée Chalamet and Taylor Russell, which won the Silver Lion for best direction.