There is no doubt that Luca Guadagnino has proven over and over that he is the most revealing director of erotic desire on screen. The filmmaker brings to the screen the surreal and sweaty 'Queer', an adaptation of William S. Burroughs' short novel written in 1952 and published in 1985.

At first glance, 'Queer' brings to the cinema the words of Burroughs, a writer who is brought to life in fiction by the incombustible James Bond of the last decade, Daniel Craig.  The story takes us to Mexico in the early 1950s where a group of gay American expatriates spend their time getting drunk. With the lead actor we talked via digital about this new opportunity in his career where he does play the part talking in Spanish and revealed his attraction for the Spanish culture. 

Q: Queer is a very emotional character and story. What attracted you to play Lee?

Daniel Craig: Well, Luca is first and foremost and was the first attraction and the only really needed attraction, but to be offered a character that is properly complicated. I mean, talk about, I think we can talk about parts that seem to sort of embody people, but this really embodied somebody who I felt was many things, all of which were fascinating to me, all of which I thought I could key into. And it's rare that you get a chance to do a character as layered as this. And I mean, it was just too tempting and a wonderful opportunity.

Q: Daniel, your Spanish is really good in the movie. How good is it in real life? And do you have a favorite word in Spanish? 

Daniel Craig: I have to say that my Spanish is not great, in my opinion it is just terrible. That's about it.

Q: But you speak a lot of Spanish in the movie

Daniel Craig: I have to say I’ve been many times in Spain and in Mexico, and that helped. But the true hero of my Spanish is my brilliant dialect teacher, who is from Spain. So, any Spanish we were able to properly practice we did it together. I do speak better Spanish from Spain, although of course. for the movie, I had to do Mexican Spanish as opposed to Spanish, Spanish.

Q: Do you read in Spanish

Daniel Craig: I can’t be able to read a book in Spanish. But I do love Spanish authors as Bolaños, Cervantes, Garcia Marquez or Lorca

Q: Daniel, given all your experience with Spanish it’s admirable that you still work with an acting coach to make your performance the best it can be. Tell us some of the things that you and that coach explored to make this character's behavior, speech and actions ring so true.

Daniel Craig: We just sit and discuss things. We work through it, and you come up with alternative ideas to the scenarios, all of which are just ideas. And, you know, again, it's all the work that you're doing beforehand to sort of imbue the character with sort of, I suppose, as much life as possible. But it all goes out the window when you get on set.

Q: The dynamic between characters is central in a film like this. How did you develop the chemistry and what aspects of their performances or personalities did you feel were key to unlocking your own character's depth? 

Daniel Craig: Going back to what we just talked about sort of preparing. You prepare, and you prepare, prepare, and you come to set, and then, you know, suddenly you're in this sort of place, and hopefully that groundwork is going to inform but then added to that, are these just incredible performers who come in front of you and give you something. And there's a whole other level that sort of opens up because you're in response to them and that. So, what's specific about that is hard. I mean, you're asking, what's the magic about great actors? I mean, who knows? It's something deep down inside of them that their life experiences, all of the things that they bring and their generosity that they bring to set, I'm just always very keen, and think it's been a really important part of my job to stay open and receptive, because I'll miss something, and that would be sad.

Q: William Lee's character and sexual endeavors are completely rooted in the political context of being queer during the ‘50s in Mexico. 

Daniel Craig: I suppose the honest answer was I could never really know, but I think that what fascinated me so much about this part is his emotional journey, and I could relate to most of it. And, you know, we thankfully don't live in a country where it's an illegal act anymore, but I mean people haven't changed. The honest answer is, I can't. All I can do is try and do it justice. That's all I can do.

 Q: Daniel what scene from the script were you most looking forward to shooting? Were there any that you were scared to do, physically or emotionally? 

Daniel Craig: For the first day. That's it. Everything else after that is just part of it. I stopped doing that a long time ago. I've stopped looking at scripts going, that's going to be a hard bit. This is going to be an easy bit. It just doesn't help in any way, shape or form. That leads to over analysis and over analysis will kill it. So, confidence in what you're doing, knowing your mind, all of those things, all the work you've done before you go and you do it. The first day you're shitting yourself. And everything you do feels unnatural. You forget. You think, I can't act anymore. This is just awful. I don't know what I'm doing here, but I think everybody's feeling exactly the same. So, you just get through it and after that, it's just day by day, you just get on with it.

Q: What did you relish most about playing this role? 

Daniel Craig: To meet somebody who as genuinely, genuinely complicated as this, a character as complicated as this was just such a beautiful challenge, and just to do it in this context with Luca, where we did it, how we did it, all of those things, and it’s a sort of cliché, but they don't come along very often, they just don't. So, really, that's the answer to that.

By María Estévez

Correspondent writer