Pop That Cork Cooper Koch

A happy update to share on last week's annoying news that the cowards at Amazon had dropped Luca Guadagnino's movie Artificial, about Open A.I.'s leading piece-of-shit Sam Altman -- the wonderful folks at Neon have supposedly picked the movie up for distribution! That comes via the in-the-know Matthew Belloni on the Nazi-website (via, thx Mac) who says this will be officially announced later this week and the movie is probably going to be out before the end of this year. Huzzah! Make like the film's co-star Cooper Koch here and drink one in praise of there still being some balls in the film world. Anyway I'd actually forgotten all the people in this cast (not that it's surprising given any actor with even half a brain should want to be filmed by Luca's loving camera) -- besides star Andrew Garifled there's Cooper here, there's Anora bald-beauty Yura Borisov, there's Jason Schwartzman (who basically stole Queer from everyone not named Lesley Manville or "Drew Starkey's Nipples Through That One See-Through Shirt), there's Cooper Hoffman and Billie Lourd and Monica Barbaro and Chris O'Dowd and Zosia Mamet and Nicholas Hamilton (the cute gay who played the bully from the It remakes) and Mark fuckin' Rylance (who definitely stole Bones and All with that fucking scuzzy hair-braid of death). Fingers crossed this lands at NYFF! Cannot wait. In summation -- fuck you, Amazon. 

In Spaceships They Won't Understand

Ever since it was announced a month ago that Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross's fantastic score for Luca Guadagnino's film Queer is getting a vinyl release -- out in nine days, pre-order it right here! --  I've been nursing a hankering to re-watch the movie. (Read my review here.) And now my hanker has gotten itself goosed because the film's supporting sexpot Drew Starkey has just lined up a new killer role -- he'll be starring Deep Cuts, in the new movie from Martha Marcy May Marlene and The Nest director Sean Durkin! (Yes I ignore The Iron Claw, as it deserves.) And just as exciting -- his co-star is Cailee Spaeny, who I have loved in everything to date, but most especially Priscilla. (She's ace in the new Knives Out movie too, by theway.) 

Deep Cuts is an adaptation of a bestseller by Holly Brickley (which came out at the start of this year) that sounds a lot like it's trying to be for the Aughts what (oh let's just go with the classic example) American Graffiti was for the 1960s -- a nostalgic encapsulation of a recent time period, or as Deadline puts it "a love story about two music- obsessed twenty- somethings navigating the messy realities of ambition, belonging and adulthood over the course of an era-defining decade." I guess it was formerly supposed to star Saoirsie Ronan and Austin Butler, but no more. I find it much easier to picture Drew as an "Indie Sleaze" sex-god -- he's basically been having photos of himself taken in that drag for the past few years! See that photo above for proof. Anyway this'll be especially interesting to me since it'll be aiming to capture (at least in part) the Brooklyn music scene in the 2000s, which I very much partook in -- it's always a hoot to see a time and place you walked through turned into a rose-colored memory, and yes by "hoot" I do mean "yet another nail in my coffin."

Finally Queer in My Hands!

It's sexy boy Drew Starkey's birthday today, the fact of which knocked off a series of comments and clicks by your truly leading me to yesterday's tweet semi-announcement from Sony Music Soundtrack's socials that Trent Reznor & Atticus' Ross' criminally under-appreciated score for Luca Guadagnino's film Queer will really for real be getting a vinyl release! Huzzah! All the info we have thus far are these two cropped images -- presumably from the vinyl's sleeve -- and the small sum-total of what they said, which was "no use fighting it. QUEER vinyl news coming this week 👀" Not sure if this means it will be coming via Sony, or Milan Records (who released the Challengers score), or the Nine Inch Nails website, or A24's own shop -- it could be any or several or all of these locations! But as surely as I'll google gifs of Daniel Craig and Drew Starkey making out at least once a week I'll surely say something more about this news once we have more about this news to say. 

ETA of course five minutes after I write up this post they go and announce more news and pictures from the vinyl -- it still doesn't say where we'll be able to buy it but Sony says the Queer soundtrack is finally going on pre-sale on this Thursday, November 6th. You can see a few more photos on Instagram.  

Everything You Ever Need To Know About Life...

 ... you can learn from:

Queer (2024)

Doctor Cotter: What are you so afraid of? Hmm? 

Door's already open. Can't close it now. 

All you can do is look away. But why would you?

I suppose to those of you who haven't seen Queer yet the above image of Lesley Manville might come as a shock, as it did to me when I saw the movie for the first time during NYFF last fall -- that is not the Lesley Manville we're used to seeing! But that's one reason to love it -- another being she is, as always, fantastic. (Her delivery of the moment quoted above gives us one of the most heart-rending moments in the film.) Anyway yes this makes two Queer posts in a row -- I just posted about how the 4K blu-ray of the film is being released in the UK in April -- but I only just noticed today is Manville's 69th birthday so we gotta wish her a happy one. Lesley Manville rules! 

Oh but wait -- another Queer-adjacent thing! Let's keep ourselves from posting three posts in a row by doubling up and using this opportunity to share the video for HAIM's new song "Relationships" which features actor Drew Starkey giving a sexy-ass wordless performance as "The Sexy Music Video Guy." You know the one. They all have to do the same thing in these videos. Be sexy, stare longingly at the singers, et cetera. He does it well!

Congrats to the Dorian Winners!

The winners of the annual Dorian awards have been announced -- voted on by members of GALECA, an orgination of entertainment critics of the queer sort amongst whom I happily count myself -- and we did okay! I only voted for a couple of the winners but I'm not angry that we gave The Substance a near damned sweep -- that's a lot of fun! This ain't your grandma's queer critic's awards show! Anyway Challengers did well too (winning score and screenplay) and we gave our rising star award to Jonathan Bailey! Jonathan Bailey always gets a rise outta me that's for sure. Hit the jump and I'll share the full press release with y'all...

Drew Starkey Three Times

One mister Luca Guadagnino has photographed the new fashion campaign for the brand Loewe -- that's the one run by designer Jonathan Anderson aka the dude who's done the costumes for the films Challengers and Queer this year -- and part of the campaign stars one mister Drew Starkey, aka the co-lead in Queer. What a bunch of odd coincidences! Anyway you can see what I think is the full campaign (which also stars Guadangino fave Taylor Russell of Bones and All) right here -- I'm really partial to the photos of all the dresses suspended in the middle of the forest! Even if they don't have a hot piece like Drew in them, the pictures are something. That Luca fellow, he's going places. Oh and there are two videos from Drew's shoot -- see an official one here and the other behind-the-scenes one here. ETA okay so I was wrong -- this campign was shot by photographer David Sims -- it's early, I must have mis-read something, I don't know. Whatever, I'm not re-writing the entire post. Here's another photo to make up for my inexplicable blunder: 

Good Morning, World

Whenever a movie that matters around these parts has a staggered release into the world I feel like I'm a broken megaphone, yelping the same white noise out over and over. So it goes with Luca Guadagnino's Queer, which I saw and loved months ago at NYFF (and reviewed right here) and which got a limited release last week and which is getting a slightly bigger release this weekend. I know I've posted about it a dozen times in the past dozen days but I am nothing if not a good cheerleader when I wanna be. Also a good cheerleader? Actor Drew Starkey, as seen in this brief video for British GQ (via) -- he's getting me excited anyway! And I assume there will be some photos to come from this photoshoot but for now, please enjoy this video of the shoot and a very good morning to each and every one of you:

Pic of the Day

Saw this new photo from Luca Guadagnino's film Queer going around this morning and hadn't seen it before -- well I had seen this image before obviously since I've seen the film more than once already. But I hadn't seen an official release unto you, the people, until now. And it's an image worth sharing! That is the film's stars Drew Starkey and Daniel Craig obviously -- this comes from the "controversial" last act of the film that seems to be leaving a lot of people flummuxed for some reason that remains inexplicable to me. Here is my review if you'd like to read my thoughts -- I'm sure I get into what I think "it all means" in there. Honestly Guadagnino is a filmmaker whose wavelength is so close to my own that I personally don't really get the confusion but we can't all be me, boy genius. (I do hope you get I'm being a smart-ass about myself here.) Sorry I'm just irritated I saw a critic call the movie "pretentious" last night and nothing riles me up faster than that meaningless word. Calling something pretentious translates in my ears to "I am lazy and didn't feel like engaging with something difficult." There are exceptions of course -- where there's no there there under the outwardly higher aims. But to look at Queer's  enraptured heartache and see emptiness boggles my brain too far, so I am just going with the " lazy and didn't feel like engaging with something difficult" definition in this case. All of that said Queer is getting a wider opening starting this weekend, I hear -- I guess it was just NYC and LA this past one. So go on and get! Maybe you too can find it pretentious!

Hey Everybody

Just a heads-up in case any of you worried I might be dead -- nearly! Okay not really but being sick makes me extra dramatic and I have indeed been very very sick for the past five or so days. I completely lost my voice which was a new experience for me -- one I can say with great, freshly learned confidence I really did not like experiencing. Losing your voice really fucking blows, man. It's not Covid, just some random viral hell, but I am still fairly laid up by it and at this point I am not at all sure I'll be up on my feet before the holiday hits on Thursday. We'll see. If you check back and there are new posts between now and then then you'll know, I suppose! If I don't though I do want to direct y'all to my review of Luca Guadagnino's Queer (starring the lovely Drew Starkey, seen above)  since that is out in theaters this week -- read my Queer review right here in case you missed it when it went up during NYFF. And that's all, until it isn't. Honestly typing this much semi-coherent blather exhausted me and I have to go lay down again. Be well, until the next time.

Pic of the Day

Hey look it's a new still of Drew Starkey and Daniel Craig in Luca Guadagnino's upcoming movie Queer! (Here is my review of Queer.) This photo is of particular note because that see-through green shirt that Drew is wearing is extremely hot -- make sure you click on the photo to embiggen it. The fashion in this movie is pretty extraordinary but then that's no surprise -- it's a Luca movie. Maybe since this one's a period film he'll actually snag an Oscar nomination for Costumes again? He inexplicably hasn't gotten one of those since I Am Love 15 years ago.

Quote of the Day

"... how can you show the love if not the behavior, from the way in which bodies interact, and their faces interact, and their saliva mixes? There was a huge level of commitment from these incredible actors who are basically so happy to do what they love doing — perform!"

That is Luca Guadagnino talking to Variety about filming -- what else? -- sex scenes in Queer, his William Burroughs adaptation out on November 27th starring Daniel Craig and Drew Starkey. Click on over for more thoughts on intimacy and semen from those actors -- I was just amused by Luca's exclamation at the end of that quote -- "Perform!" Click here to read my review if you haven't already -- and no I won't stop pushing it until the movie's out... on blu-ray. Let's be honest. Love these snaps of Craig included at Variety -- looking sharp, Danny boy.

Queer The Trailer Is Here, It's Queer

She's here and she's lovely! The trailer for Luca Gudagnino's Queer arrived this morning -- why do they always have to drop while I'm in the middle of my work commute? -- and you can watch it below. If this is your first time here this is Luca's adaptation of William S. Burroughs' novel starring Daniel Craig as a Burroughs stand-in during his time in Mexico and South America, swooning over a hot but semi-indifferent boy played by Drew Starkey. 

I reviewed the movie right here when it screened at NYFF earlier this month -- I was a fan. Of course I was a fan. What can I say at this point? Luca and I work on very similar wave-lengths. Here's a bit of what I said about the film:

"Queer is a bold act of kindness from one queer to another, excavating an unexpected and impossible love story out from one of our most enigmatic homosexual touchstones. It is a rare gem, haunting and strange, a romance of shivering ache and heartbreak closer to Guadagnino’s Suspiria or Bones and All than the flushed skin and peach fuzz of I Am Love and Call Me By Your Name that Luca-in-lover-mode is known for. It’s dazzling and dirty and sad, like a haunting dream we find ourselves fighting to not wake up from so as to not have to stare at the empty, featureless room that surrounds us."

The trailer kind of splits the difference between the two Lucas and I suppose that's apt -- when I saw him talk about the movie (see some video here) he insisted this was a love story, just for two people out of sync, and that's very true. 

It's weirder than that implies though, especially its last act which I love and understood in my bones but which has thrown a lot of people off. Anyway you'll see soon enough. Here's the trailer:

Queer is out on November 27th!

Pic of the Day

Happy day -- we have a new photo of Daniel Craig and Drew Starkey in Luca Guadagnino's Queer! Queer, Luca's adaptation of William S. Burroughs book, is out in 35 days -- on November 27th to be precise. And if you missed it I saw the movie at NYFF and reviewed it right here. Big fan. Huge. Cannot wait to watch it ten more times.

Drew Starkey Two Times

Have you read my Queer review yet?

You can read it right here at Pajiba.

I know I just posted it but I am, let's say, fixated.

Yeah. Fixated.

Queer is Here (Well My Review Anyway)

The time has come! I toiled over this one for a bit but my NYFF review of Luca Guadagnino's latest, the William S. Burroughs' adaptation Queer, has dropped today -- click on over to Pajiba to read my thoughts. My extremely positive thoughts (surprising precisely nobody). This (like Nickel Boys) is another NYFF movie I made sure to see twice before writing about it and I was extremely glad I did because it benefitted from a re-watch. But then I'm of the mind that nearly everything benefits from a re-watch -- well if you're going to write about it anyway. I didn't even make it halfway through Deadpool and Wolverine before giving up and I won't be "re-watching" that shit nonsense. But Queer is another ball of wax! I'll be re-watching this one a hundred times over. All that said -- Queer is out in limited release at Thanksgiving! Because nothing says "movies with the fam" like Daniel Craig snowballing sperms into Drew Starkey's mouth. In all seriousness I really fretted and sweated over this one, so please click on over to read -- I'm pretty proud of it. Thanks!

Good Morning, World

The 2022 version of Hellraiser didn't make a huge impression on me when I saw it, but now that I have put together the fact that the hot dude I vaguely remember being in it (the one that wasn't Brandon Flynn that is) was played by Drew Starkey, soon to seen getting good and sweaty with Daniel Craig in Luca Guadagnino's Queer, I am definitely thinking about a re-watch. I mean. Are you looking at that gif? I bet Luca has looked at that gif.

Pic of the Day

Luca Guadagnino and Queer stars Omar Apollo, Drew Starkey, Jason Schwartzman, and Lesley f'ing Manville, are on a boat. In Venice. I wish I was on a boat in Venice. With all of these exact people. See more photos here. I have had a very depressing day but this photo made me smile, and that's not nothing. 

Drew Starkey Seven Times

I kind of wish I wasn't even on the internet today because Luca Guadagnino's Queer just premiered in Venice and reviews are dropping along with spoilers and I just kind of want to cocoon myself away for the 32 days (but who's counting) until the movie screens at NYFF. (It might be fewer days for me, since the press screening might be sooner -- dunno yet.) On that same note these photos of Daniel's Craig's love interest Drew Starkey in the film are via Interview Magazine where there is a chat between Drew and Omar Apollo, who is also in the movie, and I'm also not reading that. I saw a few headlines and was like, "Nope, don't want to know." But pictures are okay so hit the jump and stare at the pictures if you care to do something besides count the days...

Queer Takes New York

I figure it's about time that I start posting some Drew Starkey photos here on the site to get ahead of the curve for when Luca Guadanino shoots him and makes him seem like the sexiest thing on the earth in Queer, his upcoming William S. Burroughs adaptation starring Daniel Craig. These photos are via a February story in GQ (there are more at the link) and I share them today along with the wonderful news that the NYFF just announced that Queer will be the Spotlight Gala film at this year's fest. They have a really lengthy synopsis of the movie at that link if you feel so inclined -- Queer is somehow a book I've never read (I've had a copy for literal decades but it's just been sitting there all this time) and at this point I am just waiting for the movie's version and then I'll read the book. So I am not reading NYFF's lengthy synopsis, is my point. I know the general story and the sexiness that Luca' promised and that's certainly enough for me. 

Look, Queer!

As expected Luca Guadagnino's next movie, the William S. Burroughs adaptation Queer (see my previous posts here), will be premiering at the Venice Film Fest in a couple of months -- more importantly to me though since I won't be going to the Venice Film Fest in a couple of months is they released the first image from the movie, seen in full below. The film stars Daniel Craig (he can be seen in the doorway in dark shirt) and Drew Starkey -- I'm pretty sure that is Starkey from the back taking the photo -- and it's about a love affair between two men in Mexico City in the early 1950s. Guadagnino has called the film his most personal to date, as well as a triubte to Powell & Pressburger movies (!!!), and he's also claimed that it's going to have a heap of sex scenes as well. In other words GIMME GIMME GIMME.

ETA the director of Venice talked to Variety today about the fest's just announced line-up and how horny it is this year, and added this tidbit regarding what we were just talking about with Queer (he also calls it Craig's greatest performance to date and says he predicts he'll be in the running for an Oscar):

"In this film, too, we are in the realm of great, absolute frankness, of absence of prejudices, of the ability to address these issues in a direct, explicit manner. And the fact that Daniel Craig lent himself to a couple of very explicit erotic sequences is a sign of great courage in an era in which these behaviors are still rejected by a significant part of the audience."