future lovers

Meet the heartthrob set to play Daniel Craig’s lover in new film from ‘Call Me By Your Name’ director

By · 7 comments · Updated on January 26, 2024
A composite image of Daniel Craig in a yank top and Drew Starkey
Image Credits: Daniel Craig for Belvedere (left), Drew Starkey | Getty Images (right)

Daniel Craig. In a film called Queer. From the director of Call Me By Your Name. What more do you need to know?

Okay, how about this: He’ll star alongside Outer Banks hottie Drew Starkey, playing the object of Craig’s affection. And, with that, Queer has immediately shot to the top of our most anticipated list!

The news comes courtesy of an exclusive from Variety, noting that Starkey has officially signed on for the film, which is slated to begin production in Italy this month.

Late last year, we learned Craig had joined Queer, an adaptation of William S. Burroughs’ novella of the same name, and it was reported he’d be joined by one of the stars of Outer Banks—a claim which today’s news confirms.

Starkey, 29, is best known as part of the hot, young ensemble of said action-adventure series, Outer Banks, which just dropped its third season on Netflix this past February and already has a fourth season on the way. (Notably, one of his his co-stars, Madeline Cline, has already acted opposite Craig in Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery.)

Aside from the hit streaming series, Starkey can also be seen in last year’s Hellraiser reboot, MTV’s Scream: Resurrection series, and as the character Garrett Laughlin in both the Love, Simon and The Hate U Give films.

Queer definitely represents a big jump into arthouse fare for the actor on the rise—and he’ll be in good company, too. According to Variety, Lesley Manville (Phantom Thread, The Crown), Jason Schwartzman (Rushmore), and Henry Zaga (Teen Wolf) have also joined the cast.

Originally written in the early 1950s, and then not published until 1985 (because of the gay stuff) Burroughs’ Queer is the story of a man named Lee (Craig)—said to be a fictionalized version of the author himself—who is fighting addiction while living in Mexico City.

While there, Lee becomes infatuated with Allerton (Starkey), a recently discharged American Navy serviceman many years his junior. Battling some demons of his own, Allerton toys with Lee’s affections, only making the man more obsessed.

Related:

Call Me By Your Name director defends casting straight actors

Development of the sequel is currently on hold due to the pandemic.

The film will be directed by Luca Guadagnino, perhaps best known for another age-gap gay romance Call Me By Your Name, as well as the 2018 Suspiria remake and last year’s Bones And All.

Queer is slated to be the filmmaker’s follow-up to this summer’s Challengers, a queer love triangle story set in the world of professional tennis, starring Zendaya, Josh O’Conner, and Mike Faist.

Needless to say, fans online are very excited about the prospect of Daniel Craig and Drew Starkey playing lovers in Queer. Here are just a few of our favorite reactions to the news—and some general Starkey thirst, just for fun:

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