“The tone would’ve been very different from what I was looking for.”
Andre Aciman’s Call Me by Your Name is the story of an unexpected affair between a teenage boy and a matured traveler. The two meet at the boy’s parents’ estate on the Italian Riviera. Unprepared for the repercussions of their attraction, their desire intensifies and their love blossoms as they face the reality that they may never experience complete intimacy.
The director of the film adaptation of Call Me By Your Name, Luca Guadagnino, told The Hollywood Reporter there are no gay sex scenes in the movie. In an interview, he discussed adapting the eponymous book for the screen and revealed that he never considered including same-sex sex scenes.
“The tone would’ve been very different from what I was looking for. I wanted the audience to completely rely on the emotional travel of these people and feel first love,” Guadagnino said.
He continued, “I didn’t want the audience to find any difference or discrimination toward these characters. It was important to me to create this powerful universality because the whole idea of the movie is that the other person makes you beautiful — enlightens you, elevates you. The other is often confronted with rejection, fear or a sense of dread, but the welcoming of the other is a fantastic thing to do, particularly in this historical moment.
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Fans of the New York Times Notable Book of the Year could be upset to learn about the absence of the memorable “peach” scene from the novel. Even though Guadagnino called the moment “legendary,” he admitted he was unsure how it would fit in the adaptation. The memorable scene didn’t make the final cut, and Guadagnino acknowledges that some fans will be disappointed.
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“[It] struck me so much as un-filmable, but also, I hate to be defined as coy,” he stated. “I don’t want to be coy, shy or coward. So it was like, let’s take the bull by the horns and shoot it. They went for it “on a day that was endless because we were running late, [after we] shot 13 or 14 hours.”
Earlier this year, Call Me By Your Name wowed audiences and critics at its Sundance premiere. Sony Pictures Classics recently announced that Call Me By Your Name is officially part of the upcoming of the main lineup at the New York Film Festival.
