It was on the second day of rehearsals for Luca Guadagnino’s Queer, while rolling around on the floor half-naked with Daniel Craig, that Drew Starkey realized his first major film role would mean leaving all his inhibitions at the door. “I’ve never had a process like this,” the 31-year-old actor recalls thinking, as he and Craig dove into preparations for their numerous sex scenes throughout the movie. “But then it became very ritualistic… and by the time we got to [filming] it, we were like, ‘Just fucking go for it.’”
Go for it they certainly did. A steamy, surrealist adaptation of William S. Burroughs’s lurid, semiautobiographical novel documenting gay expat life in 1950s Mexico, Queer also sees Starkey stumble through the streets of Mexico City tipsy on mezcal and perform modern dance with Craig while stark naked and tripping out on ayahuasca in the middle of the jungle. But the part that scared Starkey, who broke out in the Netflix sci-fi hit Outer Banks, the most? The press tour. “I was very nervous in the months leading up to [the premiere at Venice Film Festival],” he says, reclining on a sofa after his British Vogue shoot in a uniform of a white T-shirt, jeans, and Adidas Gazelles that confirms his preference for flying under the radar. “I didn’t know if I could have that many eyes on me.” Thankfully, Starkey—who grew up in small-town North Carolina and describes himself as “not the most social person”—is now taking the attention in his stride. “I’m exhausted, but I’m having a good time,” he says, with a grin.
Starkey’s performance in Queer is going to mean a whole lot more eyes on him. His sleek Loewe outfits on the front row at fashion week have certainly contributed to that: creative director Jonathan Anderson also designed the film’s costumes, meticulously sourcing period garments for each character, right down to their underwear. “You couldn’t ask for a more immersive experience than that,” he says, laughing. But Starkey’s faultlessly polite (and somewhat shy) manner speaks to the fact he’s a film nerd through and through, and is most enthused when discussing “the craft”; with characteristic modesty, he compares the process of working with Craig to being a college basketball player facing off against Michael Jordan. “This whole thing has been a fever dream,” he says, eyes wide.
Queer is in limited theaters now.
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