Meet the Hot Men of 'Queer'
At the Venice Film Festival last year, goddesses like Nicole Kidman, Angelina Jolie, Cate Blanchett and Lady Gaga were keeping paparazzi and their cameras super busy, but on September 3, 2024, it was the men who commanded all the attention. Stepping out of their Venice vaporetti, looking dapper in borrowed suits, rented tuxedos—all in black or navy except the star—who wore a creme colored outfit--were the men starring in Luca Guadagnino's "Queer." In group photos, the lovely Lesley Manville was surrounded by a bevy of boy beauty.
Whether you're a fan of Guadagnino or not you have to admit he's pretty savvy at casting pretty men in his work. "Challengers," which opened early last year, gave us Josh O'Connor and Mike Faist in some of the hottest homoerotic scenes of the year. And lest we forget Timothée Chalamet and Armie Hammer in "Call Me By Your Name" back in 2017. Hmmm, in lieu of events, maybe we should forget it and concentrate on Guadagnino's queerest effort to date — the recently released "Queer."
His film is based on the Beat generation novella by William S. Burrough ("Naked Lunch"), written in the early 1950s but published in 1985. The script is written by "Challengers" scribe Justin Kuritzkes. Set in Mexico City, the story centers on gay American ex-pat Lee (Daniel Craig), who spends most of his time consuming large quantities of alcohol, shooting up heroin, and hitting on young men. He becomes obsessed with ex-Navy serviceman Eugene Allerton (Drew Starkey) who initially appears indifferent but gives in to Lee's seduction. Is he queer? Curious? Or just bored?
The cast is peppered with sexy dudes like Omar Apollo, who appears completely nude as one of Lee's many hook-ups, and Ariel Schulman as the ever-present man behind the bar, Tom Weston.
Thesps Colin Bates and Henrique (Henry) Zaga appear together in an early sequence with Craig, belittling him. They play Tom Williams and Winston Moor, respectively—two buddies, married to women, who are traveling south to build a boat. "I think we were closeted gay men...even though we don't like queers," Bates says, laughing at the irony. A few of their other scenes ended up on the cutting room floor. (FYI, the original cut delivered to the Venice Film Fest committee ran over 3 hours. The final release cut clocked in at 135 minutes).
A horny Jason Schwartzman, in a fat suit, as Lee's friend Frank, is also on hand, mostly for comic relief. And a hilarious Drew Droege, the actor and writer best-known for his hilarious impersonations of Chloë Sevigny, who makes so devastatingly cutting asides.
Here are just some of the hot men of "Queer."
Daniel Craig
Brit thesp Daniel Craig has already received Golden Globe and SAG nominations for his role in "Queer," and has played gay a few times before, most notably, opposite Derek Jacobi's Francis Bacon in John Maybury's "Love Is the Devil" in 1998. In that sumptuous film he also proved he wasn't afraid of doing nude scenes, of which, there are quite a few in "Queer." Craig's cool blue eyes, naked torso and tight swim shorts stunned audiences in his first (of 5) Bond films, "Casino Royale," as he emerged from the water. Recently, he's showed off his comedic talents as gay Detective Benoit Blanc in "Knives Out" and "Glass Onion." Up next, Craig is Blanc once again in the third installment, "Wake Up Dead Man."
Drew Starkey
This stunning actor was born in North Carolina and has numerous shorts and web series to his credit early in his career. He went on to supporting roles on TV and in indie films like "American Animals," the gay-themed rom-com, "Love, Simon," "The Hate U Give" and the 2022 remake of "Hellraiser," where he has a nude shower scene.
In the film, Starkey plays Eugene Allerton, a cool GI and American ex-pat, who doesn't see himself as queer as much as "disembodied." That doesn't stop him from having all kinds of gay sex with Craig's Lee.
Like Craig, Starkey identifies as straight but had no issues with playing those intense intimate scenes.
Omar Apollo
In a significant scene in "Queer," Craig's Lee picks up yummy hustler Omar Apollo in a bar and brings him back to his place. It's arguably the hottest moment in the film. Apollo goes full frontal and then shows off his tattooed glutes as he is pleasured by Craig. The openly gay, Grammy-nominated singer/songwriter has release two critically acclaimed studio albums. His penned track, "3 Boys," appears on the "Red, White & Royal Blue" soundtrack. "Queer" represents Apollo's acting debut.
Colin Bates
Brit-American actor Colin Bates began his career in the title role of the West End production of "Billy Elliot The Musical" on the West End. He's been rather ubiquitous the last decade on stage, screen and TV and in queer-themed films like the moving "T11 Incomplete," in 2020, and the kinky "Exploited, in 2022" He recently appeared on Broadway in the Bob Dylan musical, "Girl from North Country."
Bates may only appear in one scene in "Queer," but he makes quite an impression. "I feel honored that I made the cut, Bates states, "directors don't owe anything to actors. I think sometimes it's a better film when it's cut down—most the time, it's better if they can kill their darlings."
He can next be seen in "Mare of Easttown" creator Brad Ingelsby's upcoming HBO series, "Task," starring Mark Ruffalo. "It's a great part," Bates exclaims, "very different from "Queer." I'm a motorcycle gang baddie!" He will also be co-starring in an Amazon original film, "Carjackers."
The handsome actor identifies as straight. "That doesn't mean that I haven't had experiences, experimented...have explored," he offers.
Henrique Zaga
Also, too-briefly seen in "Queer," is hunky Henrique Zaga, sometimes, Henry, who is of Spanish, Italian and Brazilian descent.
Television fans will immediately recognize him as Josh Diaz from "Teen Wolf," Brad on "13 Reasons Why," Nick in the remake of Stephen King's "The Stand" and, most recently, Tristan on "Nancy Drew." His first major starring role was in the 2022 Netflix rom-com, "Beyond the Universe."
Up next he will be seen in "Warfare," written and directed by Ray Mendoza and Alex Garland based on former Navy-seal Mendoza's experiences during the Iraq War. The cast includes Kit Connor, Noah Centineo, Charles Melton and Cosmo Jarvis—a cornucopia of hotness.
Ariel Schulman
The role of Tom Weston, the real-life dude who ran The Ship Ahoy bar, is played by actor/filmmaker Ariel Schulman.
Schulman, along with his directing partner Henry Joost, are responsible for the doc, "Catfish," which premiered at the 2010 Sundance Film Festival and brought a new word into our vernacular. Their second feature, "Paranormal Activity 3," had the highest grossing horror opening weekend of all time. The duo co-directed the 2020 Netflix superhero thriller, "Project Power," starring Jamie Foxx and Joseph Gordon-Levitt.