Daniel Craig Set to Star in Adaptation of William S. Burroughs’ ‘Queer’

Daniel Craig is attached to the upcoming film Queer. While the project is still in the early stages of development, with IMDB Pro listing it as in the “Pitch” stage, Craig has already signed on to the project.

The film, which will be directed by Luca Guadagnino, is an adaptation of William S. Burroughs’ 1985 novel titled Queer. The book follows the self-conscious and insecure Lee, who befriends and pursues a recently-discharged American Navy serviceman called Allerton.

The Story Behind Queer

The novel is a sequel to the author’s semi-autobiographical novel Junkie: Confessions of an Unredeemed Drug Addict. And Burroughs, who wrote the book in the early 1950s (more than 30 years before it was published), noted that the story represents his life after heroin.

The project has been floating around Hollywood for over a decade now. A previous iteration was in the works with Steve Buscemi set to direct. Stanley Tucci, Ben Foster and John Ventimiglia had all signed on to star back in 2011.

What’s Next for Daniel Craig?

Fans can except to see Daniel Craig in a number of projects before Queer releases. He’s currently starring in the Knives Out sequel, Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery, which debuts on Netflix on December 23, 2022. He’ll also return for the franchise’s third film, which is expected to release in 2024. Though, director/writer Rian Johnson has yet to begin writing the flick.

Additionally, Craig will also star in Todd Field’s The Creed of Violence. He’ll play Rawbone in the action-crime-drama.

After the success of last year’s No Time To Die, Craig has also been talking about his decision to wrap up his time as James Bond, noting that he knew he wanted the character to die since he was first cast in Casino Royale in 2006.

“I was driving away from the Berlin premiere of ‘Casino Royale’ with Barbara Broccoli,” Craig recalls. “I had genuinely thought I would do one Bond movie, then it would be over. But by then we knew we had a hit on our hands. I realized the enormity of it, so I said to Barbara, ‘How many more? Three? Four?’ She said, ‘Four!’ I said, ‘OK. Then can I kill him off?’ She said, ‘Yes.'”

Despite the verbal agreement, Craig did return for a fifth film, 2021’s No Time To Die. 

“I said, “This is it. I don’t want to do any more,'” Craig recalls. “If we kill Bond, we can begin again. I think Barbara thought that too.”

“But, bless them, the studio, MGM, were, like, ‘What are you talking about? Are you out of your minds?’ There was reluctance. So we had to do it in secret, really.” Craig adds.