Did ‘Queer’ actors wear prosthetics in the film?

On By Littum

When it comes to sex in movies, one thing is for sure: at times, it can definitely shock us.

Granted, it’s not necessarily the type of shock that makes us clutch our pearls, but rather the type of shock that makes us wonder if we’ve accidentally put on another type of adult movie.

A recent example of a movie that made us blush is Queer by Luca Guadagnino, which was just released nationwide on December 13. We already knew that this would be a sexy and provocative film that would give us more nudity and sex than Guadagnino’s previous venture with Call me by your nameand the entire frontals in the film certainly delivered.

If you’re not familiar, the film is based on a 1985 short story of the same name by William S. Burroughs, which also serves as a partial sequel to his 1953 short story, Junkie. It centers around a US Navy SEAL, Eugene Allerton (Drew Starkey), who becomes the focus of obsession for the much older William Lee (Daniel Craig), an American expatriate and struggling drug addict in Mexico City.

Eventually, after some convincing from Craig’s character, the two end up heading out to South America in search of a telepathy-inducing psychedelic in the jungle. The journey between the two includes a lot of nudity, a lot of sex, and a lot of investment from the actors, including Omar Apollo, who made his film’s brief but notable film debut as one of Craig’s other on-screen lovers.

In a recent interview with TIMEGuadagnino, Craig, Starkey and Apollo all addressed the heavy sex, with Guadagnino saying, “To me, this isn’t about homosexuality or homosexuality, it’s more about: Are we ready for connection? What’s stopping these characters from having a complete connection?”

The full connection involves some very graphic and completely nude shots, during which Starkey admitted he used a prosthetic, a common practice to assist actors during sex scenes.

“We’re going to have to embarrass ourselves with each other,” Starkey said. “And have small performances in the choreography with each other. It has permeated everything.”

As for why he didn’t go to the front himself, Craig said of the others: “They’re young. They’re young and beautiful.” For the sex, he admitted they’ve been “going for that kind of vulnerability and keeping it as real as it possibly can be,” with hopes that translated well to the screen.

Apollo, on the other hand, neither confirmed nor denied whether he used one for his role. For now, we’ll just allow ourselves to pretend we saw it all.

Catch Queer out in theaters now, and keep an eye out for its streaming release.