Daniel Craig’s Queer has a three-hour cut – but fans won’t get to see it

Daniel Craig’s upcoming raunchy queer film, the aptly titled Queer, was originally set to be more than three hours long, but it has been cut by 65 minutes.

Directed by Call Me By Your Name’s Luca Guadagnino, the movie is set to premiere at the Venice Film Festival next week.

Now, the film festival’s artistic director, Alberto Barbera, has revealed that Queer originally had a running time of three hours and 20 minutes, but audiences will only see a 135-minute version.  And some of the content cut includes former James Bond star Craig wandering about the queer bars of Mexico in search of gay sex.

Speaking to Italian magazine Lucy Sulla Cultura, Barbera promised that Queer is the director’s “best film” bar none.

Given that Guadagnino was in the director’s chair for this year’s bisexual tennis threesome, Challengers, as well as Timothée Chalamet’s peach-pleasuring summer romp, that’s quite some vow.

“Daniel Craig has never been so good, impressive, the performance of a life time,” Barbera said. “I saw two versions of the film, the one we’re screening is the third, shorter one, it lasts two hours and a quarter.

“And I’m a little sorry, because I know what he cut: all of Craig’s wanderings in the gay clubs of Mexico City in the early 1950s, with this incredible fauna of homosexuals looking for adventures.

“I hope that sooner or later Guadagnino makes the director’s cut because there are some beautiful things,” he added – voicing the hopes of gay men everywhere.

In what has been dubbed the “performance of his career”, Craig plays William Lee, a drifter in the American expatriate scene in Mexico City.

Having fled a drugs bust in New Orleans, he finds himself hopping from bar to bar, in search of sex and thrills. Along the way, he falls head over heels for former sailor Eugene, played by Love, Simon star Drew Starkey.

Initially unmoved by Lee’s infatuation, Eugene eventually relents – only adding fuel to Lee’s obsession. The movie has already been confirmed to feature Craig and Starkey in some “quite-full-on” gay sex scenes.

And, earlier this month, fans got their first look at Craig in the role.

Queer is based on a semi-autobiographical novel by “beat generation” author William S. Burroughs, written in 1952 but not published until 1985.

Guadagnino’s film adaptation boasts a stellar supporting cast, including queer musician Omar Apollo, The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes star Jason Schwartzman and The Crown’s Lesley Manville.

Much like Challengers, Queer is already generating Oscar buzz, particularly for Craig’s performance – despite not having a release date yet. 

In order to qualify for the 2025 Oscars, films must be released to the public before the end of the year.

The Venice Film Festival begins on 28 August, with Queer set to screen on 3 September.

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