For those who wept by the end of Call Me By Your Name, longing for more of Luca Guadagnino’s masterclass in onscreen gay romance, there’s news that’ll hopefully tame your hearts.
Armie Hammer, co-star of the 2017 Oscar-nominated film confirmed to Variety that a sequel to the queer romantic drama “will happen” in due time.
“It will happen because there are already people working on it and trying to make it happen,” Hammer told the publication on Sunday, teasing audiences while tip-toeing around detail.
“How much do I know and how much could I tell you are two very different things I know a lot, but I can’t tell you anything.”
The interview took place at Variety Studio during Hammer’s attendance at the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF), while he was promoting his latest real-life drama Hotel Mumbai.
He told journalist Marc Malkin that “a follow-up would take place in the early 1990’s, about five years after the original time, and will touch upon the early years of the AIDS epidemic”.
The previous film took place during the summer of 1983.
Timothée Chalamet in Call Me by Your Name (2017).
This change in direction could drag the series into that unfortunately common trope known as Bury Your Gays — where the history of onscreen gay romances has shown that, by and large, these forms of relationships always end in a tragedy outside the control of the characters, which critics argue is biased towards heterosexuality.
Could this turn away certain fans of the series who appreciated the film’s reverence of the LGBT, evidenced in a beloved monologue from actor Michael Stuhlbarg, than its bleak final moments throughout the credits?
Guadagnino has shown tremendous excitement for a sequel with Hammer and his co-star Timothée Chalamet.
The chosen setting, consistent with the novels by author André Aciman could require waiting for the actors to naturally age or the use of effects to present themselves older.
What the director goes with has yet to be seen, but he has Hammer’s support.
“More than anything I trust the artistic direction to Luca and [novelist] André Aciman and to those guys who did such a good job handling it the first time around,” Hammer continued.
Timothée Chalamet and Armie Hammer in Call Me by Your Name (2017).
“The only thing I want to see is I want to see it happen. I want to do it again.”
“I miss the whole crew,” he added.
“It was such a special time. It was such a collaborative, unique, and totally immersive filming experience that I never really had, nor since.
“If we get to do another one, I’ll feel really lucky.”
He joked that he continues to receive peached-theme gifts, a reference to a sexual scene involving fruit that is not for the faint of heart (or stomach).
It does obviously show the love of the series is magnetic.
“I’m pretty sure the peach industry saw what we did to the peaches and was like, ‘We can’t go there,’” Hammer laughed, “Peaches — they’ve got a variety of uses.”
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