Following ecstatic receptions at Sundance, the Toronto International Film Festival and the New York Film Festival, Luca Guadagnino’s “Call Me By Your Name” continues to garner rave reviews. With this love story between a teenage Italian boy named Elio (Timothée Chalamet), and an American summer guest Oliver (Armie Hammer) staying at his parents’ cliffside mansion, Guadagnino has made one of the best movies of the year. Sensual, sexy, and touching, it’s a film that is simply told, but is filled with intense emotions as Gudagnino lingers on the sheen of sweat that shimmers in an southern Italian summer filled with first love. Armie Hammer’s performance is a career-peak and merits every award destined to come his way this season. Ditto newcomer Chalamet, who also stars in Greta Gerwig’s Telluride-crowning “Lady Bird.” This is an erotic and mesmerizing movie that exemplifies cinematic artistry in scope, theme and tone.
It wouldn’t make sense to touch this masterpiece any further in any way, shape and form, but it seems like Guadagnino has a plan; a sequel which would be set seven years after the events of ‘CMBYN.’ Guadagnino sat down at the BFI London Film Festival, where “Call Me By Your Name” played as a gala, and gave details about his plans for the follow-up.
READ MORE: Luca Guadagnino Talks ‘Call Me By Your Name’ And ‘Suspiria’
“I want to do a sequel because Timothée Chalamet, Armie Hammer, Michael Stuhlbarg, Amira Casar, Esther Garrel – they are all gems,” he told ScreenDaily. “The texture we built together is very consistent. We created a place in which you believe in the world before them. They are young but they are growing up.If I paired the age of Elio in the film with the age of Timothée, in three years’ time Timothée will be 25, as would Elio by the time the second story was set.”
Asked on whether it would be a gay-themed movie again, the Italian writer-director said he isn’t sure: “I don’t think Elio is necessarily going to become a gay man. He hasn’t found his place yet. I can tell you that I believe that he would start an intense relationship with Marzia [Esther Garrel’s character] again.”
Guadagnino added that ideally he’d want the second film to be released in 2020. In André Aciman’s novel, Elio and Oliver meet up 15 years later in the U.S. Oliver is married with a wife and children. The action would also be taking place in 1990; it could bring a whole new level of political dimension to the film as Europe deals with the end of the Soviet Union and the demolishment of the Berlin wall:
“It is the time of the fall of communism and the start of the new world order and the so-called ’The End of History’ that Francis Fukuyama established then. It would be the beginning of the Berlusconi era in Italy and it would mean dealing with the war of Iraq.”
As with any film arthouse sequel dealing with a young man, comparisons would be made to Francois Truffault‘s “The 400 Blows.”
“It would be that the screen and real life could talk to one another and it would be good to see how this evolves, which is what Truffaut did with Antoine Doinel. I think we can go there.”
The intended release date of 2020 should work well and won’t conflict with Guadagnino’s next movie, a remake of Dario Argento‘s classic red-drenched horror movie “Suspira.” That film’s production has been completed with, last we heard, some finishing touches being made on the Thom Yorke-helmed soundtrack. [ScreenDaily]