Daniel Craig and Queer screenwriter Justin Kuritzkes speak to Melissa Nathoo about script re-writes, Drew Starkey and dancing in Queer. Report by Nathoom. Like us on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/itn and follow us on Twitter at http://twitter.com/itn
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00:00You must look at what Drew's doing.
00:01If my hamstrings hold out, I'll give it a go.
00:04When I come along and go, I'm not saying that.
00:06It's like awful.
00:07Guys, lovely to see you.
00:08And you.
00:08Good to see you too.
00:09Luca really does make art, doesn't he?
00:11These films are just incredible.
00:14But Daniel, I'm curious when you take on a role like this,
00:17do you have a discussion with your family first about it?
00:21They're quite used to it.
00:21Yeah.
00:23It's still one of your most daring roles, though, I would say today, right?
00:26I mean, you might say that.
00:28I don't know.
00:28I don't know about that.
00:29How much do you two have a discussion, though, as well,
00:32to fully understand who Lee is?
00:35Like, before you're going into this, do you have much of a discussion?
00:38We rehearsed, didn't we?
00:39I mean, what rehearsal really has a lot to do with it
00:41is a lot of just breaking the ice.
00:43I mean, because you don't get,
00:45it's not like a play where you get weeks of rehearsal
00:47and get to know each other and then perform.
00:49You basically get thrown together and you have to perform.
00:53So the luxury of a rehearsal period on a film
00:56is often just about saying the words out loud.
00:58Maybe they sound, getting the feel of them.
01:01And then looking at bits of the text and sort of saying,
01:05I can't say that, Justin.
01:07And you go, OK, I'll rewrite it.
01:09I mean, I'm being crass.
01:11But the fact of it is that you do, we tweak it.
01:14And is it OK if I say this?
01:15And can I say this?
01:16And do you mind?
01:17And it's also respect.
01:18It's just back and forward respect to sort of,
01:21Justin's put all this incredible hard work into this.
01:23And I come along and go, I'm not saying that.
01:25It's, like, awful.
01:26So I want to kind of say to him, is it OK if I mess around
01:29with it and do things?
01:30Yeah, I was going to say, you don't feel precious about it
01:33when they want to make changes.
01:34Not when you have an actor like Daniel
01:36or when you have a director like Luca.
01:38And thankfully, what I was really
01:40amazed by with everybody who showed up to make this movie,
01:43but specifically with Daniel, is that they had all
01:46done so much serious work on their own
01:48before they showed up.
01:49And so the characters were already just fully inhabited,
01:53which is a joy as a writer.
01:56Because you're showing up, and you're
01:57seeing something that's full already.
01:59Yeah, you really got the best people for this.
02:01Yeah.
02:02Absolutely.
02:03And speaking of which, the internet loves Drew.
02:06I mean, they love him.
02:07Apparently.
02:07Apparently.
02:08I wouldn't know.
02:09Yeah.
02:09You don't search?
02:10Apparently.
02:11Yeah.
02:11You mean you're not, yeah.
02:12You must know what Drew's doing.
02:14But did he surprise you when he came on set
02:17and when you worked with him for the first time?
02:19No, it's not that he surprised me.
02:21I'd seen a tape of him that Luca, I mean,
02:23Luca was pretty convinced that he was the right person.
02:25I saw the tape of him, and I was immediately convinced.
02:28I met him about two weeks before we actually all
02:31went out to Italy to start rehearsing.
02:34There's a sequence of ayahuasca in that movie, which
02:36is a dance sequence, basically.
02:39And we started rehearsing that dance sequence very early
02:42on in New York.
02:43And we got to know each other.
02:44And I'd met a young, passionate, kind, dedicated young actor
02:52who I thought, he's the guy.
02:54And we laughed immediately.
02:55So, you know, you kind of just know it's going to be OK.
02:58Yeah.
02:59It's genuinely like the two of you are magic on screen.
03:02Oh, isn't that lovely?
03:03That's lovely.
03:04But also, I would really hope that we
03:06see more Dancing Daniel in all future projects
03:09going forward.
03:10Every single one.
03:11If my hamstrings hold out, I'll give it a go.
03:14Every single one, I absolutely love.
03:16So thank you so much.
03:17And good luck.
03:18And congratulations on the awards nomination as well.
03:20Thank you so much.
03:21It's been a real pleasure.