2024 is shaping up to be quite the year for Italian filmmaker Luca Guadagnino (“Suspiria”). Following on the heels of his new gay romance drama, “Separate Rooms,” which was announced yesterday and starred Josh O’Connor, the “Call Me By Your Name” director has yet another new project in the works, this one with A-lister Julia Roberts.
Deadline reports that Guadagnino is teaming up with Roberts for a thriller called “After The Hunt” from screenwriter Nora Garrett, which landed at Amazon MGM Studios. Garrett is an L.A. writer, actress, and director, and this is her first produced screenplay, which is quite the feather in her cap.
The film is an intense dramatic thriller about a college professor (Roberts) who finds herself at a personal and professional crossroads when a star pupil levels an accusation against one of her colleagues, and a dark secret from her own past threatens to come to light.
Robert is coming off Sam Esmail’s well-regarded thriller, “Leave The World Behind,” and it seems she’s been only stepping in front of the camera lately when a good, top-shelf filmmaker is involved. Clearly, Guadagnino fits that bill.
The filmmaker has been on quite a productive tear recently, and 2024 could be his busiest year. Coming in April is his tennis/love-triangle comedy “Challengers,” which features Zendaya, the aforementioned Josh O’Connor, and Mike Faist, the breakout supporting cast member of Steven Spielberg’s “West Side Story.”
Already in the can and waiting in the wings is the filmmaker’s adaptation of William S. Burroughs’ “Queer” starring Daniel Craig and Drew Starkey (“The Hate U Give”). Shot last year, “Queer” has been in post-production for months, and the expectation is that it will be ready to premiere during the fall film festival circuit and presumably Venice, given the relationship that Guadagnino already has with the Lido.
Since 2017, Guadagnino has shot five feature films, a documentary, an HBO series (2020’s “We Are Who We Are”), and two short films, not to mention many of the commercials he’s made. The man is a workhorse, and while it’s unknown if “Queer” will get a domestic release making for two Guadagnino films in one year, it seems like a good bet that it’ll at least make its festival debut this fall, a feat most filmmakers rarely accomplish.
