Queer filming locations: Where was the period romantic drama filmed?

Luca Guadagnino's Queer follows a man at odds with himself. Based on William S. Burroughs’ eponymous novel, the film traces the path of an American man living in Mexico City as he falls for a young man. Daniel Craig stars as William Lee, Burrough's alter-ego, who is desperately searching for human connection. Drew Starkey plays Eugene Allerton, a young soldier, who seems like a solution for his misery.

Set in the 1950s, Justin Kuritzkes's narrative takes place mainly in Mexico and Ecuador. It reflects the surreal nature of Burroughs' writing, which translates to the screen, thanks to Guadagnino's team of creative collaborators.

For Queer, the filmmaker reunited with J. W. Anderson of Loewe for costume design and Sayombhu Mukdeeprom for cinematography. The former worked with him on Challengers while the latter worked on all his films since Call Me By Your Name. Their contribution, paired with production designer Stefano Baisi's valuable input allowed the film to be a fascinating representation of Burrough's writing. However, the film was almost entirely shot in the Cinecittà Studios in Rome, besides a few parts in Ecuador, Mexico, and some Italian locations.

Where was Daniel Craig's Queer filmed? Details explored about this romance drama

Luca Guadagnino's Queer is an LGBTQIA+-themed romance drama set in the middle of the 20th century. It is based on Burrough's novel, which some might find untranslatable to screen. However, Guadagnino pulled off this difficult task while using the following filming locations:

Cinecittà Studios, Italy

Guadagnino, who admired Burrough's literary work for decades, understood the nature of his writing. So, instead of using actual locations for the sake of realism, he decided to recreate the locations in Cinecittà Studios in Italy. This decision was reportedly in sync with the source material's literary style to depict these places.

Guadagnino elaborated on this topic in a press note shared by Our Era magazine:

“In my mind, the images and sets for Queer had to be coming through the eyes and mind of Burroughs. Thirty years after I started thinking about the novel as a movie, I was still committed to the idea of recreating Mexico City, Panama City, and Ecuador as if these were artificial places reflecting the anguish and desire and imagery of Burroughs’ source material.”

Stefano Baisi's architectural knowledge was crucial in this task since his sets brought dreamy, surreal townscapes from the novel to life. J. W. Anderson's in-depth knowledge of clothing from the 1940s and 50s helped it to be a faithful representation of the era.

Rome and Palermo, Italy

Sources say that some parts of Queer were shot on the streets of Rome, filled with traces of classic architecture. Otherwise, Guadagnino confirmed the filming in Palermo during his appearance on Indiewire's Filmmaker's Toolkit podcast:

“I was born there and I grew up in Palermo, and then I left at the age of 22 just a few years after I bumped into this book. When we started to conceive this place where he meets the botanist…I brought to the table the memory of these gardens and I said, ‘I think those botanical gardens are really perfect and ready. We don’t need anything.’”

Quito, Ecuador

Mexico and Ecuador, the key locations in the script were rarely used to shoot the film. However, some of its parts were reportedly shot in Quito, Ecuador, which appeared as a stand-in for Mexico. Some sources suggest that Mexico City was also a part of the filming locations.