Luca Guadagnino (born 10 August 1971) is an Italian director best known for his work on intimate, emotionally complex dramas with stunning visuals.
His thematic Desire trilogy — 2009's I Am Love, 2015's A Bigger Splash in 2015, and 2017's Call Me by Your Name — brought him significant acclaim and international recognition. The lattermost film, based on the novel by Andre Aciman, is perhaps his most recognized and celebrated work to date. It was nominated for four Academy Awards (Best Picture, Best Actor for Timothée Chalamet, Best Original Song for Sufjan Stevens' "Mystery of Love", and Best Adapted Screenplay for James Ivory), and won for Best Adapted Screenplay.
Guadagnino followed this success in 2018 with a remake of the 1977 Dario Argento horror film Suspiria, starring Tilda Swinton (who had previously starred in I Am Love and A Bigger Splash) and Dakota Johnson (who he also worked with in A Bigger Splash). He returned in 2022 with the romantic horror Bones & All; his next film, a romantic sports comedy titled Challengers, is scheduled for release on April 26, 2024.
Future projects Guadagnino is currently signed on to direct include an adaptation of Lord of the Flies (written by Patrick Ness), a remake of Scarface (written by The Coen Brothers), an adaptation of the William S. Burroughs novel Queer starring Daniel Craig, and a biopic about Audrey Hepburn starring Rooney Mara.
Selected filmography:
[ D = Director; W = Writer; P = Producer; C = Creator ]
Film:
- The Protagonists (1999) DW
- Melissa P. (2005) DW
- I Am Love (2009) DWP
- Bertolucci on Bertolucci (2013) P
- A Bigger Splash (2015) DP
- Call Me by Your Name (2017) DP
- Suspiria (2018) DP
- Bones & All (2022) DP
- Challengers (2024) DP
- Queer (2024) DP
Television:
- We Are Who We Are (2020) DWPC
He provides examples of:
- Author Phobia: Guadagnino never learned how to swim, with the end result of bad things happening in or around pools in his films, such as Melissa being taken advantage of sexually near one in Melissa P., Edoardo dying after hitting his head on the poolside in I Am Love and Paul accidentally drowning Harry in A Bigger Splash. Call Me By Your Name averts this, and it has a much smaller pool than the previous examples.
- Benevolent Boss: Many actors have nothing but nice things to say about working with him, and he'll cook dinner for the cast and try his hardest to create a positive atmosphere on set.
- Production Posse: Tilda Swinton, Dakota Johnson, Timothée Chalamet, screenwriter David Kajganich, editor/co-writer Walter Fasano and cinematographers Yorick Le Saux and Sayombhu Mukdeeprom (also a Production Posse of Thai director Apitchapong Weerasethakul).
- Thematic Series: His "Desire" trilogy of films, which is comprised of I Am Love, A Bigger Splash, and Call Me By Your Name.
- What Could Have Been: He was set to write and direct a new version of Scarface (after the 1932 and 1983 films). He announced giving up on it in November 2023.
