Daniel Craig told director Luca Guadagnino that he was “up for anything” required for romance drama Queer.

In the upcoming film, the former James Bond actor plays an American expat in 1940s Mexico City who becomes infatuated with a younger man named Allerton, played by Outer Banks star Drew Starkey.

The Call Me By Your Name director told Variety that he thought about Craig for the role but “never dare(d) to ask” until the agent Bryan Lourd convinced him the British actor would be up for the project.

“(Lourd) said, ‘What about Daniel Craig?’ I said, ‘Well, I thought about him, but I don’t know. I would never dare to ask.’ He goes like, ‘Why? He would love that.’ And I said, ‘Wow! Would you give it to him?’ He said, ‘Sure,'” he recalled. “He gave the script to Daniel, and Daniel and I were on the phone a week later. Then, a week passed, and he was in the movie.”

The Italian director noted that Craig wasn’t fazed by the explicit content in the movie, which required him to participate in full-on sex scenes.

“Daniel is this incredible icon that has drawn audiences all over the world and will do that forever through James Bond,” Guadagnino praised. “He is, honestly, one of the great actors of his generation: so subtle, so profound and yet so beautifully universal. So when he said, ‘Yeah, I’m up for it, and I’m up for anything that is required for me to be doing in this movie,’ I really felt like: ‘You know what? I’m a lucky guy.'”

Queer, based on the novella of the same name by William S. Burroughs, will premiere at the Venice Film Festival on Tuesday. It is competing for the Golden Lion for best film.

© Cover Media