Call Me By Your Name is an upcoming film about summer love between a 24-year-old American and a 17-year-old on the Italian Riviera in 1983. It is based on the novel of the same name by André Aciman.

 

The scene where the character Elio masturbates with a peach, which Oliver then tastes, is part of the final film. However, all other sex scenes will not make it onto the big screen. 

 

“I wasn’t interested at all," said openly gay director Luca Guadagnino. "The tone would’ve been very different from what I was looking for. I wanted the audience to completely rely on the emotional travel of these people and feel first love. I didn’t want the audience to find any difference or discrimination toward these characters. It was important to me to create this powerful universality, because the whole idea of the movie is that the other person makes you beautiful -- enlightens you, elevates you.”

 

Guadagnino was criticized for choosing to cast two straight actors to play the gay leads.

 

“This film is about the blossoming of love and desire, no matter where it comes from and toward what. So I couldn’t have ever thought of casting with any sort of gender agenda. I think people are so beautiful and complex as creatures that as much as I am fascinated with gender theory -- I’ve studied [American gender theorist] Judith Butler for so long -- I prefer much more never to investigate or label my performers in any way.

 

“I only cast the actors and actresses I fall in love with -- truly having an emotion for them, an anticipation and enthusiasm when seeing them -- and I believe that my emotional confidence in them blends into chemistry. It’s always been like that, and I hope I won’t be wrong in the future.”

 

Call Me By Your Name will be officially released in the US on November 24, 2017, but will tour before that at several film festivals around the world.