‘Queer’: Why Fashion Designer Jonathan Anderson Was Consulted About Casting Drew Starkey

After a collaboration on the modern-day tennis romance “Challengers,” director Luca Guadagnino turned again to Jonathan Anderson for the costume design of his next film, “Queer,” starring Daniel Craig and Drew Starkey.

“Queer” is an adaptation of William S. Burrough’s auto-fiction about alter ego Lee (Craig), a middle-aged drug addict wandering through Mexico City in the late 1940s. For Anderson, the famed creative director of Loewe and JW Anderson, this period-specific assignment expanded his imagination about what could be achieved within the guardrails of mid-century wardrobe.

The clothes worn by Lee and Allerton (Starkey), a figure of Lee’s obsession in the story, were designed to evoke the essence of the characters. Lee’s white suit, for example, turns browner as the plot proceeds – and Anderson even had an idea, though unrealized, to stain the fabric with actual heroin. With Allerton, his translucent short-sleeved shirts foreshadow a drug-fantasia sequence late in the film, which challenges the notion of human layers.

During a conversation from Anderson’s London office on Zoom, we began by talking about his consultation while searching for the actor to play Allerton.

Director Luca Guadanigno has referred to you, with a smile, using the mafia term for trusted advisor, “consigliere.” And he wanted your advice on the casting of Allerton, right?
Yeah. I was in L.A., and then Luca called and was like, “I am going to meet this actor that I sent you the tape of. I want you to come and interview him.” And I was like, “What do I know?” But I walked in to meet them. I was with Luca and we were having breakfast with poor Drew, who was probably saying to himself, “What’s going on?” But we chatted for just a minute and I then said to Luca, “That’s him.”

He clearly trusts your understanding of the silhouette in fashion history – creating an illusion of a person through the cut of their clothes. You both knew that Allerton had to have an opaque, mysterious quality.
And a period era, 1950s face, which is very important but can be hard to get with contemporary actors. Luca had mentioned that they were searching so much to try to find the right guy. With Daniel Craig, who’s basically playing William S. Burroughs, there’s a lot to latch onto. But Allerton is unknowable and there is a certain ambiguity in Drew, which I noticed in his demeanor. That’s unusual to find this balance of a modern actor.

Is that common for Luca to seek advice from you?
Oh, that’s the most powerful thing about Luca. Not just for me. That he has complete belief in his crew and is able to pluck people who have never done things before and will entrust you implicitly. I’d never designed costumes for a movie before he asked me to do “Challengers.”

So when you go to Luca and you say, “What look do you want for this character?” he immediately says, “Show me what you want to do.” And I can’t speak for everybody, but I think that’s most people’s experience with him. I’ve actually stolen that from him and applied it to my day job.

Had you read “Queer” before this project?
I remember reading it when I was at university. At first, I was like, “What is this?” Burroughs is a mindf–k. But then I re-read it and saw everything differently. What is real and what is not real is a big part of it.

We all gild things up as we get older, especially in terms of remembering the past. I think we do this in relationships. Perhaps you met someone when you were younger and it was this magical moment, but we have an amazing ability for rose tinted glasses. The book speaks to that. And I think that’s why all of us who worked on “Queer” fell so deeply into the project.

Can you describe that?
Honestly, the experience really affected my life. In all different aspects. It really did something psychologically to me. I made big decisions in my life and none of it would have happened without this work. And I was on set in Cinecittà, in these built imaginary things, on a project which, as a gay person, I very much related to.

It was a very emotional process, because it was quite physical in terms of how much research into the time period was involved. But as the whole process was unfolding, I found it incredibly rewarding how I further understood myself and my job through a story about queer culture.

Whereas with “Challengers,” which I’m very proud of, I was a foreigner in this tennis world and I had to become completely obsessed in a very short period of time.

On your Instagram, you show a lot of the costumes and wardrobe tests from “Queer.” What was it like to meet Daniel Craig in Brooklyn for a fitting?
Before the fitting, I was absolutely petrified because it was my second job but this guy has done blockbusters for years. And there was me with this big rack of vintage clothing and I was trying to sell him on the idea that we were only going to have one garment for the whole movie. And he got it instantly. Long rack of suits and Daniel picked the right one. Yeah, he picked exactly the one that we wanted to use. He got the whole idea right away.

So that off white suit he wears, that’s the same suit for the whole movie?
Yeah, the idea was that everything had to fit in a suitcase. So we didn’t make duplicates. Everything was original, including the underwear and shoes and eyeglasses, from the period. We washed the clothes and sometimes didn’t wash the clothes, because the suit gets very dirty as the story goes on. I had this idea, which Luca thought was great, that Lee would start with a white shirt, like cocaine, and then as the shirt got darker and browner, it represents heroin.

“Challengers” and “Queer” are very different, but in both of them, the characters are living out of suitcases. And so the reappearance of the same clothes makes logical sense.
It’s very interesting. Actually, I didn’t think about the living-out-of-suitcases idea for “Challengers” but it is absolutely true. You know, on a daily basis, we do not change outfits six times a day, unless you’ve got a whole lotta time on your hands. I really wanted a reappearance of these clothing items because that is what we do. We find an outfit in life and we stick to it for certain time periods. Then perhaps we get bored and move on.

Allerton is wearing a dark blue sweater at one point, which he says he bought in Scotland. I like how specific it is.
Yeah, that’s straight from the novel. So Luca said that it had to be from Scotland. It had to be an authentic Shetland sweater, and I found one which had been made in 1950 in Scotland. It was the most subtle of things, but it’s so exciting during the creative process. Because I was like, wow, these things still do exist. They’re out there, someone’s got them.

And with Lee and that suit, the clothes really exemplify his character.
The undoneness, yeah. That’s a big part of it and that comes from researching Burroughs. And from researching Adelbert Lewis Marker, who was the inspiration for Allerton, and the contrast between the two men.

For me, it’s like Allerton fills garments. And then suddenly, as the camera gets closer, you realize that maybe it’s moth eaten. He looks perfect from a distance, but there’s a hole here and a stain there, but it’s doesn’t matter because there’s this inner glow so it all works.

But for Lee, it’s like there is a carcass that the clothing is just holding on to. There’s still a swagger within him, kind of like Patrick in “Challengers,” because there’s no care. He’s not pristine. When I watch “Queer” now, I feel like I can smell his suit. It reminds me of my grandfather. That smell of cigarettes and aftershave.

And if someone else senses that, then that’s what’s so rewarding. I’m just so proud and happy of these projects, “Challengers” and “Queer,” because I never even knew if I could costume design for films. But I’m grateful for Luca throwing me in the deep end.

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