Drew Starkey's Surprising Inspiration for His Upcoming 'Queer' Performance

Actor Drew Starkey named his surprise inspiration for his upcoming turn in Luca Guadagnino's "Queer."

Starkey, who is mostly known for "Outer Banks," "Love, Simon," and "The Hate U Give," will play the object of Daniel Craig's affection in the film.

Craig plays a man suffering from drug withdrawals who involves himself with Starkey as his new infatuation. Starkey reportedly makes a star-making turn in the role, and he has said he watched the 1990 French film "Beau Travail" to prepare.

"I remember watching that before filming, you know, Claire Denis. Something about that film I think has some strange parallel to this," said Starkey in an interview with IndieWire at the Toronto International Film Festival.

"I felt very honored to work with these people," Starkey said about working with Craig and Guadagnino. The film also stars pop star Omar Apollo. "I look up to real giants of [this] creative field, and I hope I get to keep doing it."

"Queer" has been making headlines for including "some of the most explicit gay sex scenes I can remember in any mainstream movie."

According to Starkey, he and Craig got straight to the sex scenes without any chemistry tests.

"When you're rolling around on the floor with someone the second day of knowing each other, that's a good way to get to know someone," said Starkey. After a table read, things were off to the races.

"That was a good way to get everyone in the room and see everybody and get my nerves out and just hear it out loud," he said. "That was the first time I met Daniel, and the rest of the cast was at this table read, and it was beautiful."

Fans will get to see it all play out soon enough after the film recently landed at A24 for distribution in the U.S.