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Guy Pearce, Ben Foster & Kelly MacDonald in Steve Buscemi's 'Queer'

by Ethan Anderton
November 3, 2011
Source: Vulture

About a year and a half ago, it was revealed that actor Steve Buscemi would return to the director's chair with an adaptation of William S. Burroughs' novel Queer, which has been adapted for the screen by The Messenger director Oren Moverman. Since then we haven't heard much on the development for this semi-autobigraphical story. Now a cast has come together for the film as Vulture spoke to Moverman last night who said Guy Pearce, Ben Foster and Kelly MacDonald will star in the film which Moverman says is about "Burroughs kind of discovering himself as a writer by being obsessed with this boy." Read on!

More specifically, Queer tells the story of a young variation of Burroughs named Lee, who is living as en expatriate in Mexico in the 1950s with an alcoholic wife, two rambunctious children, while he also seeks out other men for sexual encounters and relationship. The film focuses on his pursuit of a young man named Allerton and his efforts to find plants to produce yage, which they believe can help people find an inner truth. Moverman first adapted the book over ten years ago, and while he's excited to have a cast coming together, the writer/director warns:

"It's still in the early stages of the actual making because Steve, as you know, is a little busy with his show he's doing on HBO. But once he has his hiatus next time around, after the next season, we're going to go shoot this movie. God willing."

Obviously Buscemi is keen on MacDonald after working on "Boardwalk Empire," the HBO show Moverman mentions above. As for Foster's casting, well he was involved with an on-stage reading of the script at the Sarasota Film Festival back in 2010, so his involvement isn't all that surprising. It remains to be seen whether Stanley Tucci, John Ventimiglia (The Funeral) and Lisa Joyce (The Messenger), who also read the script on stage at the time, will end up being cast in the film. Either way, Guy Pearce is certainly a welcome addition to any film, especially one with Buscemi at the helm. Here's hoping it all comes together soon.

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