'Outer Banks' Star Drew Starkey Joins Indie Drama 'Queer' Alongside Daniel Craig; Jason Schwartzman & Lesley Manville Also Join Cast

by Darian Scalamoni

    We had reported back in December that Daniel Craig aka 007 himself is transitioning from the iconic role of James Bond to more of an indie spin with his next project, Queer. Now, we have news on who will be joining him in the cast.

    Variety reports that Drew Starkey (Outer Banks), Lesley Manville (Phantom Thread), Jason Schwartzman (Moonrise Kingdom) and Henry Zaga (The New Mutants) have joined the cast for the film. Starkey will play the previously reported role of the young man that Craig's character is infatuated with and hopes to get romantically entangled with. The film is directed by Luca Guadagnino (Call Me by Your Name) and will begin shooting this weekend.

    The film is based on the William S. Burroughs novel of the same name that was written between 1951 and 1953, however, wasn't released until 1985. Set against the backdrop of Mexico City in the 1940s, it's a semi-autobiographical story of a man named Lee who is wandering around the city's bar scene to become obsessed with a younger discharged, drug-addled American Navy serviceman named Allerton. It seems like a role made for Starkey to breakout as he's been best known for his role as Rafe Cameron in the popular Netflix series, Outer Banks.

    Schwartzman is a frequent collaborator with filmmaker Wes Anderson, having starred in six of his previous projects. He'll also star alongside Scarlett Johansson and Tom Hanks in Anderson's upcoming film, Asteroid City. Schwartzman will also voice the villain known as The Spot in Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse and appear in Francis Ford Coppola's upcoming project, Megalopolis.

    Manville is Oscar-nominated actress whose best known for her roles as Cyril in Paul Thomas Anderson's film, Phantom Thread as well as her role as Princess Diana in the last season of The Crown. She'll appear in Prime Video's upcoming big-budget action series Citadel which debuts this Friday. She'll also star alongside Cate Blanchett, Sacha Baron Cohen and Kevin Kline in Apple series, Disclaimer.

    Zaga is best known for his role in one of the final Fox X-Men films, The New Mutants as Sunspot. He has a pretty solid slate of upcoming projects, in addition to Queer, he'll appear in the upcoming Apple series, The Crowded Room which premieres June 9. He'll also star in The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare, which we previously reported on alongside Henry Cavill and Henry Golding.