Daniel Craig may be starring in a movie called Queer, but he only just learned what it means to queerbait.
During a new interview with The Guardian, journalist Ryan Gilbey brought up John Waters’ comments on the film for Vulture, which includes the line, “Daniel Craig may be queerbait for taking on the gay beatnik role of William Burroughs’s alter ego, but I’m all for it.”
That’s when Craig asked, “What’s ‘queerbait’?” Gilbey explained that some critics think straight actors shouldn’t play queer roles, and see it as baiting the queer community. But according to Craig, that topic was never considered when it came to Queer.
“It was never even discussed,” Craig said.
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Director Luca Guadagnino, who was also part of the interview, chimed in to add, “Sexuality is not one thing. Is it five things, is it seven? There is no such thing as ‘the gay.’”
Craig agreed, saying, “Sexuality is a very modern idea. … People’s sexuality, or whatever they desire, is as individual as a fingerprint.”
It’s that last line that caught the gay internet’s attention. Craig may be married to fellow actor Rachel Weisz, but he’s clearly not into labels. Might his “individual” sexuality be more expansive than the public assumes?
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Others latched onto his analogy, noting Craig’s unique relationship to fingerprints — namely, that he once chopped off the tip of his finger while filming the James Bond movie Quantum of Solace.
“It wasn’t as extreme as all that. I lost the pad,” he reportedly told Playboy at the time. “I was bleeding a lot. I had to get it cauterized. Filming stopped and everybody went, ‘Oh my God! He sliced the end of his finger off!’ They went looking for it, but couldn’t find it.”
That means Craig is either missing that fingerprint or at least had it altered by the slice and the cauterization. Does that mean his fingerprint simile has a hidden double meaning? … Well, probably not, but the gays can still dream.
Queer is already playing in select theaters, and is in theaters nationwide this Friday, December 13. Check out the trailer below.
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