HOLLYWOOD – Luca Guadagnino’s Call Me by Your Name is to be remade as a heterosexual love story.
Set in Italy in 1983, Call Me by Your Name chronicles the romantic relationship between a 17-year-old Italian-American boy, Elio Perlman, and his father’s American assistant, Oliver. Timothée Chalamet and Armi Hammer star and the film has received critical praise and even Oscar buzz. Now it looks like a remake is in the offing, but with a twist. A source close to the remake told the Studio Exec:
We love the piece and we want to see what it would look like as a heterosexual love story. After all, the themes themselves are universal and not specific to any particular sexual orientation.
Ellen Page and Zachary Quinto have signed on to play the two leads. Quinto spoke to Studio Exec about the role:
Normally it isn’t something that would attract me. But the novel is so strong and I like the challenge of playing a straight man who isn’t Vulcan.
Ellen Page countered criticism that the new film is swapping over the sexuality.
I think it is proof of how much progress we’ve made that it honestly doesn’t matter one bit if this story is gay or straight. It’s all love after all.
The remake is only the latest in a series of ‘re-straights’ – Heterosexual versions of gay movies – that have taken Hollywood by storm. The success of Healthy Back Mountain in 2016 began the trend, which was swiftly followed by Daryl – a remake of Todd Haynes’ Carol – and Blue is NOT the Warmest Color.