Call Me By Your Name Writer Explains Shia LaBeouf Casting Controversy - Screen Rant
Call Me by Your Name screenwriter James Ivory reveals the story behind Shia LaBeouf's near-casting. Based on the novel by Andre Aciman, Call Me by Your Name was brought to the big screen in 2017 by director Luca Guadagnino. It starred Timothée Chalamet in his breakout role of Elio Perlman, a seventeen-year-old boy who falls in love with his father's research assistant (Armie Hammer) over the course of one hazy Italian summer. Call Me by Your Name was a breakout success, grossing $41.9 million on a budget of $3.5 million on its way to earning four Oscar nominations. Ivory won the award for best adapted screenplay.
Call Me by Your Name's surprise success led to discussions of a sequel, with Guadagnino professing he would like to see it happen. Aciman published a follow-up book in 2019, though it seemed like the movie would follow a different story. In 2020, Guadagnino suggested Call Me by Your Name 2 had been delayed by the coronavirus pandemic, and then later hinted it's not a priority for him. As of the time of this writing, the fate of the sequel remains up in the air.
While fans wait for more news about the sequel, Ivory is drawing attention back to the first Call Me by Your Name with his new memoir, titled Solid Ivory. In an excerpt shared by GQ, the prolific writer once again touched upon the movie's lack of full-frontal nudity (something he has criticized before), and revealed new details about the near-casting of Shia LaBeouf. There was a time when LaBeouf was considered for the part of Oliver, which eventually went to Hammer. Ivory shared the behind the scenes story of this, writing:
Shia LaBeouf was also dropped like that. He had been contacted for the part of Oliver. At this, I was doubtful. I didn't know much about him, so I watched some of his films. He's an extremely good actor. But as an academic writing about the Greek philosopher Heraclitus, he would be a stretch. Well, I thought, he would be a sort of diamond-in-the-rough-scholar type, like my friend Bruce Anawalt. Shia came to read for us in New York with Timothée Chalamet, paying for his own plane ticket, and Luca and I had been blown away. The reading by the two young actors had been sensational; they made a very convincing hot couple. But then, too, Shia was dropped. He had had some bad publicity. He'd fought with his girlfriend; he'd fended off the police somewhere when they had tried to calm him down. And Luca would not call him, or his agent. I emailed Shia to offer reassurance, but then Luca cast Armie Hammer and never spoke to, or of, Shia again.
This would have been back in 2015-2016. Since then, LaBeouf has been sued for alleged sexual battery and assault by his ex-girlfriend FKA Twigs, which led to Netflix removing him from their awards campaign for the film Pieces of a Woman earlier this year. He was also fired from Olivia Wilde's Don't Worry Darling after reportedly acting difficult on set. LaBeouf's Call Me by Your Name exit was years before all this, but controversies have been following the actor for a while. It's probably safe to say Call Me by Your Name was better off without him.
Ironically, Hammer himself has recently endured a fall from grace. Earlier this year, Hammer was accused of sexual assault and abusive behavior by a number of women, a movement that was partially triggered by the leaking of several strange DMs. Following that, Hammer was dropped from a number of projects like Shotgun Wedding and the Broadway play The Minutes. Circling back to the Call Me by Your Name sequel, it seems unlikely that it could ever happen with Hammer back in the role of Oliver. It's somewhat sad to see Call Me by Your Name managed to avoid one controversial actor only to end up with another, but at least the movie itself remains a fond memory for those who love it.
Source: GQ
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