Director Luca Guadagnino’s next film, Bones and All, tells the story of two cannibals who set out on a road trip across the United States in the 1980s. So it’s not surprising that some have already formed a link between the movie and Armie Hammer, who he worked with on Call Me By Your Name.
But Guadagnino has been quick to say that the supposed tie between Bones and All and the actor wasn’t intentional. In fact, he has been developing the script since 2020, the year before Hammer’s allegations came to light. Hammer has come under extreme scrutiny and Hollywood backlash stemming from alleged instances of physical abuse, rape and, yeah why not?, cannibalism.
In an interview with Deadline, Luca Guadagnino stated: “Any link with anything else exists only in the realm of social media, with which I do not engage. The relationship between this kind of digital muckraking and our wish to make this movie is non-existent and it should be met with a shrug. I would prefer to talk about what the film has to say, rather than things that have nothing to do with it.”
Luca Guadagnino also noted that moviegoers shouldn’t expect “shock value” with Bones and All, which the director states he despises and doesn’t want to use as a “tool for horror”. He also tried to distinguish Bones and All from horror movies as a whole, likening it to a degree to The Texas Chainsaw Massacre and The Exorcist–neither of which he considers horror but rather “a devastating portrait of America” and “a family drama”, respectively.
You can undoubtedly expect to catch shock value in the upcoming documentary House of Hammer, about the Hammer family’s legacy and downfall.
Bones and All stars Taylor Russell and Timothée Chalamet, who earned an Oscar nomination for Call Me By Your Name. Luca Guadagnino’s Bones and All will premiere at the Venice International Film Festival next month before it hits theaters this fall.