Luca Guadagnino

Luca Guadagnino (; born 10 August 1971) is an Italian filmmaker. He has collaborated a number of times with actress Tilda Swinton, including on the films "The Protagonists" (1999), "I Am Love" (2009), "A Bigger Splash" (2015) and "Suspiria" (2018), a remake of the 1977 film of the same name.
For directing and producing "Call Me by Your Name" (2017), Guadagnino received widespread critical acclaim and several accolades, including nominations for the Academy Award for Best Picture, Nastro d'Argento for Best Director, BAFTA Award for Best Direction and Best Film, and Golden Globe Award for Best Motion Picture – Drama.
Early life and education.
Guadagnino was born on 10 August 1971 in Palermo to an Italian father from Canicattì, Sicily, and an Algerian mother who grew up in Casablanca. He spent his early childhood in Ethiopia, where his father taught history and Italian literature at a technical school in Addis Ababa. The family left Ethiopia for Italy in 1977 to escape the Ethiopian Civil War, settling in Palermo.
Guadagnino became interested in filmmaking from around the age of nine, and started making amateur films after receiving a Super 8 camera from his mother. He developed a passion for cinema in earnest during adolescence and programmed VHS recordings of films shown on television. Some of the films cited as his early influences include "Psycho" (1960), "Suspiria" (1977) and "Starman" (1984). He also developed a particular fondness for the films of Ingmar Bergman.
Guadagnino studied literature at the University of Palermo. He then transferred to the Sapienza University of Rome and completed his degree in literature and cinema history, with a thesis on the American filmmaker Jonathan Demme.
Career.
Guadagnino made his directorial debut with the feature film "The Protagonists" (1999), which was presented at the Venice Film Festival. In 2002, he directed "Mundo Civilizado", presented at the Locarno Film Festival in 2003. His 2004 film "Cuoco Contadino" was presented at the Venice Film Festival, and "Melissa P." made a successful debut the following year.
"Desire trilogy" and other work.
In 2009, he directed, wrote, and produced the cult hit "I Am Love". Presented at a number of international festivals, the film was an immediate success with critics and audiences alike. In 2010, it was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Costume Design, the Golden Globe for Best Foreign Film, and the BAFTA Award for Best Film Not in the English Language.
In 2011, Guadagnino directed "Inconscio Italiano", a feature-length documentary film presented at the Locarno Film Festival. His work in documentary continued with "Bertolucci on Bertolucci" (2013), which was shown at the Venice Film Festival, the London Film Festival and Paris Cinemathèque, and 50 other festivals in 2013 and 2014. Co-directed with Walter Fasano, the documentary was made entirely from archival material and received top international accolades.
As producer he realized the well-received short film "Diarchia" (2010), directed by Ferdinando Cito Filomarino (who is Guadagnino's partner), which won the Pianifica prize at the Locarno Film Festival, received a special mention at the Sundance Film Festival in 2011, was nominated for Best Short Film at the European Film Awards, and won the prize for Best Director of a Short Film at the Nastri d'Argento. He also produced Filomarino's feature "Antonia." in 2015.
Guadagnino produced Edoardo Gabbriellini's feature film "Padroni di casa", presented at the Locarno Film Festival.
In 2015, Guadagnino directed the erotic thriller "A Bigger Splash", with Tilda Swinton, Matthias Schoenaerts, Ralph Fiennes and Dakota Johnson. The film premiered at the 72nd Venice Film Festival where it was a selection for the main competition. Guadagnino's next film was "Call Me by Your Name", an adaptation of André Aciman's novel of the same name, starring Timothée Chalamet, Armie Hammer, and Michael Stuhlbarg. Filming took place in Crema, Italy, in May and June 2016, and the film debuted at the 2017 Sundance Film Festival. It was theatrically released in the United Kingdom on 27 October 2017, and in the United States on 24 November.
In September 2015, Guadagnino announced at the 72nd Venice Film Festival his plans to direct a remake of Dario Argento's "Suspiria". Guadagnino set his version in Berlin circa 1977—the year in which the original film was released—and aimed to focus on "the concept [and...] uncompromising force of motherhood." Tilda Swinton and Dakota Johnson starred in the film, reuniting from Guadagnino's "A Bigger Splash". Shooting began in Italy in October 2016, and concluded on 10 March 2017, in Berlin. "Suspiria" premiered at the 75th Venice Film Festival and polarized critics.
In May 2017, it was announced Guadagnino was attached to direct "Rio" from a screenplay by Steven Knight, with Benedict Cumberbatch and Jake Gyllenhaal to star. In November 2017, Michelle Williams joined the project. However, as was revealed in a profile for The New Yorker, the timing did not work out and Guadagnino subsequently left the project.
In January 2019, it was announced Guadagnino had directed "The Staggering Girl" a short film, starring Julianne Moore, Kyle MacLachlan, Marthe Keller, KiKi Layne, Mia Goth and Alba Rohrwacher. The 35-minute short premiered during the 2019 Cannes Directors' Fortnight section.
In 2020, Guadagnino served as an executive producer on "The Truffle Hunters", a documentary film directed by Michael Dweck and Gregory Kirshaw, which had its world premiere at the Sundance Film Festival. and directed "" a documentary film revolving around Salvatore Ferragamo. The film had its world premiere at the Venice Film Festival on 5 September 2020.
He also wrote and directed "We Are Who We Are" an 8-episode limited series for HBO, starring Chloë Sevigny, Kid Cudi, Alice Braga, Jack Dylan Grazer, Spence Moore II, Jordan Kristine Seamon, Faith Alabi, Corey Knight, Tom Mercier, Francesca Scorsese, Ben Taylor and Sebastiano Pigazzi. It premiered on 14 September 2020.
Upcoming projects.
Guadagnino is also serving as a producer on "Beckett" —previously named, "Born to be Murdered"— directed by Ferdinando Cito Filomarino starring Alicia Vikander and John David Washington.
Guadagnino is attached to direct multiple projects including "Burial Rites", based on the 2013 novel of the same name, with Jennifer Lawrence producing and starring as Agnes Magnusdottir, the last woman executed in Iceland, for TriStar Pictures, and a film biography on Hollywood hustler Scotty Bowers. Guadagnino also expressed interest and is planning a sequel to "Call Me by Your Name". He is also attached to direct an adaption of Lord of the Flies, with Patrick Ness adapting the book for Warner Bros. Guadagnino is also in talks with the Kubrick estate about possibly directing Stanley Kubrick's unrealized Holocaust project "Aryan Papers".
On 14 May 2020, "Variety" announced that Antoine Fuqua was no longer directing the "Scarface" remake and that Guadagnino signed on to direct the film with the script still being written by the Coen brothers as previously confirmed. On 28 January 2021, it was reported that Guadagnino will direct an adaptation of the book "Bones & All", with Timothée Chalamet and Taylor Russell in talks to star.
Other activities.
Guadagnino has served twice on the jury of the Torino Film Festival: in 2003 for the Short Film section and in 2006 for the Official Jury. In 2010, he was a member of the Venice Film Festival. In 2011, he served as president of the Beirut Film Festival, and on the jury of the Locarno Film Festival.
Outside of film, he began working with the Italian fashion house Fendi in 2005. and in 2012 created Frenesy, a creative agency and production company that conceives and implements communications for luxury brands and produces fashion films, video and print advertising, and high-profile creative events.
Guadagnino headed the jury for Louis Vuitton's Journey Awards in 2012, an international competition dedicated to young filmmakers. He also participated as a jury member in the first edition of Fashion Film Festival Milano in 2014, chaired by Franca Sozzani, chief editor of "Vogue Italia". In December 2011, he made his debut as an opera director with "Falstaff" by Giuseppe Verdi at the Teatro Filarmonico in Verona, Italy.
Personal life.
Guadagnino is openly gay. He lives and works in a 17th-century palazzo in Crema. From 2009 to 2020, Guadagnino was in a relationship with Ferdinando Cito Filomarino.