director James Ivory wishes there had been more nudity included after the films final cut (Picture: Sony Pictures Classics)
Call Me By Your Name screenwriter James Ivory has revealed he would have liked to have seen more full frontal nudity in the film.
Speaking to The Guardian, it seems the Academy Award winning screenwriter is calling out director Luca Guadagnino’s claims that he never wanted nudity in the film.
The 89-year-old director told the paper that he protested the absence of nudity in the film’s final cut.
James Ivory says director’s ‘conscious aesthetic decision’ to not include nudity ‘was bullshit’
Armie Hammer and Timothée Chalamet star in Call Me By Your Name | Photo: Call Me By Your Name
‘When people are wandering around before or after making love, and they’re decorously covered with sheets, it’s always seemed phoney to me.
‘I never liked doing that.
Ivory also revealed that his original script specified that main characters Elio (Chalamet) and Oliver (Hammer) be shown fully naked.
But the possibility of fully naked scenes was overruled in the actors’ contracts.
‘When Luca says he never thought of putting nudity in, that is totally untrue,’ continued Ivory.
The movie was a big awards contender. | Photo: IMDB/Sony Pictures Classic | Photo: Sony Pictures
‘He sat in this very room where I am sitting now, talking about how he would do it.
‘So when he says that it was a conscious aesthetic decision not to—well, that’s just bullshit.’
Comparing his 1983 screenplay Maurice, he said ‘two guys have sex and they get up and you certainly see everything.
‘To me, that’s a more natural way of doing things than to hide them, or to do what Luca did, which is to pan the camera out of the window toward some trees.
‘Well …,’ he continued with derision.
Film banned from Beijing International Film Festival
Even though the film didn’t contain explicit or fully nude scenes, a Beijing film festival pulled Call Me By Your Name over its gay themes.
The Oscar-winning gay romance was scheduled to be shown in its program.
The film’s banning comes as China has been criticized for its censorship of homosexuality in TV and film.
Sony Pictures Entertainment told Reuters hat the film was withdrawn from the festival program.
While no official reason was given, critics believe it is because of the gay themes of the film.
Call Me By Your Name follows a 17-year-old boy and an older student falling in love in Italy.
