Movies Bones and All director thinks his gory cannibal movie should be filed under 'romance' Taylor Russell and Timothée Chalamet play a people-eating couple in director Luca Guadagnino's film. By Clark Collis Clark Collis Senior Writer EW's editorial guidelines Published on November 23, 2022 10:00AM EST Bones and All stars Taylor Russell as a teenager named Maren whose budding relationship with Timothée Chalamet's Lee is complicated by the fact that both hunger for human flesh. So if video stores were still a thing, and the film's director Luca Guadagnino managed one, would he file his just-released film under 'horror' or 'romance'? "Your question is interesting," says the Italian, whose previous films include 2016's A Bigger Splash and 2018's Suspiria remake. "Ideally, I'd like it to be under the 'Guadagnino' section, but if I have to choose one you propose, definitely 'romance.'" Below, the director talks more about the film, reteaming with Chalamet, and his "sexy" next project. ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY: What attracted you to Bones and All? LUCA GUADAGNINO: Of course, I was won over by the beautiful quality of the writing of David Kajganich's script. But the actual real pulling-in point must have been how this character could carry a moral struggle within oneself, an urge of overcoming something they felt was something they couldn't deal with. In one word, I would say it was the characters. Yannis Drakoulidis / Metro Goldwyn Mayer Pictures How did you come to cast Taylor Russell in the film? She's so wonderful. I saw her in this movie called Waves by Trey Shults. I was really surprised by the movie and the way in which the movie unfolds. I kept thinking of her every now and then. Oh, that actress, Taylor Russell, she's so good, she's so wonderful. I didn't have a precise idea for Maren when I was reading the script. It took me a couple of weeks to have a thread of thoughts that brought me back to Waves, and to Taylor. I asked to meet with her on Zoom, and I found her all-the-way convincing and wonderful, and someone that I wanted to spend time with, and I offered her the role. When you read the script, did you immediately think of Timothée for the role of Lee? This was immediate. I read the script and when Lee appears, I felt, Oh. Oh, oh, oh. This is a great role for Timmy. You previously worked with him on 2017's Call Me By Your Name. Has your relationship changed over time? Yeah, I think people that I love, and people that are part of my family, are people that I grow with. We can tell each other stories of what we did in the past. Maybe you could say, Oh, remember how small you were? It changes a lot. I changed a lot. We changed, but also we are the same, and we have a friendship, and I think we both inspire one another. I agree that the film is a love story but obviously there are gory moments. What was it like shooting those scenes? I mean, it's a tension between immersion, and characters being brought to life by these good actors, and at the same time, it's fun — it's like playing with dough. It's almost ridiculous, and then you have to make it absolutely believable, but at the same time you don't want it to look shocking. I try to find the balance. There is this fabulous sequence in the film when Maren and Lee meet a sinister pair of characters played by Michael Stuhlbarg and Halloween Ends director David Gordon Green. How did you come to cast your fellow filmmaker? I adore David, he's a buddy of mine, we've been friends for a long time now. I was making a movie which I eventually didn't make called Blood on the Tracks [an adaptation of the 1975 Bob Dylan album], in which I had many characters that I wanted to be played by directors and he was one of them. So I always had it in mind that David could be a great actor and could make a great portrait of somebody in one of my movies. When I got the script, I realized that, yeah, they could be wonderfully right, both Michael Stuhlbarg and David. Director Luca Guadagnino. Yannis Drakoulidis/MGM/Everett Bones and All is a road movie and you traveled around the mid-West to shoot the film. What was that like? Tiring. Hot. Constantly on the move, not very comfortable. But at the same time, [America] can be surprising and beautiful. You've already finished another film? I'm almost done with this great love story set in the world of tennis. I mean 'great' because it's a great script by Justin Kuritzkes. It's called Challengers and stars Zendaya, the wonderful Zendaya, and Josh O'Connor and Mike Faist who is the divine dancer — he is an actor, of course — playing Riff in West Side Story. It's a hyper-kinetic sexy comedy of manners set in the world of tennis, couldn't be more different than Bones and All. Well, Bones and All is kind of sexy. I like sexy. Bones and All is now in limited theatrical release and will expand nationwide on Wednesday. Watch the film's trailer below. Want more movie news? Sign up for Entertainment Weekly's free newsletter to get the latest trailers, celebrity interviews, film reviews, and more. Related content: The Menu and Bones and All serve up dark feasts Bones and All review: A cannibal romance with teeth