Luca Guadagnino to Reunite with Josh O’Connor for Queer Romance ‘Separate Rooms’ Co-Starring Léa Seydoux

Samantha Bergeson
·3 min read
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Updated April 3, 2024: Léa Seydoux has officially joined the cast of Luca Guadagnino’s “Separate Rooms” alongside Josh O’Connor. The queer-romance film involves a love triangle between O’Connor’s character Leo, his ill-fated lover Thomas, and a woman. Deadline first reported the news. “The Beast” star Seydoux recently appeared in “Dune: Part Two” and will join the central three-hander.

Published March 25, 2024: Luca Guadagnino is set to team up once more with “Challengers” actor Josh O’Connor for his upcoming feature “Separate Rooms,” according to a report in Variety.

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The film is a queer drama adapted from the novel of the same name by late author Pier Vittorio Tondelli. O’Connor would play the lead role Leo, an Italian writer who is mourning the death of his musician boyfriend Thomas. Variety first reported the news and claimed that O’Connor has been studying Italian for the role.

Reps for O’Connor and Guadagnino did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Producer Fremantle had no comment.

“Separate Rooms” is being written by Guadangino’s “We Are Who We Are” collaborator Francesca Manieri. The novel was separated into three parts dubbed “movements,” and followed Leo and Thomas’ romance across Milan, Paris, London, and Florence during a three-year period. Similar to Guadagnino’s “Call Me By Your Name” and “Challengers,” “Separate Rooms” hinges on the jealousies when one partner embarks on a relationship with a woman.

“Separate Rooms” will be produced by Lorenzo Mieli under his deal with Fremantle, which was also behind Guadagnino’s “Bones and All” and his upcoming William S. Burroughs adaptation “Queer,” starring Daniel Craig and “Outer Banks” breakout Drew Starkey.

O’Connor recently starred in Italy-set feature “La Chimera,” and appears in Guadagnino’s upcoming tennis love triangle “Challengers” alongside Zendaya and Mike Faist. The movie was meant to open the Venice Film Festival last fall but was delayed to the actors strike. It now opens in April.

O’Connor previously told GQ that working with Guadagnino was a career highlight, saying, “I remember Luca saying to me: ‘Actors are like racehorses: You have to keep them in condition if you want them to run as fast as they can.'”

“Separate Rooms” star O’Connor is currently in production on another queer drama period piece adaptation titled “History of Sound” alongside Paul Mescal. The film, helmed by Oliver Hermanus, is based on the short story of the same name and centers on two men who fall in love while traveling to record the sounds of WWI soldiers.

Guadagnino also told GQ of his upcoming film “Queer” that he had not watched “Outer Banks” before casting it. Actor Starkey teased that the project is “incredibly freeing and funny and absurd” and has an “old Hollywood” aesthetic. The feature is anticipated to debut at Cannes 2024.

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