Luca Guadagnino has defended the lack of full frontal male nudity in ‘Call Me By Your Name’.
The 46-year-old filmmaker helmed the recent coming-of-age drama, which explores the relationship between two men who meet during a holiday in Italy, and though the film features raunchy sex scenes Guadagnino thinks the nude scenes were "absolutely irrelevant" to the plot.
Speaking to the I Newspaper, the filmmaker said: "I am the least prudish director you can meet.
"I’ve been very precise in using the female and male body on screen to convey all kind of emotions.
"I thought that the display of nudity in this specific movie was absolutely irrelevant and I understand that for [screenwriter] James [Ivory] it would have been relevant but that is his vision, what is clear is that we had no limitations on what we wanted to do."
Guadagnino’s comments come after Ivory revealed in his original draft there was "all sorts" of explicit scenes included, and he felt it would be "kind of a pity" to erase that element because he doesn’t think people "care" about nudity on screen.
Speaking previously, Ivory said: "Certainly in my screenplay there was all sorts of nudity. But according to Luca, both actors had it in their contract that there would be no frontal nudity and there isn’t, which I think is kind of a pity.
"Again, it’s just this American attitude. Nobody seems to care that much, or be shocked, about a totally naked woman. It’s the men. This is something that must be so deeply cultural that one should ask ‘why?’"
‘Call Me By Your Name’, which is based on the novel of the same name, and follows the story of a young Italian man named Elio (Timothée Chalamet) who meets Oliver (Armie Hammer) during his visit to the European country to stay at his parents’ villa.
The plot follows the pairs budding romance as they start to swiftly develop a passionate relationship over their shared Jewish heritage and their sexuality.
Luca Guadagnino defends lack of nudity in Call Me By Your Name
