“The last time I saw Luca was before [filming] began, in New York, when I still believed I was co-directing with him; we joked about what might happen if we got into an argument on set, and laughed about it,” Ivory writes. “I made plans to go to Crema after the Cannes Film Festival in May, where the restored ‘Howards End’ was to be shown.”

“And then I was dropped. I was never told why I had been dropped, by Luca or anybody else: it was presented in an ‘it has been decided that…’ sort of way,” Ivory continues. “Luca would be the sole director. I didn’t care all that much. I could see that it might be very awkward sometimes to have two directors on the set. How would it look to the actors and crew if we had a dispute? Who then would be the real director when one of us had to give way? How many minutes of expensive shooting time would be lost as we argued?” Related Luca Guadagnino to Receive Sundance Film Festival International Icon Award ‘Dune: Part Two’ Wraps, Timothée Chalamet Shares Set Photo Celebrating Sequel Related The Best True Crime Streaming Now, from ‘Unsolved Mysteries’ to ‘McMillions’ to ‘The Staircase’ 7 New Netflix Shows in October 2022 – and the Best Reasons to Watch
While Ivory did not care too much at the time, he writes that sudden pre-production changes continued. There was Ivory’s casting of Greta Scacchi as Elio’s mother, which was overturned behind Ivory and Scacchi’s back. As Ivory writes, “Luca cast another actress for the part and never called Greta or her agent. I kept begging: Luca, call Greta! Call her agent, at least! He would not.” Then Shia LaBeouf was recruited to play Oliver opposite Timothée Chalamet’s Elio. Ivory was doubtful about the casting as he could not see LaBeouf playing “an academic writing about the Greek philosopher Heraclitus,” but LaBeouf’s audition with Chalamet blew the creative team away. “Shia came to read for us in New York with Timothée Chalamet, paying for his own plane ticket, and Luca and I had been blown away,” Ivory writes. “The reading by the two young actors had been sensational; they made a very convincing hot couple. But then, too, Shia was dropped. He had had some bad publicity. He’d fought with his girlfriend; he’d fended off the police somewhere when they had tried to calm him down. And Luca would not call him, or his agent. I emailed Shia to offer reassurance, but then Luca cast Armie Hammer and never spoke to, or of, Shia again.” “Solid Ivory” is out November 2. For more from Ivory’s memoir, head over to GQ’s website. Sign Up: Stay on top of the latest breaking film and TV news! Sign up for our Email Newsletters here.