is sitting in the restaurant of the Carlyle Hotel talking about how easy it can be to close yourself off to new experiences.

鈥淲e get older and maybe out of fear, we want to control the way we are in our lives. And I think it鈥檚 sort of the enemy of art,鈥� Craig says. 鈥淵ou have to push against it. Whether you have success or not is irrelevant, but you have to try to push against it.鈥�

Craig, relaxed and unshaven, has the look of someone who has freed himself of a too snug tuxedo. Part of the abiding tension of was this evident wrestling with the constraints that came along with it. Any such strains, though, would seem now to be completely out the window.

Since exiting that role, Craig, 56, has seemed eager to push himself in new directions. He performed . His drawling detective Benoit Blanc (鈥淗alle Berry!鈥�) stole the show in And now, Craig gives arguably his most transformative performance as the William S. Burroughs avatar Lee in Luca Guadagnino鈥檚 tender tale of love and longing in postwar Mexico City, 鈥淨ueer.鈥�

Since the movie鈥檚 it鈥檚 been one of the fall鈥檚 most talked about performances 鈥� for its explicit sex scenes, for its vulnerability and for its extremely un-007-ness.

鈥淭he role, they say, must have been a challenge or 鈥榊ou鈥檙e so brave to do this,鈥欌�� Craig said in a recent interview alongside Guadagnino. 鈥淚 kind of go, 鈥楨h, not really.鈥� It鈥檚 why I get up in the morning.鈥�

In 鈥淨ueer,鈥� which A24 release Wednesday in theaters, Craig again plays a well-traveled, sharply dressed, cocktail-drinking man. But the similarities with his most famous role stop there. Lee is an American expat living in 1950s Mexico City where he, in sweaty, rumpled linen suits, cruises for younger men while juggling an increasingly debilitating drug habit. (No matter what you鈥檝e heard, the most truly unexpected sight in 鈥淨ueer鈥� is Daniel Craig as an awkward suitor.)

Lee, though, is thunderstruck with infatuation for a poised and prim young man named Allerton (Drew Starkey). The film, adapted by 鈥淐hallengers鈥� screenwriter Justin Kuritzkes, proceeds as a love story but also as a profound romantic mystery.

Allerton is enigmatic and aloof, and it鈥檚 unclear how much he鈥檚 embraced his homosexuality. Their evolving relationship is a constant confusion to Lee. 鈥淨ueer鈥� becomes consumed not just with the question of their unsettled love, but of the tantalizing possibilities of liberation and the painful, long-term sacrifices of repression.

The film, classically filmed on soundstages in Rome鈥檚 Cinecitt脿, is populated with expansive windows and doorways that seem to ask: What doors to yourself, or to life, are you willing to walk through?

鈥淢aybe another portal is his open chest. He just goes, 鈥楶lease come in, come in,鈥欌�� says Craig. 鈥淚t applies to art. It applies to everything. Letting one鈥檚 self go. If you don鈥檛 do it, how can you ever know? That tragedy of not doing that is greater than the embarrassment of doing it. We鈥檙e defined by those moments in our lives.鈥�

鈥業 just recognized so many things within him鈥�

鈥淨ueer鈥� could be such a defining moment for Craig. For his performance, he鈥檚 widely expected to land his first Oscar nomination. For Guadagnino, making 鈥淨ueer鈥� is especially long in coming. He first read the book 鈥� written in the early 鈥�50s but, by Burroughs鈥� own wishes, not published until 1985 鈥� when he was 17.

For years, Guadagnino, the Italian filmmaker of and contemplated 鈥淨ueer鈥� as a movie; he even once drafted his own script. In Lee, he saw a poetic figure.

鈥淚鈥檓 really interested in the repression of others,鈥� Guadagnino says. 鈥淚 realize many, many times I go back to the theme. The idea of being so vulnerable and ready to be. He doesn鈥檛 have a sense of pride or a protection of social codes.鈥�

While they were making 鈥淐丑补濒濒别苍驳别谤蝉,鈥� released earlier this year, Guadagnino approached Kuritzkes about adapting Burroughs鈥� novel. There were considerable hurdles. Burroughs never completely finished the novel, so the filmmakers resolved to finish it for him, writing into the movie an extended third-act ayahuasca trip. But adapting 鈥淨ueer鈥� also meant leaving room for its unspoken spaces.

鈥淭here is so much in the movie that is about the way Lee looks at Allerton and the way Allerton looks at him, and looks away,鈥� says Kuritzkes. 鈥淎 lot of that stuff is in the book, but when you鈥檙e making the movie, you realize the way Daniel鈥檚 face registers Drew鈥檚 face tells you what would be communicated in 15 pages of prose.鈥�

鈥極pen to play鈥�

Guadagnino, convinced Craig was right for the role, approached the actor with the script. In Craig, Guadagnino saw someone, he says, who was 鈥渙pen to play.鈥� Within days, Craig, long an admirer of Guadagnino鈥檚 films, was in.

鈥淚 just recognized so many things within him,鈥� Craig says. 鈥淪omeone who is both repressed and open, and the complicated relationship with love.鈥�

Though it inverts the presentation of masculinity many associate with Craig, Lee of 鈥淨ueer鈥� is more in line with some of the actor鈥檚 earlier work, like 1998鈥檚 鈥淟ove Is the Devil.鈥� It鈥檚 worth noting, too, that Craig鈥檚 other major post-Bond movie role, Benoit Blanc, is also gay. (Hugh Grant plays his subtly suggested partner.)

For 鈥淨ueer,鈥� there was extensive preparation, on accent and movement and Burroughs鈥� own tortured history. But after months of research, the characterization only really emerged once shooting began.

鈥淚 can鈥檛 tell you how nervous I was. It was terrifying,鈥� Craig says. 鈥淏ut something clicked that day, the first day. And Luca said, 鈥楾hat鈥檚 it.鈥� I was very nervous to try to expose it, but it became a kind of unfolding of the character. I kind of introduced myself to him.鈥�

鈥淚 think Daniel loves the camera in a way that is intimate,鈥� adds Guadagnino. 鈥淏ecause he knows the camera cannot lie and you can鈥檛 lie to the camera. The love you feel from the camera, to me, is not the love of vanity. It鈥檚 the love of recording the truth.鈥�

Starkey, the 31-year-old 鈥淥uter Banks鈥� actor, was met with the very different challenge of playing a character with few words on the page and a cryptic presence. He theorized that Allerton is in retreat because it鈥檚 鈥渁s if you鈥檝e lived your whole life and never seen your own reflection, and someone puts a mirror in front of your face.鈥�

鈥淎 question I asked early on was: Is Allerton aware of the game that he鈥檚 playing? Is he aware that he may have some power over Lee, and does he like it?鈥� says Starkey. 鈥淟uca鈥檚 answer to that was: 鈥楾hat鈥檚 a very good question.鈥欌��

Sex scenes in 鈥楺ueer鈥� and the 鈥榮alacious鈥� response

When 鈥淨ueer鈥� premiered in Venice, much of the reception focused on the film鈥檚 steamy sex scenes with Craig and Starkey. Guadagnino laments the temptation of the press to be 鈥渟alacious.鈥�

鈥淭hey can鈥檛 help themselves,鈥� he says. 鈥淏ut we are practical people. People make love. People laugh. People sleep. People inject heroin.鈥�

鈥淥ur job is only to make that as truthful as possible, and not shy away from it, not be coy about it,鈥� adds Craig.

鈥淎nd can we just clear the table forever? When we were shooting the sex scenes it was so funny,鈥� says Guadagnino. 鈥淲e had fun. It was fun, light and then, done, let鈥檚 move on to the next.鈥�

As intimately as Craig and Starkey would be working together, they decided to let their relationship unfold naturally.

鈥淲e didn鈥檛, like, grab coffee and have a list of ice-breakers or something,鈥� Starkey says. 鈥淲e just started working. We jumped into movement rehearsals and that was a great way to learn how to be free with the other person. It never felt like there any walls up.鈥�

Not having walls up was, in many ways, the abiding nature of 鈥淨ueer.鈥� And for Craig, it was one of the most rewarding experiences of his career. He and Guadagnino are already planning another film together.

鈥淚 don鈥檛 have any grand plan for my career. It鈥檚 been OK 鈥檛il now. It鈥檚 been going along,鈥� Craig says, with a grin. 鈥淭hen something comes along like this and you find a group of people to have this wonderful experience with. It makes me go: I want to keep acting. I never wanted to give up, but if I could get this again, I鈥檇 love to do it.鈥�