During a recent interview with Variety at the Toronto Film Festival, Armie Hammer, otherwise known as pastel-enthusiast Oliver in Luca Guadagnino's Call Me By Your Name, confirmed that fans should expect a sequel. "It will happen because there are already people working on it and trying to make it happen," Hammer said.
Call Me By Your Name is a sensual story of an unexpected first love between 17-year-old Elio Perlman and 24-year-old American student Oliver. While studying abroad in the North of Italy during the summer of 1983, Oliver stays in Elio's family home when the two fall in love.
In the final scene of Call Me By Your Name, melancholic viewers watched as Elio, played by Timothée Chatamalet, wept in front of the fireplace after learning that Oliver, his first love, was engaged to be married to someone else. Although the film's ending delivered a sense of closure, the future of Elio and Oliver's relationship was left uncertain, thus giving director Luca Guadagnino the opportunity to write the end of their stories, both as individuals and perhaps together. When reminiscing on his experience filming the movie, Hammer expressed, "It was such a special time. It was such a collaborative unique and totally immersive filming experience that I never really had, nor since. If we get to do another one, I’ll feel really lucky."
However, when asked to elaborate on what stage of production the sequel has reached, Hammer tiptoed around a definite answer. “How much do I know and how much could I tell you are two very different things,” Armie noted. Guadagnino has suggested that the sequel will take place in the early 1990's, five years after the conclusion of the first film. “More than anything I trust the artistic direction to Luca and [novelist] André Aciman and to those guys who did such a good job handling it the first time around,” Hammer said.
The artistic direction, cinematography and setting, among other factors propelled Call Me By Your Name to be nominated for 35 major awards, ultimately taking home 11 of them. With the same talent backing the second iteration, it will undoubtedly deliver the same result.
