Interview: Luca Guadagnino and Taylor Russell Talk Bones and All

Luca Guadagnino is one filmmaker I have the utmost respect for. From Call Me By Your Name to I Am Love, and his unique take on Suspiria, I’ve become an admirer of his work. And his latest is something a little shocking, and more than a little unsettling for some. Bones and All is a story about two people who meet and fall in love while on a road trip. And yes, they are both cannibals who desire the taste of human flesh. The fascinating and occasionally brutal feature stars Taylor Russell and Timothee Chalamet. And this is certainly a bold feature, one that is challenging, intriguing, and slightly controversial.

Recently, we had the delight of speaking with impressive Luca Guadagnino and the fantastic Taylor Russell. For Guadagnino, I asked the acclaimed filmmaker about the balance of violence with a love story. He’s a terrific person to speak to, and his take on genre is quite unique and respectable. And then there is the wonderfully talented Ms. Russell. I’ve been a fan of hers since witnessing her in Waves and the Escape Room films. Here, she is absolutely stunning as a young girl dealing with a few shocking issues. While Bones and All may not connect with some, I found the film to be incredibly compelling – you can check out my review here.

Directed by Guadagnino from a screenplay by his Suspiria collaborator David Kajganich, Bones and All tells the story of first love between Maren (Russell), a young woman learning how to survive on the margins of society, and Lee (Chalamet), an intense and disenfranchised drifter, as they meet and join together for a thousand-mile odyssey which takes them through the back roads, hidden passages and trap doors of Ronald Reagan’s America. But despite their best efforts, all roads lead back to their terrifying pasts and to a final stand that will determine whether their love can survive their otherness.

Bones and All is currently playing in theatres and is about as brave a choice as you could make this Thanksgiving weekend.