Luca Guadagnino received a ton of wide-spread acclaim last year for his tremendous work on CALL ME BY YOUR NAME. He’s following it up this year with a remake of the shocking, grisly Dario Argento film SUSPIRIA, which is a bold choice after a luxurious romance movie. Though us non-famous people have to wait until it comes out in a few months to see it the director already showed his movie to Quentin Tarantino. Turns out the legendary filmmaker was overcome with emotion after seeing the movie and shared his enthusiasm with Guadagnino.
Guadagnino was speaking with Italy’s La Repubblica (via IndieWire) recently when he said he showed the movie to Tarantino to get some feedback after the two became friends after judging the Venice Film Festival together. Though Guadagnino was understandably nervous, Tarantino loved his movie to the point of tears, which, by all accounts, is a good sign.
I showed it to Quentin Tarantino. We’ve been friends since our jury duty at the Venice Film Festival. I was nervous but eager to hear his advice. We saw it at his place and his reaction warmed me. He was enthusiastic about it, in the end he was crying and hugged me. Because it’s a horror movie but also a melodrama, my goal was to make you look at the horror without being able to take [your eyes off the screen] because you’re captivated by the characters. Amazon is very happy.”
The first footage for the movie was screened at CinemaCon this year to both praise and gasps, and then the trailer was met with equal praise when it debuted last month. The remake starring Dakota Johnson, Tilda Swinton, Chloe Grace Moretz and more certainly takes a more melodramatic approach than the original, but it also promises to deliver on the gore. Moretz also saw the movie and said it reminded her of a Kubrick film, saying, “You’re put into a world, which I can only describe it as being like THE SHINING in a lot of ways, where you’re just encompassed in a filmmaker’s brain and you’re just implanted in there, and there’s nothing like it that you will ever see.”
Guadagnino’s SUSPIRIA is one of the more intriguing movies of the years, taking what many will anticipate as a modern bloodbath and adding a dramatic styling to it. I'm already very anxious to see the movie, and Tarantino clearly dug what he saw. That's enough of an endorsement for me, so consider my anticipation levels immensely increased.
SUSPIRIA arrives November 2 and Tarantino is currently filming ONCE UPON A TIME IN HOLLYWOOD.