Oscar-Winning Call Me By Your Name Director on Fashion, Film & Advertising

Following last night's Oscars, shots caught up with award-winning Call Me By Your Name director Luca Guadagnino, pictured below right, to discuss what other nominated Oscar films he was rooting for; compares commericals to cinema; and talks in length about exploring new possibilities as a creative polymath.

Call Me By Your Name scooped up one Oscar at yesterday's glamorous award show for Best Winning Adapted Screenplay, emerging victorious over Mudbound, Logan, Molly's Game and The Disaster Artist.

Call Me By Your Name.

Congratulations on your four Oscar nominations for Call Me By Your Name and one Oscar win. How did you rate your film’s chances in the Best Picture Category and which film would you happily (or at least gracefully) lose to?

I personally do not put myself into a sort of context and I do not think of myself as a horse that has chances to win the race. I think it’s beautiful to be acknowledged by the Academy and to have gotten this amazing honor to be nominated for such an important award. I’m personally all for Phantom Thread, Shape of Water, Dunkirk, - those are great films - and to be in the company of these giants, [these] filmmakers, it’s a huge win.

Watch James Ivory's acceptance sppech from last night.

Away from feature films, you’ve built up a commercial/branded content reel focused on fashion, fragrance and luxury – was that a conscious decision to specialize or a genre you fell into?

Well on the one hand, I have a very very strong relationship in the world of fashion with many many people who work in different capacities, starting with great creative people who design fantastic things. So, it’s my kind of bread and butter, that’s my life. But at the same time, I didn’t build my, let’s say, advertisement career with a specific conscious thread. I just did what I like to do.

Fashion film is often criticized for its lack of narrative, do you think that’s starting to change?

Well, I did fashion films that were either very narrative driven or very abstract. I think it depends. It depends on what you want to say and how you say it. It’s not a challenge between narrative and non-narrative. It really depending on what you need to convey given the product and given the brand.

How does your feature film work inform your commercial work and vice versa?

Those are two completely different jobs. To be a filmmaker who does Cinema and to be a director who does advertisement, its two different things. I change hats completely when I approach those two worlds and they do not influence one another at all.

Call Me by Your Name has been praised for its depiction of a same-sex relationship; do you think the advertising world is lagging behind when it comes to portraying sexual and gender diversity?

Well, I think advertisement is all about selling something and I guess that whenever they will understand, whether it’s a focus group that’s going to tell them or whatever research they can do, that there is a big game to have from selling a sort of sexual identity that is not normative they will use it. So, I don’t think the topic can be discussed vis-à-vis commercials and advertisement in the same way you would approach the theme artistically. Because advertisement, by definition, is something that has to do with selling something.

A recent Guardian article said Call Me by Your Name deserves to win “because, as great cinema should, it beautifully conveys the universality of a specific human story”. Can the same be said of great advertising, in your opinion?

Well, sometimes there are films in advertisement that transcend the mere boundaries of the advertisement as a tool to sell and they become in themselves beautiful pieces of art. So, the answer is yes, sometimes.

Which brands do you admire and would like to work with – and why?

There are many brands whose value, aesthetical value, could be interesting for me to work with, maybe.

You also recently directed (and photographed) a cover for W Magazine, how did that opportunity come about? Would you consider yourself to be a creative polymath, and what appeals to you about the different mediums of print and film?

I been asked by the Editor-in-Chief of W Magazine, Stefano Tonchi, to do that and I was very proud, I was very honored to be asked. I’m an eclectic guy who likes to do many things and I try to do the things that make me have fun and explore possibilities. And so, I like both print and visual. I like everything that makes me happy. And that thing made me happy.