Call Me By Your Name (2017) - Top 5 Facts!
Get ready to learn more about this Best Picture nominee. For this video we're counting down our picks for the Top 5 Facts About “Call Me By Your Name”. If you didn't already know, it's based on a novel written Andre Aciman. It may look like a it had a huge budget but bet you wouldn't have guessed that it was shot on a budget of $3.5 million. Even if you haven't seen the movie, you must've already heard about the famous peach scene, though it almost didn't make it due to its explicit nature!
#5: It’s Based on a Novel
The story told in the film is taken directly from André Aciman’s 2007 novel of the same name. There are few differences between the stories in each medium, with a few notable exceptions. The book is set at the end of the ‘80s, in 1987, while the movie is set earlier, in 1983. The novel is a memory piece and the story is told by Elio at a later point in his life, whereas the film feels very much tied to the present moment. The book was well reviewed, and Hollywood producers became interested in it before it was even published.
#4: It Was Made on a Tiny Budget
With budgets for films put out by major studios soaring, you’ll be surprised to know that the production budget for “Call Me ByYour Name” was a paltry $3.5 million. The setting of most of the action is a beautiful house in Moscazzano, in northern Italy, and in fact director Luca Guadagnino had looked into purchasing the home for himself before being told that he couldn’t afford it. The next best thing was shooting a movie there, which is exactly what he did. Principal photography took place in just over a month, making the end result all the more impressive.
#3: That Scene Almost Didn't Make the Cut
For the most part, the plot of “Call Me By Your Name” is somewhat slow and meandering, but there’s one scene that easily stands out as the most memorable. It probably made you cringe and perhaps even caused you to cover your eyes for fear of what would happen next. Turns out, both the director and actor Timothée Chalamet were reluctant to have the scene appear in the film because of its explicit nature. Both of them though decided to test the technique on their own time to see how effective it was and ultimately decided to keep it in the film.
#2: It Was in Development for Nearly 10 Years
After reading an unpublished version of the novel, Hollywood producers Peter Spears and Howard Rosenman secured the film rights to the story in 2007. So why did the movie release a full decade later? They had trouble finding the right director for the project, with Luca Guadagnino initially declining due to prior obligations. The screenplay was first drafted in 2014, and soon it would be time to find actors. Armie Hammer actually met Guadagnino nearly seven years before the film was shot, but didn’t hear from him for so long that he assumed the meeting hadn’t gone well. Thankfully, the stars finally aligned and shooting began in the spring of 2016.
#1: A Sequel Is Being Considered
If you finished the film wondering what happened to both Oliver and Elio in the months and years after the action completed, don’t worry- you’re not alone. The book offers an epilogue, telling readers what happened to the main characters over the next few decades, and director Luca Guadagnino has already expressed interest in delving into these stories. In terms of a time and place, he has said that he’s looking at the beginning of Italy’s Berlusconi era, which was a period that he thinks could make for an interesting backdrop. Nothing is official- so we can only hope!
