Luca Guadagnino is adding another project to his growing list of upcoming directorial projects. Deadline reports Searchlight Pictures has attached the “Call Me By Your Name” and “Suspiria” director to helm its narrative feature adaptation of Matt Tyrnauer’s 2017 documentary “Scotty and the Secret History of Hollywood.” In an unexpected and enticing move, the Searchlight release will pair Guadagnino with Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg. The comedy duo are best known for writing and/or directing projects such as “This Is the End,” “Superbad,” “Pineapple Express,” and more.
Similar to the documentary, Searchlight’s feature will tell the true story of Scotty Bowers, a World War II veteran who became a notorious gay male hustler in Hollywood starting in the 1940s and ending in the 1980s during the early days of the AIDS epidemic. The documentary was based on Bowers’ book “Full Service: My Adventures in Hollywood and the Secret Sex Lives of the Stars” and includes eye-opening reveals about the sex lives of some of Hollywood’s most famous actors and actresses, including Cary Grant and Katharine Hepburn. Bowers famously operated his services out of a gas station in Hollywood.
“Scotty and the Secret History of Hollywood” premiered to solid buzz at the 2017 Toronto International Film Festival and was a relatively strong performer at the indie box office. Ryan Murphy’s Emmy-nominated Netflix limited series “Hollywood” had a main character played by Dylan McDermott that was based on Bowers. Per Deadline, documentary director Tyrnauer and his Altimeter Films partner Corey Reeser will be joined as producers by Point Grey Pictures on Searchlight’s narrative feature adaptation.
News of the Scotty Bowers narrative movie comes at a busy time for Guadagnino. The Italian filmmaker has his new documentary, “Salvatore, Shoemaker of Dreams,” set to world premiere at the Venice Film Festival in September. That same month, HBO will world premiere the filmmaker’s first television project, an eight-episode coming-of-age drama titled “We Are Who We Are.” The series stars “It” and “Shazam” breakout Jack Dylan Grazer. Guadagnino is also attached to direct studio projects such as “Scarface” for Universal Pictures and “The Lord of the Flies” for Warner Bros.
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