Armie Hammer, Luca Guadagnino on Call Me by Your Name, the year's most universal love story

Tucked away amid the sun-kissed villas and fruit-filled orchards of northern Italy, a whirlwind romance blooms when a teenager (Interstellar actor Timothée Chalamet) falls for his academic father’s live-in assistant (Armie Hammer) in Call Me by Your Name.

While director Luca Guadagnino’s sumptuous take on André Aciman’s 2007 coming-of-age novel unfolds in moments of delicate intimacy, the onscreen electricity between the two actors is the result of a three-way affair.

“Luca set the tone,” Hammer says. “He’s one of the most sensual people I’ve ever met. I’m convinced if he could make love to everything around him, he would.”

Guadagnino (A Bigger Splash) relished the setting and helped his American stars fall in love with his homeland (and their characters) during production in Crema with nightly feasts and hours of brotherly bonding.

“[For Hammer and Chalamet], there was a mutual craving to spend time together…. Their chemistry happened quite naturally and immediately,” Guadagnino says. Adds Hammer, “I can’t think of another movie where two men are so openly and honestly with each other. We made a movie that’s so tender and enjoyable, it can bridge gaps.”

With an awards-friendly release date of Nov. 24, Call Me by Your Name‘s path to Oscar could be a Moonlight stroll.