Don’t get me wrong, I am proud of this film. But it could have been better. We spent a whole week filming this incredible chase scene in Northern Italy. Elio was in this cherry red Ferrari and Oliver was driving this incredible Aston Martin. They were chasing this big black van driven by the feds. The feds had kidnapped Elio’s dad because of a government secret he discovered in his work, and the two lovers were doing anything to get him back. If our director, Luca Guadagnino, had kept this chase, the movie would have been a lock for Best Picture.

Guadagnino made sure every little detail of the film was produced right: the soundtrack, the B-Roll, the costumes. His only mistake was cutting the action-packed car chase during post production. I just don’t understand how he could ever cut a scene where Elio drives his Ferrari off a construction ramp, spins, and lands perfectly.

The scene where the characters dredge up that old sculpture from a lake? Stunning, but unnecessary. But the scene where Oliver spins the Aston Martin while driving 100 miles per hour, hitting the Feds’ armed motorcycle drivers? And when Elio’s dad makes a wild jump out of the van into the back of Elio’s Ferrari before the van drives off a cliff? To me, they are to the love story between Elio and Oliver, and the film would be far better with them, then without.