I know the story of Queer well — the book itself, the circumstances of it being written, and the mythology that preceded the publication of it, the “lost” William Burroughs manuscript. And so I was truly dreading seeing Luca Guadagnino’s $53 million Queer,

But beyond the scandalous nature of the scene, working with Guadagnino was a personal milestone for Apollo. “Luca’s always been a huge inspiration,” the singer tells Them. “I’ve been watching his films for so long. I was in Indiana, like, ‘Oh, one day it’d be crazy if I did a film with him.’ So it was cool that that was my first one.”

And perhaps it was for this reason that Guadagnino included a direct reference to a titular scene from the film Queer, referencing the moment as Orphée enters the underworld for the first time, with his arms outstretched as he walks through the liquid-like mirror that acts as a gateway to hell.