Finding Elio on October 29th

(illustration via) Can't believe it's taken me this far into the day to post about the news that came out last night on the Call Me By Your Name sequel... specifically the book sequel, that is. Coming hot on the heels of Armie Hammer crapping on the movie sequel this is something! We've known for awhile now that André Aciman was cooking up something fresh and juicy for Elio & Co. -- I posted video of him at a Q&A here in New York admitting as much several months ago -- but now we know what's what thanks to a press release via his publisher. The book will be called Find Me, it will be released on October 29th of this very year (!!!), and here's the plot:

“In ‘Find Me,’ Aciman shows us Elio’s father Samuel, now divorced, on a trip from Florence to Rome to visit Elio, who has become a gifted classical pianist. A chance encounter on the train leads to a relationship that changes Sami’s life definitively. Elio soon moves to Paris where he too has a consequential affair, while Oliver, now a professor in northern New England with sons who are nearly grown, suddenly finds himself contemplating a return visit to Europe.”

I bet Michael Stuhlbarg was happy reading this! Amira Casar, notsomuch. Why you gotta do Annella like that, André??? Vulture also got a quote from Aciman on all this:

“The world of ‘Call Me by Your Name’ never left me. Though I created the characters and was the author of their lives, what I never expected was that they’d end up teaching me things about intimacy and about love that I didn’t quite think I knew until I’d put them down on paper. The film made me realize that I wanted to be back with them and watch them over the years — which is why I wrote ‘Find Me.’"

Every time I've heard Aciman talk about the experience watching the film he's seemed tremendously moved by what Guadagnino & Stuhlbarg did with Elio's father so I'm not surprised that he was drawn to exploring Sami's life a little more -- he's spoken eloquently about the ambiguity in some of the character's final words to Elio, about how he's never known the sort of love that Elio & Oliver knew.

But it doesn't sound like he'll be skimping on details of everybody's lives -- unlike the book of CMBYN, which was told entirely from Elio's perspective, it sounds like Find Me will be coming at us from several points of view, spanning the globe. What do we think?

EXCLUSIVE FOOTAGE OF ANDRE ACIMAN WRITING THE CALL ME BY YOUR NAME SEQUEL pic.twitter.com/XUUUUz8eSM

— Jason Adams (@JAMNPP) March 21, 2019