David Cronenberg Out of Retirement, Begins Production on New Film
Canadian body horror auteur David Cronenberg has returned from a roughly 6 year retirement, partly brought on by difficulties acquiring funding for new ideas, with a new film set to begin production in Greece. The new movie, set to be called Crimes of the Future, is Cronenberg’s first original script since eXistenZ, and is supposedly a return to his sci-fi horror roots. Early in his career, he made a shorter feature film also titled Crimes of the Future, about a world in which a plague had eradicated all women. While they share a title, the new film is supposedly going to have a different premise in which a futuristic society is stratified by those who have accepted a program of accelerated evolution while other have rejected it. The new movie will also see the return of frequent collaborator Viggo Mortensen in a leading role as well as other big names like Kristen Stewart and Lea Seydoux.
Cronenberg has made a reputation for visceral and challenging movies, from sci-fi horror flicks like Scanners, Videodrome, and The Fly, to more cerebral dramas like A History of Violence and Eastern Promises. While many of these movies are critically acclaimed and have developed cult followings over the years, many of them have struggled to achieve meaningful financial success. Known for their often graphic violence and sexual content, bleak outlook, and cold tone, many viewers over the years have been off put by them time and time again, even as Cronenberg’s body of work maintains an extensive base of dedicated fans.
That said, few filmmakers are as truly unto themselves as Cronenberg, crafting a style that has inspired many but remains truly original. The cinematic landscape is awash with cookie-cutter movies that all seem to blur together, each trying to imitate the most successful of their brethren. With all this sameness, it’s good to see that bold, original voices, even old ones like David Cronenberg’s, are still given avenues to speak and deliver something out of the ordinary.
The new Crimes of the Future is set to film through the end of the summer, with a release date uncertain, but likely to be sometime in 2022, perhaps after touring the festival circuit for a little while. The movie is a co-production between Cronenberg’s native Canada as well as Greece, where the film is being shot, with Neon having secured U.S. distribution rights.
