David Cronenberg on Body Horror, Titane, and Stalinist Censorship as Crimes of the Future Hits Cannes – IndieWire
David Cronenberg makes movies ahead of their time and hed like to keep it that way. When a global pandemic broke out, the godfather of body horror didnt rush to make his own response.
I sort of felt Id done that already with Shivers and Rabid, the filmmaker told IndieWire during an interview at the Cannes Film Festival, while sitting on a hotel balcony at the Cannes Film Festival, referencing movies he made four decades ago. Of course, the whole body is reality thing is very real for me. Things that affect the human body are very basic, primitive and essential.
Body is reality is one of many provocative lines from Crimes of the Future, the 79-year-old auteurs first feature in eight years, which premieres in Cannes this week. Borrowing a title from his unrelated 1970 film and utilizing a screenplay he wrote two decades ago, the movie once again shows the mark of a director so immersed in his exploratory concepts that he demands the audience think through them to keep up.
Set in a near future in which people can grow new organs in their bodies, Crimes of the Future centers on a performance artist couple (Viggo Mortensen and La Seydoux) whose work involves the removal of such organs onstage before a live audience, and brings scrutiny from a team of bureaucratic investigators at the National Organ Registry (Don McKellar and Kristen Stewart). Like so much of Cronenbergs work, the scenario evades precise interpretations even as it amounts to a remarkable meditation on identity. In this case, the focus is the interplay of physicality and technology unique to the 21st century so it makes sense, of course, that Cronenberg came up with it at the end of the 20th.
When I wrote this in 1998, it was very theoretical unlike now, when everyones talking about microplastics in their bloodstream, the director said, insisting that he hadnt changed a word of his original draft when production resources finally came together last year. The human condition is the subject of my filmmaking and all art. Right now, these are things that are intriguing in terms of where people are and how theyre living.
There were some contemporary twists to the movie, which includes meme-worthy lines like surgery is the new sex, an observation Cronenberg has said was inspired by the amount of surgeries one can watch on YouTube. Theres also recurring POV footage from a ring-cam that was shot with an iPhone, which registers as Cronenbergs acknowledgement of the way personal devices have invaded our way of seeing the world. Its meant to be super-modern, Cronenberg said.
The director previously explored prospects of technological control impacting everyday life with Videodrome, and said he wanted to incorporate a similar theme this time. Crimes of the Future doesnt just revel in the interplay of art and technology; it gets inside the humanity at the core of that intersection. I personally do not have an agenda as a filmmaker, but Im interested in people who do, because that reveals many things about how they struggle with who they are and who they should be, he said. My filmmaking isnt political in the literal sense.
screenshot/NEON
In a separate interview at Cannes, Seydoux said that she was struck by Cronenbergs sensitivity. Hes very romantic, extremely romantic, and its not something you would think of him, she said.Hes very sentimental and very alive, very young, inside. Its inspiring. Theres something about him that I felt and its great when you admire people and you meet them in reality and they are even better than what you imagined.
Still, she wasnt able to get many answers out of the director about the nature of her surgical artist character. He didnt like to talk about it, she said. But we had very interesting conversations about life and about love.
Cronenberg delighted in the ambiguity around his work. Most of my movies are quite open-ended, he said. Things arent tied up in a nice little bow.
Though he has speculated in other interviews ahead of Cannes that audiences might walk out of the movie during its opening minutes, he was now radiating a Zen-like energy about the potential reception of his work. You know, Im from the 60s, he said, referencing the era when he made his first feature. I just want to be here now and chill. I never know how people will react.
Plus, no matter what happens, he already has a new project in the works that he expects to shoot in Toronto next spring: The Shrouds, which imagines a world in which people can witness their dead relatives decaying in real time. The movie has been seeking financing at the Cannes market.
Originally, Cronenberg was paid by Netflix to develop the concept as a series, and said he wrote two episodes before the streaming service backed off. I think theyre very conservative and for whatever reason, they didnt go ahead with my project, he said. I still thanked them because I wrote a script and I wouldnt have done that if it hadnt been for their enthusiasm. I was interested in a streaming series as an alternative form of cinema, because suddenly youre making eight or 10 hours of film.
As for Crimes of the Future, Cronenberg said he researched COVID protocols for the production through TV acting gigs he took on over the past year ahead of the shoot. I wanted to see if it was possible to make a movie with those protocols, he said. How awkward does it make things, how much more expensive does it make things, does it affect your acting, your directing, your acting? I saw that it was perfectly possible to do. It was more expensive, it was more awkward, but it was very doable and you got used to it. You got used to wearing the mask. When it came time for the Crimes of the Future shoot in Athens, among our crew of 150, nobody got COVID, so it worked, he said.
In the years since his last effort, 2014s Maps to the Stars, Cronenberg has written a horror novel, produced a VR experience, and acted in both the Shudder series Slasher and Star Trek: Discovery. But the world has been deprived of his filmmaking during critical moments of societal upheaval, including new sensitives about onscreen representation that he said gave him pause. A lot of artists are worried about saying the wrong phrase on Twitter or getting canceled, he said. Its kind of Stalinist in a bizarre way. Its not the same politics but its about the results the inflexibility and the lack of understanding of what art is.
It didnt take much prodding for Cronenberg to offer some specifics. Of course there are power trips as soon as people feel they have some power through this stuff, he said. You take something like the MeToo movement, which is totally legitimate, but obviously it can be politicized, weaponized by people who want to take it to an absurd extreme, and that has happened. So how do you deal with that? I guess that always happens. Something that has value is misused and used as a weapon. It can be for personal vengeance. Right now, there are a lot of people running scared.
Cronenberg said he navigated pushback to his own work on the institutional level back in 1979, when the Ontario Censor Board cut scenes out of The Brood without his permission (they were later restored). Ive had moments where things were forbidden, things were bad, things were taboo, he said. I havent paid any attention to it in terms of altering my approach.
The gap between his last feature and this one has also meant that the filmmaker didnt join the fray of artists who addressed the Trump years, though the exploding head in Scanners was also ahead of its time in terms of capturing the nature of public discourse these days. I wouldnt dignified my art with Donald Trump, I have to tell you, Cronenberg said. He didnt deserve it. As a destructive force, he was to ludicrous to me. It was so obvious I cant believe anyone would vote for him.
And no matter what his work says about the manipulation of physicality, Cronenberg made one thing clear: He abhorred anti-vaxxers. When I was a kid, we were all terrified of polio, he said. The vaccine was the savior. I just cant believe the attitude toward vaccines right now. Its an amazing thing to be able to have a vaccine right now. If youre refusing a vaccine, I just think youre a ridiculous person.
The filmmaker is often asked about the commercial opportunities that have come his way over the years, including Top Gun and Flashdance. He was adamant that he never seriously entertained these offers. People ask me about this all the time and there could be some misunderstandings, he said. Im flattered because theyre trying to put a huge enterprise into your hands. With Top Gun, he added, he was put off by one ingredient above all. I like machines. I like those jets, he said. Its just all about American military stuff and that wasnt something I wouldve wanted to do. Asked if he found anything fascistic about the plot, he added: I would say that mightve been an issue for me, he said. There was a bit of that in there.
Cronenbergs thematic consistency has inspired a new generation of filmmakers that includes his own son, Brandon Cronenberg. The younger Cronenbergs unsettling and imaginative thrillers Antiviral and Possessor are undeniable spiritual successors to his fathers work, though he has been coy about discussing such comparisons in interviews.
I think thats for obvious reasons, David said. But we love each other and talk about it all the time. As it turns out, both Cronenbergs were shooting new movies produced by U.S. distributor Neon at the same time, and Brandon decided not to rush the completion of his upcoming Alexander Skarsgard effort Infinity Pool to make the Cannes deadline to clear the way for his dad. It was really quite sweet, David said. To be shooting at the same time is delicious for a father. I was really very proud.
And then theres Julia Ducournau, the rising star who nabbed the Palme dOr last year for Titane, the Cronenbergian tale of a serial killer woman who has sex with a car. It ended up as the countrys Oscar submission. While Mortensen recently compared the movie unfavorably to Cronenbergs Crash, the director himself who participated in a conversation with Ducournau in Paris last week felt differently. I liked the film a lot, he said. Shes got a really strong visual sense. I know shes said how much of an influence my filmmaking has been, but its basically in the sense of unlocking her own sensibility, which is unique. Shes got a really strong visual sense and a sense of the absurd, the extreme. Her films are totally not like my films.
Neon
And then there were the accolades. I was delighted that she won the Palme, and I thought it was a real breakthrough for the festival, he said. More than that, the fact that it was chosen to represent France as the official Oscar selection was pretty bold. That also tends to be a conservative choice. In this case, they went the distance with that.
Still, Cronenberg expressed indifference about awards when it came to his own work (he has never been nominated for an Oscar, though A History of Violence scored nominations for William Hurt and screenwriter Josh Olson). I forget which awards Ive won, he said, without a hint of irony. I have to look at my shelf to see what they are. Im not being arrogant. Its the truth. You often know that the awards-givers are doing it more for themselves than for you. They need somebody to be a figurehead for the festival or whatever. Its a little bit transactional in a way. Its just not the reason Im making movies.
So what is that reason? He answered the question so quickly it was almost like a mantra. To be an artist, to create, and connect with human beings, he said. But even as he approached his eighth decade, he wasnt committed to filmmaking at all costs. Cinema is not my life, he said. I have three kids, four grandchildren. Thats life.
Crimes of the Futurepremiered at the 2022 Cannes Film Festival. Neon will release it in the U.S. on Friday, June 3.
Sign Up: Stay on top of the latest breaking film and TV news! Sign up for our Email Newsletters here.
Read more here:
David Cronenberg on Body Horror, Titane, and Stalinist Censorship as Crimes of the Future Hits Cannes - IndieWire
- Censorship accusations loom over Big Tech hearing on election threats - The Verge - September 21st, 2024 [September 21st, 2024]
- Brooklyn Public Library leads charge against book censorship with events and national day of action - Brooklyn Paper - September 21st, 2024 [September 21st, 2024]
- Ending Censorship, Forever Wars, and Chronic Disease: A Transcript of Robert F. Kennedy, Jr.s August 23, 2024 Speech Endorsing Former President Donald... - September 21st, 2024 [September 21st, 2024]
- Examining whether a U.S. ban on TikTok would be censorship - KUOW News and Information - September 21st, 2024 [September 21st, 2024]
- Banned book give-away planned in central Iowa this weekend - Radio Iowa - September 21st, 2024 [September 21st, 2024]
- Censorship everywhere in America - Elon Musk - News.Az - September 21st, 2024 [September 21st, 2024]
- Lifeline, Cash-Grab, Tool for Censorship: Three Incarcerated Readers on eBooks in Prison - Literary Hub - September 21st, 2024 [September 21st, 2024]
- TVUSD Board Presiding Officer Wiersma fights censorship from board members and staff over parental rights policy - Valley News - September 21st, 2024 [September 21st, 2024]
- Who holds the pen on scrutinising the most powerful? - Index on Censorship - September 21st, 2024 [September 21st, 2024]
- Swedish Professor: Disinformation Label Used To Limit Free Speech - The European Conservative - September 21st, 2024 [September 21st, 2024]
- This Technology Was Supposed to Help People in Prison. Its Backfiring in a Big Way. - Slate - September 19th, 2024 [September 19th, 2024]
- New data reveals exactly when the Chinese government blocked ChatGPT and other AI sites - Rest of World - September 19th, 2024 [September 19th, 2024]
- Hillary Clinton, queen of disinformation, issues two-faced call for censorship - New York Post - September 19th, 2024 [September 19th, 2024]
- Black authors speak ahead of Banned Book Week - Afro American Newspaper - September 19th, 2024 [September 19th, 2024]
- American Library Association to Host Historic Intellectual Freedom Summit at the Library of Congress - ala.org - September 19th, 2024 [September 19th, 2024]
- Why Im So Desperate for the Return of Microsoft Word to Our Prison Library - Slate - September 19th, 2024 [September 19th, 2024]
- Iranian filmmakers pull it out of the bag - Index on Censorship - September 19th, 2024 [September 19th, 2024]
- Opinion | Bureaucrat Who Threatened To Censor X Announces Resignation on X - The Wall Street Journal - September 19th, 2024 [September 19th, 2024]
- RFK Jr., Tulsi Gabbard blast Dems as 'warmongers,' 'party of censorship' while stumping for Trump in Arizona - New York Post - September 19th, 2024 [September 19th, 2024]
- Queens, Brooklyn and New York Public Libraries To Mark Banned Books Week September 22 to 28 with Talks, Exhibitions and More - City Life Org - September 19th, 2024 [September 19th, 2024]
- With A Spiking Crisis of School Book Bans, PEN America Draws Writers, Readers and Advocates Together to Champion the Freedom to Read; Events in Cities... - September 19th, 2024 [September 19th, 2024]
- Private Wires These companies are profiting off of censoring speech online - Big Brother Watch - September 19th, 2024 [September 19th, 2024]
- Government censorship is a greater threat than disinformation - New York Post - September 14th, 2024 [September 14th, 2024]
- EXCLUSIVE America First Legal Obtains New Internal CDC Documents Revealing Foreign Collusion in Biden-Harris Government Censorship Regime - America... - September 14th, 2024 [September 14th, 2024]
- We Called on the Oversight Board to Stop Censoring From the River to the Sea And They Listened - EFF - September 14th, 2024 [September 14th, 2024]
- Russia Invests $660 Million to Boost Internet Censorship and Block VPNs - CircleID - September 14th, 2024 [September 14th, 2024]
- NCLA Suit Demands End to Govt Censorship of Support Groups for Victims of Covid Vaccine Injuries - GlobeNewswire - September 14th, 2024 [September 14th, 2024]
- Banned Books Week educates about threat of censorship - Mid Florida Newspapers - September 14th, 2024 [September 14th, 2024]
- Media in Exile is Defeating Censorship in Cuba, Nicaragua, and Venezuela - Confidencial - September 14th, 2024 [September 14th, 2024]
- EXCLUSIVE: Open letter to Brazilian Congress demands an ended to censorship amid ongoing X ban - AOL - September 14th, 2024 [September 14th, 2024]
- 'We wanted 13PG': Zapiro shares the story behind the censorship battle of 'The Showerhead' - News24 - September 14th, 2024 [September 14th, 2024]
- Russia is willing to spend some $660 million to bolster internet censorship - TechSpot - September 14th, 2024 [September 14th, 2024]
- EXCLUSIVE: Open letter to Brazilian Congress demands an end to censorship amid ongoing X ban - Fox News - September 12th, 2024 [September 12th, 2024]
- Tracie D. Hall, the librarian speaking out against censorship and book bans that threaten learning and access to information - University of... - September 12th, 2024 [September 12th, 2024]
- Biden administration and Kamala Harris increase funding for digital censorship - Zenit.org - September 12th, 2024 [September 12th, 2024]
- Stand with the Banned Read-Out Promotes Awareness of Censorship - Town Topics - September 12th, 2024 [September 12th, 2024]
- America First Legal Launches Investigation into the Biden-Harris Administrations Knowledge of Social Media Censorship by Brazils Leftist Government -... - September 12th, 2024 [September 12th, 2024]
- The White House calls on Amazon and Google to help defeat online censors in these countries - Fast Company - September 12th, 2024 [September 12th, 2024]
- Up Late With The Apprentice Director Ali Abbasi: Censorship, Toothless Hollywood and Donald Trump | Exclusive - TheWrap - September 12th, 2024 [September 12th, 2024]
- Trump Proposes Anti-Censorship Order, Change to 25th Amendment at Wisconsin Rally - NTD - September 12th, 2024 [September 12th, 2024]
- Original Cowboy Bebop Gets One-of-a-Kind Inquiry Into '90s Network Censorship & More in New Release - CBR - September 12th, 2024 [September 12th, 2024]
- Key Takeaways from Zuckerbergs Tell-All - Daily Citizen - September 12th, 2024 [September 12th, 2024]
- Media Pretend That Systematic Government Censorship Is a Nothingburger - National Review - September 2nd, 2024 [September 2nd, 2024]
- Jack Dorsey Backs Bitcoin And Nostr To Cut Censorship With Free Speech - Forbes - September 2nd, 2024 [September 2nd, 2024]
- Half-Breed and Brown Sugar Vanished: Why Classic Artists Are Censoring Themselves - Rolling Stone - September 2nd, 2024 [September 2nd, 2024]
- We are in the middle of Europe, and we are under censorship, anti-Putin filmmaker says - Semafor - September 2nd, 2024 [September 2nd, 2024]
- Protecting Floridas children in the fight against censorship and the erosion of rights - Tallahassee Democrat - September 2nd, 2024 [September 2nd, 2024]
- Brazil's top judge gives X until Thursday evening to comply with order or face nationwide ban - Axios - September 2nd, 2024 [September 2nd, 2024]
- Durov, Musk, and Zuckerberg: Tech Oligarchs Cry Censorship and What It All Means - Just Security - September 2nd, 2024 [September 2nd, 2024]
- Zuckerberg regrets bowing to government pressure on Covid-19 censorship - ZAWYA - September 2nd, 2024 [September 2nd, 2024]
- Mark Zuckerbergs empty censorship apology: Letters to the Editor Aug. 30, 2024 - New York Post - September 2nd, 2024 [September 2nd, 2024]
- IC 814 controversy: Kangana Ranaut slams OTT platforms over censorship bias amid stalled release of her 'E - The Economic Times - September 2nd, 2024 [September 2nd, 2024]
- Meta CEO Zuckerberg admits he was part of the Biden-Harris censorship scheme. You've been warned, America - Fox News - September 2nd, 2024 [September 2nd, 2024]
- Opinion | European Censorship, Elon Musk and the Telegram Arrest - The Wall Street Journal - August 29th, 2024 [August 29th, 2024]
- Zuckerberg says Biden officials pressured Meta to censor content: What to know - The Hill - August 29th, 2024 [August 29th, 2024]
- Alex Berenson to amend suit against Biden, Pfizer after Zuckerberg admitted government pushed censorship - Fox News - August 29th, 2024 [August 29th, 2024]
- Zuckerberg's Biden-Harris censorship bombshell could be pivotal in First Amendment suit and more top headlines - Fox News - August 29th, 2024 [August 29th, 2024]
- Telegram And Youtube Censorship Show Bitcoin And Nostr Are Critical - Forbes - August 29th, 2024 [August 29th, 2024]
- Former Parler CEO reacts to news that Biden White House pressured Meta to censor Americans: 'Not surprising' - Fox Business - August 29th, 2024 [August 29th, 2024]
- Mark Zuckerberg Says Biden Administration Pressured Meta To Censor Covid Content, In Gift To House Republicans - Deadline - August 29th, 2024 [August 29th, 2024]
- Zuckerberg admits Biden admin pressured Facebook to censor COVID content, says it was wrong to suppress The Posts Hunter laptop coverage - New York... - August 29th, 2024 [August 29th, 2024]
- Yes, Mark Zuckerberg coming clean on Facebook censorship truly matters, as it cuts down Harris-Walz, experts claiming to fight misinformation - New... - August 29th, 2024 [August 29th, 2024]
- Tulsi Gabbard blasts champion of freedom Kamala Harris for her administrations record of censorship - Washington Examiner - August 29th, 2024 [August 29th, 2024]
- In case you were wondering if the U.S. Government engages in censorship by proxy, read Zuckerberg's letter - Gript - August 29th, 2024 [August 29th, 2024]
- Mark Zuckerberg says he regrets bowing to COVID-19 censorship pressure - Cointelegraph - August 29th, 2024 [August 29th, 2024]
- Tornado Cash Is One Step Away from Full Censorship (and a Solution) - hackernoon.com - August 29th, 2024 [August 29th, 2024]
- Mark Zuckerberg: Covid censorship was wrong and I wish Id fought it - The Telegraph - August 29th, 2024 [August 29th, 2024]
- Mark Zuckerberg exposes extent of the Biden censorship campaign to control social media - Washington Times - August 29th, 2024 [August 29th, 2024]
- Mark Zuckerberg needs to spill all on how FBI censored Americans - New York Post - August 29th, 2024 [August 29th, 2024]
- Zoya Akhtar on Censorship: 'Women Were Sexually Assaulted on Screen, But You Couldn't See a Kiss...' - News18 - August 29th, 2024 [August 29th, 2024]
- The science of Russian Internet censorship and surveillance - Meduza - August 25th, 2024 [August 25th, 2024]
- RFK Jr. cleared to take on Biden censorship after Supreme Court punted issue - Washington Examiner - August 25th, 2024 [August 25th, 2024]
- Bitter San Francisco Officials "Joyful" That X is Leaving City: Without Censorship, It's Just Not the Same! - WebProNews - August 25th, 2024 [August 25th, 2024]
- Slap in the face Israel Censors News of Damage from Hezbollah Attacks - Palestine Chronicle - August 25th, 2024 [August 25th, 2024]
- Leave It to Beaver Went to War with Network Censors to Show a Toilet on TV - Cracked.com - August 25th, 2024 [August 25th, 2024]
- RFK Jr.: '16 Months of Censorship' Led to Suspending Race - Newsmax - August 25th, 2024 [August 25th, 2024]
- Judge rules RFK Jr. can sue Biden administration over alleged censorship of charity that questions vaccines - MSN - August 25th, 2024 [August 25th, 2024]
- Why Project 2025 is a threat to a free media - Index on Censorship - August 25th, 2024 [August 25th, 2024]
- Are You Registered to Vote?: Book Censorship News, August 23, 2024 - Book Riot - August 25th, 2024 [August 25th, 2024]
- Censoring the Internet Wont Protect Kids - Reason - August 22nd, 2024 [August 22nd, 2024]