David Cronenberg is a filmmaker who knows how to properly employ gore. He is a master of body horror, a sub-genre focusing on the degeneration of the physical human form. Gore serves an artful purpose; the breakdown of the human body -- wrought by mutilation, mutation, disease or anything else -- is closely scrutinized for the purpose of creating fear in the viewer.
One of the classic examples of well-implemented gore in a Cronenberg film is "The Fly," a 1986 remake of Kurt Neumann same-titled effort from 1958. Jeff Goldblum plays Seth Brundle, a sort of mad scientist who metamorphoses into a humanoid fly after an experiment with a teleporter goes horribly wrong. It is a slow transformation, with Brundle shedding his humanity along with various body parts. Read more...
Another day, another remake. Today, the honor goes to David Cronenberg as his gory and terrifying film "Videodrome" is being eyed for a remake. According to Variety, Ehren Kruger ("The Ring") is set to write and co-produce a new "Videodrome" for Universal Studios.
The original 1983 film is a cult classic, and starred James Woods as a sleazy television president who is always on the lookout for shocking programming to boost the ratings of his Toronto station. Through some creepy and sinister maneuvering, he begins broadcasting "Videodrome," a program of mindless murder and torture. Of course, even that isn't as it seems, and Cronenberg spins a rather gory tale of bodily horror, self-mutilation, and mind control. Read more...
David Cronenberg has moved away from the genre in which he made his name. The auteur behind some of the most influential—and terrifying—horror flicks around, like “Scanners” and “The Brood,” left behind his low-budget cult classics more than twenty years ago in favor of more expensive sci-fi and thriller projects. In recent years, he’s plowed into even more mainstream but no less critically respected fare with two Viggo Mortensen films, “A History of Violence” and “Eastern Promises.” Currently, he’s at work on a Jason Bourne-esque spy thriller called "The Matarese Circle" that’s likely to star Tom Cruise and Denzel Washington.
All of which has led devoted horror fans to wonder if Cronenberg is done making genre pictures forever. Well, rest easy.
“I would return to the genre if I had a project that I really liked,” Cronenberg told MTV News in a recent interview. Read more...
You can already see the trailer: From the author who brought you Jason Bourne! And the visionary director who blew your mind with “Scanners” and broke your heart with “A History of Violence”! Tom Cruise…and Denzel Washington in…“The Matarese Circle”!!
It pretty much screams Hollywood blockbuster, but let’s not get ahead of ourselves. For all the ink spilled in the trades and on the Internet over the adaptation of the Robert Ludlum novel, MGM has not yet green-lit the 'Matarese' project. In an exclusive interview with the man pegged to both write and direct, David Cronenberg revealed to MTV News that the movie, while still on track, is not yet a done deal—because there are neither contracts with the stars nor a final script in place. Read more...
The big twist at the end of 2007’s “Eastern Promises”—that Viggo Mortensen’s character, a Russian gangster named Nikolai, is really working for a British intelligence service—raised as many questions as it answered. Now director David Cronenberg is looking to explore those open possibilities as he dives back into the world of the Russian mafia with an “Eastern Promises” sequel.
“We are moving forward with it,” Cronenberg told MTV News in an exclusive chat. “We all are excited about the idea of doing a sequel.”
The “we” includes Mortensen, who was nominated for a Best Actor Oscar for his role as Nikolai; the film’s screenwriter, Steven Knight; original producer Paul Webster; and original studio, Focus Features. Read more...
Tom Cruise might just be on his way to a critical and commercial comeback. His couch-jumping antics have made him the butt of jokes for the past few years. But "Tropic Thunder" earned him laughs (the good kind) and a Golden Globe nomination, and audiences flocked to "Valkyrie" over the holidays.
Pairing up with Denzel Washington and David Cronenberg for a thriller can only keep his momentum going -- and according to Variety, that's exactly what he's going to do. Cruise will be joining Washington in "The Matarese Circle," Cronenberg's adaptation of the Robert Ludlum spy thriller. Read more...
It's a happy day for film fans when the brilliant David Cronenberg announces his next project -- and this time, the shock value comes not from a disintegrating Jeff Goldblum or a naked Viggo Mortensen, but because it's bizarrely normal. According to The Hollywood Reporter, he's in talks to direct "The Matarese Circle," a big-screen adaptation of Robert Ludlum's 1979 novel. Denzel Washington is attached to star.
The Cold War-era novel centers around two rival intelligence agents, one American and one Soviet, who uncover the existence of the Matarese Dynasty, a group of criminals who have infiltrated the highest levels of the world's government. The two agents find themselves working together in an unlikely alliance to dismantle and destroy the group's conspiracy, while being hunted down by their own agencies. Read more...
