The Unflinching Gaze of Cronenberg’s Future Horrors

When I was in college for film theory back in the early 90s, I had tremendous exposure to the tools of the medium – we got to work with real celluloid, hear from exceptional speakers including Stan Brakhage (who changed my entire outlook on light, editing, cinema within in an hour), and discover incredible texts about the nuances and dark alleys of the format. Besides the lecture on Twin Peaks and David Lynch, the class that most affected me and stayed with me until this day – 30 years later – is that where the professor explored the way in which body-horror auteur David Cronenberg was distinctly Canadian.

The argument arose from an article wherein an American journalist attributed Cronenberg’s success as a Canadian director to being distinctly American in style. There were no major Canadian cinematic success stories to speak of, in that author’s opinion, save Cronenberg. The professor argued that in fact, Cronenberg’s way of punishing the singular hero who breaks from the community and sanctifying the wisdom of the collective was what underscored his Canadianness. I won’t go into the depth of the argument here, but I have always considered his works thereafter through that lens.

Cronenberg, like Lynch has the rare capacity to channel the nature of dreams and nightmares and quietly operate on the subconscious while using misdirection to keep the frontal lobe occupied. His films leave a mark and linger long after the lights come up. His film eXistenZ remains in my opinion, a unique vision of Virtual Reality, the way that Jeff Noon’s “Vurt” is a unique literary vision of the same. He did the same with media in Videodrome, genetic sciences in The Fly, and schadenfreude and the fetishization of violence in Crash (not to be mistaken with the syrupy Oscar winner of the same name). He is prescient, horrifying, and exhilarating, like another Canadian luminary with a knack for writing the future – Wiliam Gibson.

So when Cronenberg returns from his real-world present-day series that one may say comprises A History of Violence, Eastern Promises, Maps to the Stars and Cosmopolis (unsettling and strange as they are) to make a return to science fiction – you have my full and complete attention. From the trailers and pedigree, we can almost be sure that this will be a landmark film that looks unflinchingly beyond the saccharine soma of social media into the present that we very clearly may not be able to exit safely.

Fun Facts:

• There is a film from 1970 directed by Cronenberg called Crimes of the Future (IMDB) – considered a “science fiction comedy.”

• Casting director Dierdre Bowen was casting me in roles back when I was 8. She has been at this a long long time! She is responsible for many of the brilliant casting choices in Cronenberg’s films, including eXistenZ and going all the way back to The Fly – which arguable catapulted Jeff Goldblum to international stardom.

Official Copy:
“CRIMES OF THE FUTURE is a film more than 20 years in the making. The award-winning filmmaker originally wrote the script in 1999 but set it aside for two decades until deciding that now was the right moment to make the film. Says Cronenberg about revisiting the work, many years later, “Various elements have risen to the top of public consciousness around the world – like the fact, for example, that microplastics are in every human being on earth right now, because of what has happened to the oceans. That made me realize the film is more relevant than ever.”

CRIMES OF THE FUTURE sees Cronenberg join forces with a number of longtime collaborators including distinguished producer Robert Lantos (Barney’s Version, Eastern Promises, Crash), award-winning production designer Carol Spier (Crash, Dead Ringers) and three-time Academy Award-winning composer Howard Shore (The Song Of Names, The Lord Of The Rings Trilogy, A History of Violence).

Familiar faces join Cronenberg in front of the camera, as well, including Viggo Mortensen, after his critically acclaimed work in Cronenberg’s A History of Violence, Eastern Promises, and A Dangerous Method; and Don McKellar for a second time, following eXistenZ.

Lantos, who first read the script those many decades ago, was fundamental in convincing Cronenberg to make this film. “David likes to say that the reason he is making Crimes of The Future is because he has unfinished business with the future. For me, it’s because I have unfinished business with Cronenberg. We haven’t made a film together since Eastern Promises, but we have been talking about Crimes of The Future for some 20 years,” said Lantos. “To piece together a film of this ambition and complexity was a tall mountain to climb, made possible by three brilliant and courageous actors – Viggo Mortensen, Léa Seydoux, and Kristen Stewart. They are prepared to take risks and stretches boundaries, and that kind of courage is what it took to get this film to where we are now.”

CRIMES OF THE FUTURE synopsis:

As the human species adapts to a synthetic environment, the body undergoes new transformations and mutations. With his partner Caprice (Léa Seydoux), Saul Tenser (Viggo Mortensen), celebrity performance artist, publicly showcases the metamorphosis of his organs in avant-garde performances. Timlin (Kristen Stewart), an investigator from the National Organ Registry, obsessively tracks their movements, which is when a mysterious group is revealed… Their mission – to use Saul’s notoriety to shed light on the next phase of human evolution.

And a statement from the director:
“CRIMES OF THE FUTURE is a meditation on human evolution. Specifically – the ways in which we have had to take control of the process because we have created such powerful environments that did not exist previously. CRIMES OF THE FUTURE is an evolution of things I have done before. Fans will see key references to other scenes and moments from my other films. That’s a continuity of my understanding of technology as connected to the human body. Technology is always an extension of the human body, even when it seems to be very mechanical and non-human. A fist becomes enhanced by a club or a stone that you throw – but ultimately, that club or stone is an extension of some potency that the human body already has. At this critical junction in human history, one wonders – can the human body evolve to solve problems we have created? Can the human body evolve a process to digest plastics and artificial materials not only as part of a solution to the climate crisis, but also, to grow, thrive, and survive?” ~ David Cronenberg

Serendipity Point Films Telefilm Canada Ingenious Media Present: CRIMES OF THE FUTURE:
Crimes of the Future is a Canada-Hellenic Republic Co-Production and was filmed on location in Athens, Greece.

WRITTEN AND DIRECTED BY David Cronenberg
PRODUCED BY Robert Lantos
MUSIC BY Howard Shore
DIRECTOR OF PHOTOGRAPHY Douglas Koch, CSC
PRODUCTION DESIGNER Carol Spier
EDITOR Christopher Donaldson, C.C.E.
3COSTUME DESIGNER Mayou Trikerioti

Starring

• Viggo Mortensen (A History of Violence, Eastern Promises, Green Book)
• Léa Seydoux (No Time to Die, The French Dispatch, Blue is the Warmest Colour)
• Kristen Stewart (Spencer, Clouds of Sils Maria, Twilight)
• Scott Speedman (Grey’s Anatomy, Barney’s Version, Adoration, Underworld)
• Welket Bungué (Berlin Alexanderplatz)
• Don McKellar (Blindness, eXistenZ)
• Yorgos Pirpassopoulos(Beckett, Monday)
• Tanaya Beatty (Yellowstone, Through Black Spruce)
• Nadia Litz (Big Muddy, Hotel Congress, Blindness)
• Lihi Kornowski (Losing Alice)
• Denise Capezza(Gomorrah)

Watch the Redband Trailer for CRIMES of the FUTURE (2022) (viewer discretion is advised)
Crimes of the Future Redband Trailer

CRIMES of the FUTURE opens in theater June 3rd 2022