David Cronenberg
David Cronenberg | |
---|---|
Born | David Paul Cronenberg March 15, 1943 |
Other names | The Baron of Blood King of Venereal Horror |
Education | University of Toronto (BA) |
Occupations |
|
Years active | 1966–present |
Spouses | Margaret Hindson
(m. 1972; div. 1979)Carolyn Zeifman
(m. 1979; died 2017) |
Children | 3, including Brandon and Caitlin |
Relatives | Denise Cronenberg (sister) Aaron Woodley (nephew) |
David Paul Cronenberg
Cronenberg's films have polarized critics and audiences alike; he has earned critical acclaim and has sparked controversy for his depictions of gore and violence.[3][4] The Village Voice called him "the most audacious and challenging narrative director in the English-speaking world".[5] His films have won numerous awards, including the Special Jury Prize for Crash at the 1996 Cannes Film Festival, a unique award that is distinct from the Jury Prize as it is not given annually, but only at the request of the official jury, who in this case gave the award "for originality, for daring, and for audacity".[6]
From the 2000s to the 2020s, Cronenberg collaborated on several films with Viggo Mortensen, including A History of Violence (2005), Eastern Promises (2007), A Dangerous Method (2011) and Crimes of the Future (2022). Six of his films were selected to compete for the Palme d'Or, the most recent being Crimes of the Future, which was screened at the 2022 Cannes Film Festival.
Early life and education
David Cronenberg was born in
A voracious reader from an early age, Cronenberg started off enjoying
Early films that later proved influential on Cronenberg's career include
Cronenberg attended Dewson Street Public School, Kent Senior School, Harbord Collegiate Institute and North Toronto Collegiate Institute. He enrolled at the University of Toronto for Honours Science in 1963, but changed to Honours English Language and Literature the next year. He graduated from university in 1967, at the top of his class with a general bachelor of arts.[20][7] Cronenberg decided to not study for a master of arts after making Stereo.[21]
Cronenberg's fascination with the film Winter Kept Us Warm (1966), by classmate David Secter, sparked his interest in film. He began frequenting film camera rental houses and learned the art of filmmaking.[7] Cronenberg made two short films, Transfer and From the Drain, with a few hundred dollars.[22] Cronenberg, Ivan Reitman, Bob Fothergill, and Iain Ewing were inspired by Jonas Mekas and formed the Toronto Film Co-op.[23]
Career
1969–1979: Film debut and early work
After two short sketch films and two short
1981–1988: Breakthrough and acclaim
In 1981, Cronenberg directed the
Cronenberg directed
Cronenberg has collaborated with composer
1991–2002: Career fluctuations
Cronenberg also worked for nearly a year on a version of Total Recall (1990), but experienced "creative differences" with producers Dino De Laurentiis and Ronald Shusett; a different version of the film was eventually made by Paul Verhoeven. Cronenberg related in his 1992 memoir, Cronenberg on Cronenberg that, as a fan of Philip K. Dick—author of "We Can Remember it For You Wholesale", the short story upon which the film was based— his dissatisfaction with what he envisioned the film to be and what it ended up being pained him so greatly that, for a time, he suffered a migraine just thinking about it, akin to a needle piercing his eye.[26] In the late 1990s, Cronenberg was announced as director of a sequel to another Verhoeven film, Basic Instinct (1992), but this also fell through.
Cronenberg has cited
Cronenberg has also appeared as an actor in other directors' films. Most of his roles are
Cronenberg has said that his films should be seen "from the point of view of the disease", and that in Shivers, for example, he identifies with the characters after they become infected with the anarchic parasites. Disease and disaster, in Cronenberg's work, are less problems to be overcome than agents of
2005–present: Resurgence
His thriller A History of Violence (2005) is one of his highest budgeted and most accessible to date. He has said that the decision to direct it was influenced by his having had to defer some of his salary on the low-budgeted Spider (2002), but it was one of his most critically acclaimed films to date, along with Eastern Promises (2007), a film about the struggle of one man to gain power in the Russian Mafia. Although Cronenberg has worked with a number of Hollywood stars, he remains a staunchly Canadian filmmaker, with nearly all of his films (including major studio vehicles The Dead Zone and The Fly) having been filmed in his home province Ontario. Notable exceptions include M. Butterfly (1993), most of which was shot in China, Spider, and Eastern Promises (2007), which were both filmed primarily in England, and A Dangerous Method (2011), which was filmed in Germany and Austria. Rabid and Shivers were shot in and around Montreal. Most of his films have been at least partially financed by Telefilm Canada, and Cronenberg, a vocal supporter of government-backed film projects, has said: "Every country needs [a system of government grants] to have a national cinema in the face of Hollywood".[30]
In 2008, Cronenberg realized two extra-cinematographic projects: the exhibition Chromosomes at the
In the October 2011 edition of Rue Morgue, Cronenberg stated that he has written a companion piece to his 1986 remake of The Fly, which he would like to direct if given the chance. He has stated that it is not a traditional sequel, but rather a "parallel story".[33] In 2012, his film Cosmopolis competed for the Palme d'Or at the 2012 Cannes Film Festival.[34] For a time it appeared that, as Eastern Promises producer Paul Webster told Screen International, a sequel is in the works that would reunite the key team of Cronenberg, Steven Knight, and Viggo Mortensen. The film was to be made by Webster's new production company Shoebox Films in collaboration with Focus Features, and shot in early 2013.[35] However, in 2012, Cronenberg commented that the Eastern Promises sequel had fallen through due to budget disagreement with Focus Features.[36]
Filming for Cronenberg's next film, a satire
Cronenberg appears as himself in the minute-long short film The Death of David Cronenberg, shot by his daughter Caitlin, which was released digitally on September 19, 2021.[44][45] In February 2021 however, Mortensen said Cronenberg had refined an older script he had written and hopes to film it with Mortensen that summer. He further hinted that it is a "strange film noir" and resembles Cronenberg's earlier body horror films.[46] In April 2021, the title was revealed to be Crimes of the Future.[47] It was shot in Greece during the summer of 2021,[47][48] and competed for the Palme d'Or at the 2022 Cannes Film Festival.[49] Cronenberg's new film The Shrouds is set to premier at the 2024 Cannes Film Festival and be released theatrically in September 2024.[50]
Personal life
Cronenberg lives in Toronto.[1] He married his first wife, Margaret Hindson, in 1972: their seven-year marriage ended in 1979 amidst personal and professional differences. They had one daughter, Cassandra Cronenberg. His second wife was film editor Carolyn Zeifman, to whom he was married until her death in 2017.[51] The couple met on the set of Rabid while she was working as a production assistant.[51] They have two children, Caitlin and Brandon.[52] In the book Cronenberg on Cronenberg (1992), he revealed that The Brood was inspired by events that occurred during the unraveling of his first marriage, which caused both Cronenberg and his daughter Cassandra a great deal of turmoil. The character Nola Carveth, mother of the brood, is based on Cassandra's mother. Cronenberg said that he found the shooting of the climactic scene, in which Nola was strangled by her husband, to be "very satisfying".[53]
In a September 2013 interview, Cronenberg revealed that film director
In Cronenberg on Cronenberg, the director further elaborated that he was raised in a secular Jewish home, and while he and his family had no disdain towards any religion, such matters were not discussed. In the same book, Cronenberg said that in his teens he went through a phase where he wondered about the existence of God, but ultimately came to the conclusion that the God concept was developed to cope with the fear of death.[26] In a 2007 interview, Cronenberg explained the role atheism plays in his work. He stated, "I'm interested in saying, 'Let us discuss the existential question. We are all going to die, that is the end of all consciousness. There is no afterlife. There is no God. Now what do we do.' That's the point where it starts getting interesting to me."[55][56]
In Cronenberg's later films (e.g.
In a separate 2013 interview, Cronenberg discussed the role religion plays in his films, using Eastern Promises as the main example:
I'm an atheist but not all my characters are atheists. So it's true that I don't think about
Eastern Orthodox, and that's a part of their life, a part of their understanding of suffering. Because everybody in life suffers but not everybody thinks of that in religious terms. These people do. And they think of suffering as a way to salvation, also in religious terms. I am their God really, as I am creating them; that's religious in itself. I am a very hardcore atheist believe me but you become like an actor really, as a director or a writer. You must take on the character as that character is and believe in it as you're playing it. To allow that character to exist as he would exist. That's really what it's all about, so I have no problem with characters who are religious and believe in God. I would have a problem if that was the point of the whole story because that bores me and I just don't have any emotional or intellectual respect for it, frankly.[58]
Filmography
Year | Title | Distribution |
---|---|---|
1969 | Stereo | Film Canada Presentations |
1970 | Crimes of the Future | New Cinema Enterprises |
1975 | Shivers | Cinépix Film Properties / New World Pictures |
1977 | Rabid | Cinépix |
1979 | Fast Company | Admit One Presentations / Danton Films |
The Brood | New World Pictures | |
1981 | Scanners | New World Pictures / Manson International |
1983 | Videodrome | Universal Pictures |
The Dead Zone | Paramount Pictures | |
1986 | The Fly | 20th Century Fox |
1988 | Dead Ringers | |
1991 | Naked Lunch | |
1993 | M. Butterfly | Warner Bros. |
1996 | Crash | Alliance Communications |
1999 | eXistenZ | Alliance Atlantis |
2002 | Spider | Cineplex Films |
2005 | A History of Violence | New Line Cinema |
2007 | Eastern Promises | Focus Features |
2011 | A Dangerous Method | Sony Pictures Classics |
2012 | Cosmopolis | Entertainment One |
2014 | Maps to the Stars | Focus World |
2022 | Crimes of the Future | Sphere Films |
2024 | The Shrouds | TBA |
Awards and recognition
Cronenberg has appeared on various "Greatest Director" lists. In 2004, Science Fiction magazine Strange Horizons named him the second greatest director in the history of the genre, ahead of better known directors such as Steven Spielberg, James Cameron, Jean-Luc Godard, and Ridley Scott.[59] In the same year, The Guardian listed him 9th on their list of "The world's 40 best directors".[60] In 2007, Total Film named him as the 17th greatest director of all-time.[61] Film professor Charles Derry, in his overview of the horror genre Dark Dreams, called the director one of the most important in his field, and that "no discussion of contemporary horror film can conclude without reference to the films of David Cronenberg."[62]
Cronenberg received the
In 2002, he was made an Officer of the
The opening of the "David Cronenberg: Evolution"
In 2014, he was made a Member of the Order of Ontario in recognition for being "Canada's most celebrated internationally acclaimed filmmaker".[73]
In April 2018, it was announced that Cronenberg would receive the honorary Golden Lion at the 75th Venice International Film Festival.[74]
British Academy Film Awards
Year | Nominated work | Category | Result |
---|---|---|---|
2008 | Eastern Promises | Outstanding British Film | Nominated |
Berlin International Film Festival
Year | Nominated work | Category | Result |
---|---|---|---|
1992 | Naked Lunch | Golden Bear | Nominated |
1999 | eXistenZ | Nominated | |
Silver Bear for an outstanding artistic contribution | Won |
Cannes Film Festival
Year | Nominated work | Category | Result |
---|---|---|---|
1996 | Crash | Jury Prize | Won |
Palme d'Or | Nominated | ||
2002 | Spider | Nominated | |
2005 | A History of Violence | Nominated | |
2006 | Golden Coach | Won | |
2012 | Cosmopolis | Palme d'Or | Nominated |
2014 | Maps to the Stars | Nominated | |
2022 | Crimes of the Future | Nominated |
Academy of Canadian Cinema and Television
Year | Nominated work | Result |
---|---|---|
1988 | Dead Ringers | Won |
1996 | Crash | Nominated |
1999 | eXistenZ
|
Nominated |
Year | Nominated work | Result |
---|---|---|
1981 | Scanners | Nominated |
1983 | Videodrome | Won |
1988 | Dead Ringers | Won |
1991 | Naked Lunch | Won |
1996 | Crash | Won |
2002 | Spider | Won |
2007 | Eastern Promises | Nominated |
2011 | A Dangerous Method | Nominated |
2014 | Maps to the Stars | Nominated |
Year | Nominated work | Result |
---|---|---|
1981 | Scanners | Nominated |
1983 | Videodrome | Nominated |
1988 | Dead Ringers | Won |
1991 | Naked Lunch | Won |
1996 | Crash | Won |
2012 | Cosmopolis | Nominated |
Saturn Awards
Year | Nominated work | Category | Result |
---|---|---|---|
1983 | The Dead Zone | Best Director | Nominated |
1986 | The Fly | Nominated | |
1988 | Dead Ringers | Best Horror Film | Nominated |
Best Writing | Nominated | ||
1999 | eXistenZ
|
Best Science Fiction Film | Nominated |
References
- ^ a b Cronenberg 1992, p. 1.
- ^ "David Cronenberg: 10 essential films". British Film Institute. Retrieved June 14, 2021.
- ^ "Cronenberg defends movie's naked bathhouse scene". CTVNews. September 11, 2007. Retrieved June 22, 2017.
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- ^ J. Hoberman (May 17, 2005). "Historical Oversight". The Village Voice. Archived from the original on June 29, 2011. Retrieved May 18, 2011.
- ^ Maslin, Janet (May 21, 1996). "Secrets and Lies' Wins the Top Prize at Cannes". The New York Times. Retrieved September 20, 2018.
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- ^ "Canadian Icon: David Cronenberg". April 14, 2014. Retrieved December 2, 2016.
- ^ "Film-Related 2007". Viggo Works. Retrieved December 2, 2016.
- ^ Rodley 1997, p. 2.
- ^ a b "Filmmaker David Cronenberg Discusses His Influences - Nymag". New York Magazine. September 22, 2005. Retrieved June 8, 2021.
- ^ "David Cronenberg: Virtual Exhibition". cronenbergmuseum.tiff.net. Archived from the original on June 13, 2021. Retrieved June 8, 2021.
- ^ "Cronenberg: Superhero films are adolescent". Digital Spy. January 3, 2013.
- ^ a b Cunningham, Joe (May 6, 2013). "Watch: 90-Minute Discussion With David Cronenberg About His Career, Films, Inspirations & Much More". Retrieved June 8, 2021.
- ^ "David Cronenberg: 'My imagination is not a place of horror'". the Guardian. September 13, 2014. Retrieved June 8, 2021.
- ^ Lacey, Liam (May 21, 2012). "The Cronenbergs: Dark art just runs in the family". The Globe and Mail. Retrieved June 8, 2021.
- ^ "David Cronenberg: Virtual Exhibition". cronenbergmuseum.tiff.net. Archived from the original on June 13, 2021. Retrieved June 8, 2021.
- ^ Rodley 1997, pp. 1–2.
- ^ Rodley 1997, p. 17.
- ^ Rodley 1997, p. 13.
- ^ Rodley 1997, p. 15.
- ^ Janet Maslin (February 4, 1983). "'VIDEODROME,' LURID FANTASIES OF THE TUBE". The New York Times. Retrieved March 11, 2018.
- ^ "David Cronenberg Re-Examines David Cronenberg". Film Freak Central. March 9, 2003. Archived from the original on April 1, 2003. Retrieved March 9, 2003.
- ^ ISBN 9780571144365.
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- ^ "Double Trouble". Slate. May 12, 2005. Archived from the original on May 14, 2005. Retrieved December 13, 2009.
- ^ Phipps, Keith (March 12, 2003). "David Cronenberg". The A.V. Club. Retrieved September 18, 2020.
- ^ "Viggo Mortensen Replaces Christoph Waltz As Sigmund Freud in David Cronenberg's 'The Talking Cure'". The Playlist. March 9, 2010. Retrieved May 18, 2011.
- ^ "Keira Knightley Takes The Talking Cure". Empire. December 23, 2009. Retrieved May 18, 2011.
- ^ UntoldHorror. "Versions of The Fly that Didn't Fly". Retrieved May 29, 2020.
- ^ "Five things we learned from the Cannes premiere of Cosmopolis". Toronto Life. May 28, 2012. Retrieved June 14, 2021.
- ^ "Paul Webster". Screen International. Retrieved April 23, 2012.
- ^ Taylor, Drew (December 14, 2012). "Exclusive: David Cronenberg Shares Details Of Canceled 'Eastern Promises 2' & 'The Fly' Remake". Penske Business Media, LLC. IndieWire. Retrieved January 19, 2018.
- ^ "David Cronenberg's 'Maps to the Stars' Finds Julianne Moore, John Cusack & EOne". Deadline Hollywood. Retrieved February 4, 2013.
- ^ "Julianne Moore, John Cusack & Sarah Gadon Join Robert Pattinson in David Cronenberg's 'Map to the Stars'". IndieWire. Archived from the original on April 24, 2013. Retrieved February 4, 2013.
- ^ "Cronenberg starts Maps shoot". Screen Daily. Retrieved July 16, 2013.
- ^ "David Cronenberg Says His Novel May Arrive in 2013, Talks Working With Robert Pattinson, 'Map to the Stars' & More". IndieWire. January 3, 2013. Retrieved June 27, 2013.
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- ^ Nordine, Michael (May 12, 2016). "David Cronenberg: Why He's Considering Retiring From Filmmaking".
- ^ "David Cronenberg kisses his own dead body in NFT short film". September 16, 2021.
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- ^ "Viggo Mortensen Teases David Cronenberg Reunion — A "Strange Film Noir"". Collider. February 1, 2021. Retrieved June 8, 2021.
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- ^ a b c Henry Barnes (September 12, 2013). "David Cronenberg: 'I never thought of myself as a prophet'". The Guardian. Retrieved September 13, 2013.
- ^ Guttsman, Janet (September 10, 2007). "Cronenberg gets down and dirty with Russian mob". Reuters. "I'm an atheist," Cronenberg said."
- ^ "Interview". Esquire. February 1992. "I'm simply a nonbeliever and have been forever. ... I'm interested in saying, 'Let us discuss the existential question. We are all going to die, that is the end of all consciousness. There is no afterlife. There is no God. Now what do we do.' That's the point where it starts getting interesting to me."
- ^ "'A History of Violence': David Cronenberg's Superb Study of the Basic Impulses that Drive Humanity • Cinephilia & Beyond". Cinephilia & Beyond. February 9, 2018. Retrieved October 2, 2020.
- ^ "Cronenberg on Cronenberg / April 29, 2013". Archived from the original on October 29, 2021 – via YouTube.
- ^ Jeremy Adam Smith (April 19, 2004). "The Ten Best Science Fiction Film Directors". strangehorizons.com. Retrieved June 19, 2020.
- ^ "The world's 40 best directors". The Guardian. London. Retrieved May 18, 2011.
- ^ "Greatest Directors Ever". Total Film. August 20, 2007. Retrieved May 18, 2011.
- ISBN 0-252-01448-0
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Bibliography
- Cronenberg, David (1992). Rodley, Chris (ed.). Cronenberg on Cronenberg (1st ed.). Faber & Faber. ISBN 978-0-571-14436-5.
- Cronenberg, David (1997). Crash. Faber and Faber. ISBN 0-571-19127-4.
- Cronenberg, David (1999). eXistenZ: A Graphic Novel. Key Porter Books. ISBN 1-55263-027-7.
- Cronenberg, David (2002). David Cronenberg: Collected Screenplays 1: Stereo, Crimes of the Future, Shivers, Rabid. Faber and Faber. ISBN 0-571-21017-1.
- Cronenberg, David (2005). ISBN 978-88-901996-8-4.
- Cronenberg, David (2014). ISBN 978-1-416-59613-4.
- Grünberg, Serge & Cronenberg, David (2005). David Cronenberg: Interviews with Serge Grünberg. Plexus Publishing. ISBN 0-85965-376-5.
- Rodley, Chris, ed. (1997). Cronenberg on Cronenberg. ISBN 0571191371.
- Dreibrodt, Thomas J. Dreibrodt (2000). Lang lebe das neue Fleisch. Die Filme von David Cronenberg – von 'Shivers' bis 'eXistenZ' (in German). Paragon-Verlag. ISBN 978-3-932872-05-1.
- Handling, Piers (1983). The Shape of Rage: The Films of David Cronenberg. General Publishing Company. ISBN 978-0-7736-1137-5.
- ISBN 978-0-253-21146-0.
- ISBN 978-0-517-57366-2.
- Robnik, Drehli Robnik; Palm, Michael, eds. (1992). Und das Wort ist Fleisch geworden. Texte über Filme von David Cronenberg. Vienna: PVS. ISBN 978-3-901196-02-7.
External links
- David Cronenberg at IMDb
- The Literary Adaptations of David Cronenberg (via LitReactor, 2011)
- David Cronenberg Bibliography (via UC Berkeley)
- David Cronenberg Profile by The New York Times Magazine (September 2005)
- Teleplay episode "The Italian Machine" online at the Channel4 website (RealMedia)