David Cronenberg
David Paul Cronenberg OC (born
March 15,
1943 in
Toronto,
Ontario) is a
Canadian film director and occasional
actor. He is one of the principal originators of what is sometimes known as the "
body horror" genre, which explores people's fears of bodily transformation and
infection. In his films, the psychological is typically intertwined with the physical. In the first half of his career, he explored these themes mostly through
horror and
science fiction, although his work has expanded beyond these genres.
He was born to a
Lithuanian-
Jewish family in
Toronto; Cronenberg's father was a journalist and his mother a pianist. He went to
North Toronto Collegiate Institute when he was young and later graduated from the
University of Toronto with a degree in literature, having switched from science. He has cited
William S. Burroughs and
Vladimir Nabokov as influences.
After two short sketch films and two short art-house features (the black and white
Stereo and the colour
Crimes of the Future) Cronenberg went into partnership with
Ivan Reitman. The Canadian government provided finance for Cronenberg's films through the 1970s. Cronenberg alternated his signature "
body horror" films such as
Shivers with projects reflecting his interest in car racing and bike gangs.
Rabid exploited the unexpected acting talents of porn queen
Marilyn Chambers (Cronenberg's first choice was a young unknown called
Sissy Spacek).
Rabid was a breakthrough with international distributors and his next two horror features gained stronger support.
Over the arc of his career, Cronenberg's films follow a definite progression, a movement from the social world to the inner life. In his early films, scientists modify human bodies, which results in social anarchy (e.g.
Shivers,
Rabid). In his middle period, the chaos wrought by the scientist is more personal, (e.g.
The Brood,
Scanners,
Videodrome). In the later period, the scientist himself is altered by his experiment (e.g. Cronenberg's remake of
The Fly). This trajectory culminates in
Dead Ringers in which a twin pair of
gynecologists spiral into
codependency and
drug addiction. Cronenberg's later films tend more to the psychological, often contrasting subjective and objective realities (
eXistenZ,
M. Butterfly,
Spider).
Cronenberg has said that his films should be seen "from the point of view of the disease", and that, for example, he identifies with the characters in
Shivers after they become infected with the anarchic parasites. This perspective is illustrated in
The Fly when the hero discovers that he has been genetically fused with an insect. Rather than saying "My teleport machine went wrong", he says "My teleport machine turned into a gene-splicer". Disease and disaster, in Cronenberg's work, are less problems to be overcome than agents of personal transformation. Similarly, in
Crash (1996), people who have been injured in car crashes attempt to view their ordeal as "a fertilising rather than a destructive event". In 2006, Cronenberg would say that he was upset that
Paul Haggis had chosen the same name for his Academy Award winning film
Crash, feeling it was not only ethically wrong, but annoying as well.
[1]Aside from
The Dead Zone (1983) and
The Fly, Cronenberg has not generally worked within the world of big-budget, mainstream
Hollywood filmmaking, although he has had occasional near misses. At one stage he was considered by
George Lucas as a possible director for
Return of the Jedi but was passed. Cronenberg also worked for nearly a year on a version of
Total Recall but experienced "creative differences" with producers
Dino de Laurentiis and Ronald Shusett. A different version of the film was eventually made by
Paul Verhoeven. In the late 1990s Cronenberg was announced as director of a sequel to another Verhoeven film,
Basic Instinct, but this also fell through. His most recent work, the thriller
A History of Violence (2005), is one of his highest budgeted and most mass audience-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, but it is one of his most critically acclaimed films to date.
Cronenberg has hired
Howard Shore to compose the
soundtrack to nearly all of his films (see
List of noted film director and composer collaborations). Other regular collaborators include
actor Robert Silverman,
art director Carol Spier,
sound editor Bryan Day,
film editor Ronald Sanders, his sister,
costume designer Denise Cronenberg, and, from 1979 until 1988,
cinematographer Mark Irwin.
Since 1988's
Dead Ringers, Cronenberg has worked with cinematographer
Peter Suschitzky on each of his films (see
List of noted film director and cinematographer collaborations). Suschitzky was the director of photography for
Star Wars Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back, and Cronenberg has repeatedly said that Suschitzky's work in that film made it the most beautiful sci-fi film he'd ever seen, which was a motivating factor to work with him on
Dead Ringers.
Coupled with the loyalty he shows to his key personnel, Cronenberg remains a staunchly Canadian filmmaker, with nearly all of his filmshaving been filmed in his home province of
Ontario (notable exceptions include
M. Butterfly and
Spider, most of which were shot in China and England, respectively. Also,
Rabid and
Shivers were shot in and around the city of
Montreal). Most of his films have been at least partially financed by
Telefilm Canada, and Cronenberg is a vocal supporter of government-backed film projects, saying "Every country needs [a system of government grants] in order to have a national cinema in the face of Hollywood."
[2]Cronenberg has also appeared in the films of other directors as an actor. Most of his roles are cameo appearances, as in
Into The Night,
Jason X,
To Die For, and
Alias, but on occasion he has played major roles, as in
Nightbreed or
Last Night. He has not played major roles in any of his own films, but he did put in a brief appearance as a
gynaecologist in
The Fly; he can also be glimpsed among the sex-crazed hordes in
Shivers; he can be heard as an unseen car-pound attendant in
Crash; and his hands can be glimpsed in
eXistenZ.
In
2002, he was made an Officer of the
Order of Canada. In
2006 he was awarded the
Cannes Film Festival's lifetime achievement award, the
Carrosse D'or.
[3] In 2006, he was made a Fellow of the
Royal Society of Canada, the senior national body of distinguished Canadian scientists and scholars.
[4]Transfer (1966) (short) (also writer, cinematographer, editor)
From the Drain (1967) (short) (also writer, cinematographer, editor)
Stereo (1969) (also writer, cinematographer, editor)
Secret Weapons (TV) (1970) (also writer) (episode of the series
Programme X)
Crimes of the Future (1970) (also writer, cinematographer, editor)
Tourettes (TV) (1971) (also writer)
The Victim (TV) (1975) (episode of the
CBC series
Peep Show)
The Lie Chair (TV) (1975) episode of the CBC series
Peep Show)
Shivers (1975) (also writer)
The Italian Machine (TV) (1976) (episode of the CBC series
Teleplay) (also writer)
watch it here (
RealMedia)
Rabid (1977) (also writer)
Fast Company (1979) (also co-writer)
The Brood (1979) (also writer)
Scanners (1981) (also writer)
Videodrome (1983) (also writer)
The Dead Zone (1983)
The Fly (1986) (also co-writer)
Dead Ringers (1988) (also co-writer)
Naked Lunch (1991) (also writer)
Nightbreed (1990, as an actor)
M. Butterfly (1993)
Crash (1996) (also writer, from the novel by
J. G. Ballard)
Last Night (1998, as an actor)
eXistenZ (1999) (also writer)
Camera (2000) (short)
Jason X (2001, as an actor)
Spider (2002)
A History of Violence (2005)
Eastern Promises (2007) (production begins November 2006)
Maps to the Stars (2008) (to film back-to-back with Eastern Promises)
London Fields (announced)
* Thomas J. Dreibrodt (2000):
Lang lebe das neue Fleisch. Die Filme von David Cronenberg - von 'Shivers' bis 'eXistenZ'. (academic; in German) (ISBN 3932872053)
* Serge Grünberg, ed. (2006):
David Cronenberg (interviews) (ISBN 0859653765)
* Piers Handling (1983):
The Shape of Rage: The Films of David Cronenberg (ISBN 0773611371)
*
Kim Newman (1989):
Nightmare Movies: A Critical History of the Horror Film 1968-1988 (ISBN 0517573660)
* Chris Rodley, ed. (1996):
Cronenberg on Cronenberg (ISBN 0571191371)
*
David Cronenberg Bibliography (via UC Berkeley)*
Senses of Cinema: Great Directors Critical Database*
The Plasma Pool: David Cronenberg Fan Site*
A fine fan site*
An article on Salon.com*
An interview, circa 1999*
Director's statement by David Cronenberg on 'Stereo' and 'Crimes of the Future', 2005*
Interview at SuicideGirls.com*
Interview on commandN Episode 52
