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Thompson on Hollywood

Cannes Review Round-Up: David Cronenberg's "Cosmopolis" with Robert Pattinson

If anything, judging from Cannes critics, David Cronenberg's "Cosmopolis" is a faithful adaptation of the Don DeLillo source material. The consensus is that Cronenberg keeps his fierce and trim style, despite striving to stay true to the novella.
  • By Maggie Lange
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  • May 25, 2012 1:26 PM
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Robert Pattinson Has Lots of Sex in Cronenberg's Future-Set 'Cosmopolis' Teaser

A French teaser for David Cronenberg's "Cosmopolis" looks like the love child of "Shame" and "Scarface." While Cronenberg's "A Dangerous Method" was about S & M and psychoanalysis, the talky drama was fairly tame in the sex and violence department. This teaser suggests that "Cosmopolis" marks the Canadian's return to his darker, nastier ways.
  • By Sophia Savage
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  • March 22, 2012 1:44 PM
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Interview Watch: Brutal Honesty from Jeremy Renner, Streep & Coen Talk Film in China, Knightley on Dangerous Method & Anna Karenina

Here's some brutal honesty from Jeremy Renner, whose "Mission: Impossible -- Ghost Protocol" comes out December 21, followed by "The Avengers" in May 2012. Career comes first: "Even now, any woman would take a No. 2 seat to my job.” No thanks, "Transformers": "Thank God I don’t have to do a monologue to a robot. I don’t know how Shia, God bless him, does that.” As for celebrity attention? “I don’t pay attention to that horseshit." And a touch of film wisdom, via his experience building houses:
  • By Sophia Savage
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  • November 22, 2011 1:08 PM
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Cronenberg's Menage A Trois, Kendrick's Wet Dream, Woody Allen Talks Unsatisfying Situation of Life

- David Cronenberg talks about his inspiration for A Dangerous Method and his upcoming Cosmopolis (in post-production) and potential future projects with ThePlaylist. He admits that he has always wanted to make a film about the birth of psychoanalysis, but didn't see a way in until Christopher Hampton's play: "Suddenly there is a structure. And this was my first introduction to Sabina and she is part of what I call an ‘intellectual menage a trois,’ and that structure was terrific—the span of it, the relationship between Freud and Jung that went over six or seven years.”
  • By Sophia Savage
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  • October 3, 2011 8:15 AM
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Weekly Wrap: Venice and Telluride Reviews, Pre-Toronto Buys, Lifetime Achievement Awards

Weekly Wrap: Venice and Telluride Reviews, Pre-Toronto Buys, Lifetime Achievement Awards
INTERVIEWS:
  • By Maggie Lange
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  • September 9, 2011 10:04 AM
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Oscar Talk Post-Telluride, Pre-Toronto: Descendants, Shame, Dangerous Method, Albert Nobbs

Oscar Talk Post-Telluride, Pre-Toronto: Descendants, Shame, Dangerous Method, Albert Nobbs
In Contention's Kris Tapley and I hit a timing snag on Oscar Talk this week, with him three hours behind in Los Angeles and me traveling to the Toronto Fest. We grabbed a shortish Oscar Talk nonetheless, and a cantankerous one, as we disagree on everything, it seems, except the exciting prospect of Eddie Murphy as Oscar host. We can promise you a longer one next week, when we will have seen even more films. We are both bullish on Alexander Payne's The Descendants, argue over Glenn Close's Albert Nobbs, Steve McQueen's Shame and David Cronenberg's A Dangerous Method.
  • By Anne Thompson
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  • September 9, 2011 6:57 AM
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  • 2 Comments

Telluride Reviews: Cronenberg's A Dangerous Method Isn't for Everyone; Knightley Inspires Debate

Telluride Reviews: Cronenberg's A Dangerous Method Isn't for Everyone; Knightley Inspires Debate
David Cronenberg's A Dangerous Method has stirred up a wide range of reaction at Venice and Telluride. Cronenberg and writer Christopher Hampton (Dangerous Liaisons) conduct a brainy, controlled examination of the intense relationships between the pioneers of psychoanalysis, elder Sigmund Freud (Viggo Mortensen) and younger accolyte Carl Jung (Michael Fassbender) and two well-educated but neurotic patients (Keira Knightley, Vincent Cassell) who challenge their ideas about sexuality and societal constraints. There's a lot going on in this intellectual historical drama, which is ably carried by some of the world's sexiest movie actors. (See a sampling of early reviews below.)
  • By Anne Thompson
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  • September 5, 2011 6:01 AM
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Venice: David Cronenberg's A Dangerous Method Review and Press Conference

David Gritten reviews David Cronenberg's A Dangerous Method from the Venice Film Festival. It's a rave. David Cronenberg brought his Freud-Jung movie A Dangerous Method to Venice today, and received an enthusiastic reception from a packed press screening. Stars Viggo Mortensen, Michael Fassbender and Keira Knightley joined him on the press conference, along with his long-time collaborator, producer Jeremy Thomas and co-stars Vincent Cassel and Sarah Gadon.
  • By David Gritten
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  • September 2, 2011 6:06 AM
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Venice Film Festival, Day One: George Clooney's Ides of March is a Winner, Review and Fest Preview

Venice Film Festival, Day One: George Clooney's Ides of March is a Winner, Review and Fest Preview
The Venice Biennale got off to a strong start with The Ides of March, reports London-based TOH correspondent David Gritten:How perfect a choice was George Clooney’s The Ides of March to open the Venice Film Festival today? Let us count the ways. Firstly, this political thriller fits Venice like a silk glove. It’s smart, sophisticated and politically astute, written with a shrewd intelligence and featuring stars (Clooney himself, Ryan Gosling, Evan Rachel Wood and Marisa Tomei) who offer Hollywood glamour while engaging in work that’s more than a cut above routine Hollywood product. The Ides of March also offers two terrific supporting performances from Grade-A character actors (Philip Seymour Hoffman, Paul Giammatti), doing the kind of work that makes European critics and audiences sit up and take notice.
  • By David Gritten
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  • August 31, 2011 2:54 AM
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Oscar Talk: From The Help, Rise of the Apes and Woody to the Fall Fest Circuit and Beyond

Oscar Talk: From The Help, Rise of the Apes and Woody to the Fall Fest Circuit and Beyond
Oscar Talk is back. The first podcast of the fall season with In Contention's Kris Tapley runs for a good hour, so gird your loins, Oscar mavens, listen and weep. We cover the Cannes films, the summer releases, the Fall Festival entries and the end-of-year possibilities. We talk Meryl and Glenn and Malick and Chastain, debate the merits of sleeper Warrior and admit that we both cried over cancer patient Joseph Gordon-Levitt in 50/50. Next week we'll post from Telluride. The award season begins.
  • By Anne Thompson
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  • August 26, 2011 4:00 AM
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  • 4 Comments

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