Thompson on Hollywood

Cronenberg on 'Cosmopolis': Offer Him '50 Shades of Grey' and He'll Read It

Interviews

David Cronenberg is a lucky man. As Canada's top filmmaker, he can land funding for most of the reasonably budgeted movies that he wants to do (a sequel to "Eastern Promises" aside), and has earned a reputation as an actors' writer-director ("Dead Ringers," "The Fly," "A Dangerous Method," "A History of Violence") which enables him, Woody Allen-style, to cast bankable stars with global fans.

By Anne Thompson
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August 17, 2012 4:30 PM
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Cannes Review: Cronenberg's Dystopian "Cosmopolis" Stars Pattinson as Dissolute Master of the Universe

Reviews

"Life is too contemporary," Didi Fancher (Juliette Binoche) tells Eric Packer (Robert Pattinson) after they've just had sex in the back of his limousine. That seems to be the global concern in "Cosmopolis," a headlong plunge into a dystopian urban milieu of greed, corruption, technology, nihilism, you name it.

By Ryan Lattanzio
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May 28, 2012 2:05 PM
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Cannes Review Round-Up: David Cronenberg's "Cosmopolis" with Robert Pattinson

Reviews

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

Video

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

News

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

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

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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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.