David Cronenberg Almost Directed The Best Crime Thriller Sequel Never Made

Welcome to The Best Movies Never Made, a look back at the most fascinating, strange, and tantalizing films that never actually made it in front of cameras — and maybe should have.

An unexpected trip to London's seedy criminal underbelly marks our entry point into David Cronenberg's "Eastern Promises." This 2007 gangster flick is a more electrifying counterpart to Cronenberg's "A History of Violence," which also features Viggo Mortensen as a character shrouded in secrets.

"Eastern Promises" isn't run-of-the-mill genre fare with violence and intrigue tacked on to a conventional plot. Instead, screenwriter Steven Knight creates a charged underworld that sports its own subculture. In a 2007 interview with Film Comment, Cronenberg praised Knight's knack for visceral worldbuilding and explained how it became the film's core appeal:

"It's obvious [Knight] has a good feel for embedded subcultures, which is something that appeals to me too. Those strangely enclosed little worlds where rules are made up and become like the laws of nature. I was intrigued by that very intense hothouse climate."

This "intense hothouse climate" manifests quite literally in the anxiety-inducing bathhouse fight scene, which demanded incredible commitment from Mortensen. After this defining turning point, "Eastern Promises" reveals its protagonist's true identity, which makes its cliffhanger ending all the more effective. 

In 2010, Deadline reported that producer Paul Webster was gearing up for an "Eastern Promises" sequel, with Cronenberg, Knight, and Mortensen returning to team up once again. Thus began a series of seemingly never-ending talks about a possible "Eastern Promises 2," but despite going through several iterations, the project never came to fruition. That's a shame because, while sequels are often seen as unnecessary cash-ins, "Eastern Promises" genuinely demanded a follow-up to do justice to an unfinished tale — and the sequel that was in the works sounded fascinating.

In "Eastern Promises," midwife Anna Khitrova (Naomi Watts) stumbles into a conspiracy after teenage immigrant Tatiana (Sarah-Jeanne Labrosse) dies during childbirth and leaves behind a diary with an address to the Trans-Siberian Restaurant. Owner Semyon (Armin Mueller-Stahl) appears cordial when Anna enquires about the girl, but she's quick to realize that the restaurant is a gateway to a world of Russian mobsters. Anna soon crosses paths with Kirill (Vincent Cassel) and Nikolai (Mortensen), getting embroiled in a violent subculture. Nikolai is eventually revealed to be an undercover FSB agent, and he replaces Semyon as the mafia head by the end.

This only tells half a story, as Nikolai's path ahead is integral to his true motivations, which "Eastern Promises" barely explores. This was Cronenberg's impetus to make the sequel, as explained in a 2012 interview with The Playlist:

"It was the first time I had ever been tempted to do a sequel because I felt I wasn't finished with the character of Nikolai [...] and Kirill [...] I really wanted to see Nikolai go back to Russia, because one of the things I wanted in the first movie was to see a bunch of Russians in London, but you never see them in Russia. In other words, you experience their exile, and they are trying to recreate some of Russia within London [...] They long for Russia, but we never see that."

The tension between Nikolai's stoic mafia persona and his secret allegiance to the British government further complicates our understanding of him. Kirill is similarly hoodwinked by this act, which makes Cronenberg's plans to have the duo return to Russia more intriguing. How would cultural yearning slot into the ritualistic codes of the vory-v-zakone (thieves-in-law)? 

Cronenberg's plans for Nikolai and Kirill to return to Russia set up a fascinating snapshot of the Russian underworld and how the characters operate within their home turf. The "Eastern Promises" sequel would have explored the implications of Nikolai's infiltration and Kirill's reaction to this bitter truth.

In Cronenberg's world, the body is identity, which raises some pertinent questions. Do Nikolai's tattoos genuinely reflect his criminal background in Russia? If so, how and why did he become an FSB agent? There's also the question of his personal loyalty towards Kirill, which feels authentic in contrast to Nikolai's calculated performance to rise up the ranks of the vory-v-zakone.

Along with the answers a definitive sequel could have provided, we were also robbed of the commitment Mortensen would've brought to Nikolai, as he did with the 2007 film. "He went away and immersed himself in that world [...] I wrote the lines, but the heart and soul of Nikolai is really from Viggo," Knight told Cinephilia & Beyond, highlighting the weeks that Mortensen spent in Russia researching the role. The sequel's purported Russia setting would have benefited from Mortensen's intense preparation, while also furthering our understanding of Nikolai's roots and what makes him tick.

"Catharsis is the basis of all art," Cronenberg once quipped. If his "Eastern Promises" is the climactic build-up, the sequel would've been a cathartic exploration of immigrant identity and the currency it holds in fringe subcultures. It would've been intriguing to see Anna, the moral center of "Eastern Promises," explore the Russian underworld as an outsider, and its impact on her romance with Nikolai. The unpredictability of existing in this violent cultural pocket would've been the crux of Cronenberg's unmade sequel.

Hopes for a Cronenberg-helmed "Eastern Promises" sequel were dashed when the director told Digital Spy that the project was "pretty much dead." Focus Features was originally aiming to begin shooting in October 2012, and the film already had a script penned by Knight, as confirmed by Cassel years later in a 2023 interview. "[Cronenberg] had a wonderful script," Cassel told The Independent, stating that he didn't know why the project fell through. 

Cronenberg, however, knows why. In the same Digital Spy interview, the director clarified. "I think it was money, and I think it's just the general reaction to what's been happening economically," Cronenberg said. He added that independent producers would've loved Knight's script, which was "really good" and deserved a fair chance.

Cronenberg's tone of resigned finality echoes our disappointment attached to the cancellation. "It's done ... If you don't like it, talk to James Schamus at Focus. It was his decision," was his blunt statement during the press cycle for "Cosmopolis." The sequel was so close to becoming a reality that official plot details were released before shooting began, verifying that the sequel would've picked up where "Eastern Promises" had left off.

Focus' decision might've been influenced by the fact that Cronenberg's 2007 crime thriller was only a modest box office success, grossing $56 million against its $27 million production budget. This assessment doesn't consider the film's cultural impact and accolades, including Mortensen's Academy Award nomination for Best Actor in a Leading Role. 

The studio's reluctance to let go of the sequel would only fuel conflicting rumors about "Eastern Promises 2" down the line.

This is where the story gets murky, with sequel rumors continuing to crop up over the years. Although Cronenberg's original sequel was long dead, there were whispers that the creative team behind "Eastern Promises" was trying their utmost to move things forward. In 2017, a now-defunct casting site called My Entertainment World shared the same synopsis for the cancelled 2012 sequel under a new title, "Body Cross":

"Picking up where the 2007 film left off with the incompetent underboss Kirill thinking that he and his henchman driver, Nikolai, really have inherited the throne from his crime-lord father, without knowing that Nikolai is actually a clandestine agent working undercover in Russia's federal security service."

The site also mentioned Knight's involvement as screenwriter, along with a March start date. Cronenberg was not mentioned, but reason dictated that the director would return to helm this passion project if given the choice. Since the reused synopsis centers around Nikolai and Kirill's characters, Cassel and Mortensen's involvement was also assumed at the time. In 2018, SlashFilm wrote about how Knight had repurposed his unused "Eastern Promises 2" script into "Body Cross," which would be a standalone crime thriller. Filmmaker William Oldroyd ("Lady Macbeth") was set to direct, and Webster was back on board as producer. 

Knight's dedication to repurposing his unused script can be traced back to a 2014 IndieWire interview where he claimed that the tweaked script was "much better than the first," so he had to try and get it made. "Body Cross" was projected for a 2019 release. Sadly, this effort never came to fruition, either.

2019 didn't give us "Body Cross," but it did bring an update from Knight about yet another sequel attempt. During a press run for "Serenity," Knight told Collider that he was working on an "Eastern Promises" sequel without the original cast. This pretty much confirms that the standalone "Body Cross" had been discarded in favor of an indirect sequel with different priorities. Knight mentioned that this project, in his words, "Went through permutations in the sense of, how do you follow Viggo?" and that it was approaching a production start. 

2020 heralded progress. Per The Hollywood Reporter, Jason Statham was being eyed to fill Mortensen's shoes in what was then titled "Small Dark Look." Danish filmmaker Martin Zandvliet ("Land of Mine," The Outsider") was supposed to helm this project. This is the last confirmed reporting connected to "Small Dark Look" — Statham's casting was never made official, and there have been no updates so far. A Production List entry for the film notes an April 2021 shoot date, but still sports a "pre-production" tag. The project summary has the following logline:

"A Russian FSB agent receives an assignment to assassinate an enemy of Russia after he rises to second in command for a mafia boss in London."

Outside of this long-gestating project, Knight has moved on to other creative interests, which include penning scripts for films like "Peaky Blinders: The Immortal Man" and spearheading shows like "Great Expectations" and "A Thousand Blows." 

Whether Knight's "Small Dark Look" will ever materialize is anyone's guess. In the meantime, it's not a bad idea to revisit Cronenberg's classic and appreciate it for the gem it is.