'Crimes Of The Future', David Cronenberg's New Movie, Has Started Filming
Opa! The cameras are rolling in Athens, Greece, for the new David Cronenberg sci-fi thriller Crimes of the Future. The film stars Viggo Mortensen, Léa Seydoux, and Kristen Stewart and features Cronenberg's first original screenplay since 1999's eXistenZ.
The Details of Crimes
According to Variety, principal photography has begun for Cronenberg's latest film, which looks to be a return to some of his earlier cyberpunk and transhumanist work.
Promotional materials describe the film as a deep dive into the near future, where humans are learning to deal with increasingly synthetic surroundings. People begin evolving beyond their natural state in a metamorphosis known as "Accelerated Evolution Syndrome" that alters their biological makeup. Some people embrace the potential of transhumanism, while others attempt to control it.
In a statement, Mortensen said:
"As we begin filming Crimes of the Future, just two days into this new adventure with David Cronenberg, it feels like we've entered a story he collaborated on with Samuel Beckett and William Burroughs, if that were possible. We are being pulled into a world that is not quite like this or any other, and yet is one that feels strangely familiar, immediate and quite credible. I can't wait to see where we end up."
In addition to Mortensen, Seydoux, and Stewart, the film also stars Tanaya Beatty, Nadia Litz, Scott Speedman, Welket Bungué, Don McKellar, Lihi Kornowski, Yorgos Karamichos, and Yorgos Pirpassopoulos. With filming of Rian Johnson's Knives Out 2 wrapping up in Greece this week, it's possible members of both massive, stellar casts might get a chance to schmooze. (Just imagine Mortensen and Knives Out's Daniel Craig sipping scotch together and sharing some baklava. It's magical.)
Cronenberg's Return
Details about the plot and characters of Crimes of the Future are scarce. Cronenberg made a low-budget film by the same name in 1970. This doesn't sound like a remake of that film, about a plague unleashed by cosmetic products, but with Cronenberg, you never know. In February, Mortensen gave a few details about the upcoming project in an interview with GQ:
"It's something he wrote a long time ago, and he never got it made. Now he's refined it, and he wants to shoot it. Hopefully, it'll be this summer we'll be filming. I would say, without giving the story away, he's going maybe a little bit back to his origins. [...] It's almost like a strange film noir story. It's disturbing and it's good, I think."
For his part, Cronenberg isn't ready to put down the camera.
"I have unfinished business with the future," Cronenberg declared in a statement back in April.