David Cronenberg: Veteran Director of Eastern Promises Finally Gets His Due

"As a filmmaker I ask questions but don't have answers. Moviemaking is a philosophical exploration. I invite the audience to come on the journey and discover what they think and feel."

"My dentist once said to me: 'I have enough problems in my life, so why should I see your films?"

Director David Cronenberg - On his career making unusual and violent movies (IMDB.com)

For over thirty years director David Cronenberg has been making films that people talk about. Many of them are as much loved as they are loathed. He began as a horror film director whose fan base was ranked as highly as those for John Carpenter, Wes Craven and George Romero. He then graduated to the A list of directors but never compromised his own visions and "went Hollywood." The Canadian-born director has always chosen to direct films he writes or direct the scripts of others whose vision he shares. While he has amassed some impressive film credits he chose not to direct such films as Return of the Jedi, Top Gun and Total Recall. And he has now graduated into one of the most respected directors currently working.

A David Cronenberg film now promises more then hard core violence (though that remains), but an honest thought provoking look at everyday life and its oddities. Cronenberg moved away from horror films in the traditional sense but still directs stories that have personal horrors for the characters in them. And he is able to slip in his unique trademark violence and images that linger. When you see a David Cronenberg film you are likely to discuss it for days afterward.

To look at him it's no surprise that he is responsible for such memorable moments as an exploding head or a man reaching into his own stomach and pulling out a gun. But to hear others, David Cronenberg is truly one of the nicest guys in the business who happens to make dark movies. He has a loyal fan following and an even more loyal following with his crews. Many of the his crew (including his sister, costume designer Denise Cronenberg) have been with him since the first film and have no intention of ever not working with him as long as they are able.

Cronenberg, 65, has made less then 20 films in his thirty-plus years in the business. Every so often he exploits his director image by acting in other people's films, usually as a villain. His most notable appearances include a psychotic doctor in Clive Barker's Nightbreed and as the hit man who takes care of Nicole Kidman at the end of To Die For.

His latest film, Eastern Promises, is earning him well deserved accolades and some of the best reviews of his career. The film just won the audience award (for favorite film) at the Toronto Film Festival and some Academy Award talk is already brewing. What makes this even more amazing is that his last film, A History of Violence, garnered Cronenberg attention like he has never received before. The attention on his new film is even bigger.

Here is a look at the career of a director known to many film buffs for three decades but is now starting to receive the widespread acclaim he has richly deserved for years.

In 1975 Cronenberg made his big screen debut with They Came From Within (released in Canada and elsewhere as Shivers) about a scientist who unknowingly unleashes a parasite that spreads within an apartment complex turning those infected into zombie-like creatures. The film was cheaply made but Cronenberg's directing style was evident and the film turned a tidy profit despite being nothing more then a drive-in summer release. In 1977 Cronenberg made Rabid starring adult film actress Marilyn Chambers in the story of a woman injured in a motorcycle accident. In order to save her life doctors perform an experimental surgery that causes her to crave the taste of blood when she awakens. The film was stylishly shot but a bit thin in story but still provided Cronenberg with another solid drive-in hit. In 1979 Cronenberg attempted to get away from the horror genre by making a race car movie called Fast Company. The film turned out poorly (it barely received theatrical release in the United States and most of that was the second half of a drive-in double feature) and Cronenberg went back to his comfortable elements later that year with The Brood, the tale of psychiatry gone bad and a father trying to save his daughter from her mother. Oliver Reed and Samantha Eggar starred in the film that failed to live up to expectations from fans.

In 1981 Cronenberg first gained notice with his thriller Scanners, about an underground society of people with the power of mind control and one man (another "scanner") who tries to stop them. Critics and audiences took notice at this talented young filmmaker's style and his ability to engross and then gross out his audience. This is the film famous for its exploding head shot that had audiences talking about it weeks before the film was even released.

Two years later Cronenberg made Videodrome, a thriller with James Woods as a sleazy television station owner begging his staff to find edgier hardcore material for the station. He ends up getting in way over his head with a company known as Videodrome and soon his physical appearance begins to alter drastically. The film offered no easy explanations or solutions and many were turned off by the film's excessive violence. But, as would be the case for most of his movies, the film made people talk. The film was a disappointment at the box office but Cronenberg was already hard at work on his next film, an adaptation of Stephen King's novel The Dead Zone. The film was then and is now widely regarded as one of the best film versions of a King novel and Cronenberg was now on the mainstream map wit his biggest hit to follow.

In 1986 Cronenberg made his most popular film to date, The Fly starring Jeff Goldblum (in an Academy Award nomination caliber performance that was overlooked) and Geena Davis. Goldblum plays an eccentric scientist who foolishly performs an experiment and ends up crossing human DNA with fly DNA. The film was an enormous critical and box office hit, created a familiar catch phrase with "Be afraid. Be very afraid," and even earned an Academy Award for its brilliant make-up. Cronenberg had finally written his ticket and Hollywood came knocking on his doorstep in Toronto. Instead of making another flashy horror film with great box office potential, Cronenberg went with a smaller scale drama that he had been trying to get off the ground for over 5 years. It was a surprise to fans and critics but the biggest surprise was that, as of today, David Cronenberg has never made another horror film.

Dead Ringers is the emotionally charged tale of twin brothers in New York who are respected gynecologists and share an uncommon but loving (but not incestuous) relationship with one another. They share women (sometimes without the women knowing) and they share a deep drug habit that eventually spirals their world upside down. Cronenberg does add some horror to the proceedings with grotesque medical examination tools and creepy gynecological visits. Jeremy Irons has never been better then he is here as the twins and the photography (this is one of the earliest uses of split screening the same actor twice into the same shot convincingly) is top notch. For many, myself included, this is Cronenberg's masterpiece while others simply couldn't get passed the story oddities. Another problem was that few women enjoyed the film for obvious reasons though many were likely tricked into seeing it because of the handsome Irons. The film was a critical smash but it failed at the box office.

Three years later, in 1991, Cronenberg did what many believed was unthinkable - sort of. Cronenberg made a movie of William Burroughs' popular cult novel Naked Lunch. Wisely Cronenberg did not attempt a literal translation of the book but took elements of it plus some of Burroughs' other drug induced writings and some biographical information (including the fact that Burroughs accidentally killed his wife in a drugged up stupor while attempting to shoot an apple off her head). Peter Weller stars as a writer/exterminator who slowly begins sniffing and getting addicted to the bug powder he uses. After killing his wife he falls into a hallucinatory world where his typewriter comes to resemble a giant cockroach and he soon believes he is a secret agent for an underground organization. Not surprisingly the film had trouble finding an audience and what few did show up couldn't make heads or tails of it. The critical reaction was mixed but the film failed.

In 1993 Cronenberg created his third flop in a row with M. Butterfly loosely based on the famous opera about a diplomat that falls in love with a woman who turns out to be a man which leads to tragic results. Despite re-teaming with Jeremy Irons and getting some decent reviews, the film failed. In 1996 Cronenberg tipped the controversy scales as far as he could with the adult-only erotic drama Crash based on the novel of sex, fetishism, erotica and death. The story follows a small group of people who become aroused at the sight of or being involved in car crashes. The film, starring James Spader and Holly Hunter, was attacked by many critics as "pornographic" while claiming to have not understood Cronenberg's point. Cronenberg offered a powerful portrayal of lives with lost souls, a married couple who sexually experiment with others for excitement and those that stage the re-enactment of famous car crashes in an underground society. Much like Cronenberg's other works, the film is fascinating even when you may not be quite sure about everything happening on the screen.

In 1999 Cronenberg entered the bizarre world of video games with the thriller eXistenZ starring Jennifer Jason Leigh as a game designer hunted by a stalker and forms a bond with one of her co-workers who becomes her bodyguard and is thrust into a world where the two must play the game ultimately for survival. The film is even more complicated then it sounds and critics began to accuse Cronenberg of making odd films for the sake of it with no actual explanations or merit to the projects. Even some of his hardened fans began to wonder where he was going with his career. They needed not fear.

In 2002 Cronenberg bounced back with a highly acclaimed drama called Spider starring Ralph Fiennes in the story of a mentally ill man nicknamed 'Spider' who has suffered from schizophrenia and trauma that he has never recovered. The film is less about plot and more about the revealing of Spider to us as we watch events from the past unfold that helped to shape him into the loss he has become and helplessly witness his grip on reality slowly slipping away.

Then in 2005 Cronenberg made his most critically successful film at that time. A History of Violence tells the story of an Indiana diner owner who prevents a tragedy at his business and soon finds that people are coming to him claiming him to be a sadistic killer from a heavily made family. Cronenberg unfolds the story in a beautifully methodical manner starting with a brilliant opening scene that is one unbroken shot for several minutes (much like Welles did in Touch of Evil). Cronenberg gets a career performance out of star Viggo Mortensen and terrific supporting work from Maria Bello, Ed Harris and especially William Hurt who got a well deserved Academy Award nomination for a role that lasts no more then ten minutes of screen time. The film also received a Best Screenplay nomination but Cronenberg was sadly overlooked.

Now, with Eastern Promises, Cronenberg has received even greater praise and is now being talked of as a major film director. Not bad for a 65 year old with over 30 years in the business. The Academy may never recognize his contributions but critics and audiences are starting to take notice and movie fans eagerly await what he will throw our way next time.