David Cronenberg

Welcome to The B-Side! Here we talk about movie directors! Not the movies that made them famous or kept them famous, but the ones that they made in between. Today we discuss David Cronenberg, one of the truly great Canadian geniuses and the filmmaker credited with the advent of “body horror” (a distinction he bristles against, for what it’s worth). Our B-Sides today include Fast Company, The Brood, M. Butterfly, and Spider. Our guest today is the incomparable Veronica Fitzpatrick, professor at Brown University and Editor-at-Large and Podcast Co-Host at Bright Wall/Dark Room. We talk about how handsome Oliver Reed is in The Brood, how Cronenberg’s films often start with a bang, how misguided M. Butterfly is, and how Fast Company was, in fact, a movie directed by David Cronenberg. There’s talk of his novel Consumed, his multiple collaborations with certain great performers like Jeremy Irons, and his incredible, intellectual mind. This is a man who has adapted Stephen King, William Burroughs, Don DeLillo, J.G. Ballard, and Patrick McGrath. What range! There’s the real-life French diplomat on which M. Butterfly is based, as well as the metatextual nature of both Cronenberg’s adaptation of David Henry Hwang and his later picture A Dangerous Method. It’s Cronenberg taking stock of the psychology of his own films! Fascinating. Veronica mentions B.D. Wong’s Tony speech, we all marvel at the fact that Adrian Lyne remade Lolita (with Jeremy Irons!) in 1997 and it barely got a release! There’s a lot in here! Happy Halloween!

Tune in as Seth Vargas ( Movie Friends ) returns to the program to discuss Videodrome, the 1983 sci-fi body horror film about a TV station president whose discovery of an enigmatic and pornographic video broadcast drags his mind and his flesh down a spiral of terror. The David Cronenberg movie that Seth saw as a wee little child with his mom, recommendations for 1997’s Hercules and the Black Mirror episode “Common People,” and the effect that horror and violent media can have on their audience end up being a few of the talking points for this episode. Written and directed by David Cronenberg, Videodrome stars James Woods, Debbie Harry, Sonja Smits, Peter Dvorsky, Leslie Carlson, Jack Creley, Lynne Gorman, Julie Khaner, Reiner Schwarz, and David Bolt. Spoilers start at 29:35 Create your podcast today! #madeonzencastr Here’s how you can learn more about Palestine and Israel Here’s how you can keep up-to-date on this genocide Here’s how you can send eSIM cards to Palestinians in order to help them stay connected online Good Word: • Seth: the Vengeance trilogy from Park Chan-wook ( Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance , Oldboy , and Lady Vengeance ) • Arthur: A Simple Plan Reach out at email2centscritic@yahoo.com if you want to recommend things to watch and read, share anecdotes, or just say hello! Be sure to subscribe, rate, and review on iTunes or any of your preferred podcasting platforms! Follow Arthur on Twitter , Goodpods , StoryGraph , Letterboxd , and TikTok : @arthur_ant18 Follow Arthur on Bluesky : @arthur-ant18 Follow the podcast on Twitter: @two_centscritic Follow the podcast on Instagram: @twocentscriticpod Follow Arthur on Goodreads Check out 2 Cents Cr

Today on the podcast, Dr. Angelo Muredda joins Alex Heeney to discuss one of the year's best films: David Cronenberg's The Shrouds . We talk about why The Shrouds is a good entry point if you're new to Cronenberg, but will also please diehard fans. And we discuss how what we love about Cronenberg's films isn't necessarily the selling point you'll often hear. Yes, he sometimes directs body horror, and he often makes movies about sex and the body. But we also love his films because they're talky chamber dramas with a wry sense of humour and great performances. Plus, Cronenberg has a unique angle on changing bodies, illness, and disability. **Become a Seventh Row insider: http://email.seventh-row.com **Purchase access to Angelo's talk "Does this look like a sick man? Disability, aging, and illness in David Cronenberg's The Fly": http://seventh-row.com/thefly

" The Shrouds " had its world premiere at the 2024 Cannes Film Festival, where it received mixed reviews but has steadily been growing in appreciation (as all David Cronenberg films do) as it screened at more film festivals, including TIFF and NYFF Film Festivals. The film is Cronenberg's most personal to date as it deals with the grief he went through following the passing of his beloved wife of nearly 40 years. Cronenberg was kind enough to speak with us at the New York Film Festival about his work on the film, which you can listen to below. Please be sure to check out the film, which will open in NY & LA theaters on April 18th before expanding nationwide from Janus Films & Sideshow on April 25th. Thank you, and enjoy! Check out more on NextBestPicture.com Please subscribe on... Apple Podcasts - https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/negs-best-film-podcast/id1087678387?mt=2 Spotify - https://open.spotify.com/show/7IMIzpYehTqeUa1d9EC4jT YouTube - https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCWA7KiotcWmHiYYy6wJqwOw And be sure to help support us on Patreon for as little as $1 a month at https://www.patreon.com/NextBestPicture and listen to this podcast ad-free Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Almost an year has passed since David Cronenberg premiered "The Shrouds" in the Cannes Film Festival’s competition. The film is finally coming out in Italian Movie theaters, distributed by Europictures, on April 3rd, 2025. The visionary director, inventor of the body horror genre, couldn’t make it to Italy to present the film but joined us in a deep conversation about the themes of his film. The film, starring Vincent Cassel in the role of Karsh and Diane Kruger continues Cronenberg’s exploration of the boundaries between technology, body, and mind, merging influences from his most extreme early cinema with a mature and conscious reflection on pain and memory, inspired by an autobiographical event. In his director’s notes, Cronenberg writes: “ I wrote this film while coping with the pain of losing my wife, who passed away seven years ago. For me, it was an exploration—not just a technical exercise, but also an emotional one. In a way, the Shrouds my protagonist invented are cinematic devices. They create their own cinema: a post-mortem cinema, a cinema of decay. Before writing the screenplay, I was aware that the shrouds had a cinematic quality, creating a kind of strange ‘cinema of the grave,’ a ‘cemetery cinema.’ In The Shrouds, it is suggested that Karsh realizes that his creation involves a form of cinematic technology—something rich and complex”.

From his early horror movies, including Scanners, Videodrome, Rabid, and The Fly—with their exploding heads, mutating sex organs, rampaging parasites, and scientists turning into insects—to his inventive adaptations of books by William Burroughs (Naked Lunch), Don DeLillo (Cosmopolis), and Bruce Wagner (Maps to the Stars), Canadian director David Cronenberg (b. 1943) has consistently dramatized the struggle between the aspirations of the mind and the messy realities of the flesh. “I think of human beings as a strange mixture of the physical and the non-physical, and both of these things have their say at every moment we’re alive,” says Cronenberg. “My films are some kind of strange metaphysical passion play.” Moving deftly between genre and arthouse filmmaking and between original screenplays and literary adaptations, Cronenberg’s work is thematically consistent and marked by a rigorous intelligence, a keen sense of humor, and a fearless engagement with the nature of human existence. He has been exploring the most primal themes since the beginning of his career and continues to probe them with growing maturity and depth. Cronenberg’s work has drawn the interest of some of the most intelligent contemporary film critics, and the fifteen interviews in this volume feature remarkably in-depth and insightful conversations with such acclaimed writers as Amy Taubin, Gary Indiana, David Breskin, Dennis Lim, Richard Porton, Gavin Smith, and more. The pieces in David Schwartz, David Cronenberg: Interviews (UP of Mississippi, 2021) reveal Cronenberg to be one of the most articulate and deeply philosophical directors now working, and they comprise an essential companion to an endlessly provocative and thoughtful body of work. Nathan Abrams is a professor of film at Bangor University in Wales. His most recent work is on film director Stanley Kubrick. To discuss and propose a book for interview you can reach him at n.abrams@bangor.ac.uk . Twitter: @ndabrams Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/film

From his early horror movies, including Scanners, Videodrome, Rabid, and The Fly—with their exploding heads, mutating sex organs, rampaging parasites, and scientists turning into insects—to his inventive adaptations of books by William Burroughs (Naked Lunch), Don DeLillo (Cosmopolis), and Bruce Wagner (Maps to the Stars), Canadian director David Cronenberg (b. 1943) has consistently dramatized the struggle between the aspirations of the mind and the messy realities of the flesh. “I think of human beings as a strange mixture of the physical and the non-physical, and both of these things have their say at every moment we’re alive,” says Cronenberg. “My films are some kind of strange metaphysical passion play.” Moving deftly between genre and arthouse filmmaking and between original screenplays and literary adaptations, Cronenberg’s work is thematically consistent and marked by a rigorous intelligence, a keen sense of humor, and a fearless engagement with the nature of human existence. He has been exploring the most primal themes since the beginning of his career and continues to probe them with growing maturity and depth. Cronenberg’s work has drawn the interest of some of the most intelligent contemporary film critics, and the fifteen interviews in this volume feature remarkably in-depth and insightful conversations with such acclaimed writers as Amy Taubin, Gary Indiana, David Breskin, Dennis Lim, Richard Porton, Gavin Smith, and more. The pieces in David Schwartz, David Cronenberg: Interviews (UP of Mississippi, 2021) reveal Cronenberg to be one of the most articulate and deeply philosophical directors now working, and they comprise an essential companion to an endlessly provocative and thoughtful body of work. Nathan Abrams is a professor of film at Bangor University in Wales. His most recent work is on film director Stanley Kubrick. To discuss and propose a book for interview you can reach him at n.abrams@bangor.ac.uk . Twitter: @ndabrams Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/performing-arts

From his early horror movies, including Scanners, Videodrome, Rabid, and The Fly—with their exploding heads, mutating sex organs, rampaging parasites, and scientists turning into insects—to his inventive adaptations of books by William Burroughs (Naked Lunch), Don DeLillo (Cosmopolis), and Bruce Wagner (Maps to the Stars), Canadian director David Cronenberg (b. 1943) has consistently dramatized the struggle between the aspirations of the mind and the messy realities of the flesh. “I think of human beings as a strange mixture of the physical and the non-physical, and both of these things have their say at every moment we’re alive,” says Cronenberg. “My films are some kind of strange metaphysical passion play.” Moving deftly between genre and arthouse filmmaking and between original screenplays and literary adaptations, Cronenberg’s work is thematically consistent and marked by a rigorous intelligence, a keen sense of humor, and a fearless engagement with the nature of human existence. He has been exploring the most primal themes since the beginning of his career and continues to probe them with growing maturity and depth. Cronenberg’s work has drawn the interest of some of the most intelligent contemporary film critics, and the fifteen interviews in this volume feature remarkably in-depth and insightful conversations with such acclaimed writers as Amy Taubin, Gary Indiana, David Breskin, Dennis Lim, Richard Porton, Gavin Smith, and more. The pieces in David Schwartz, David Cronenberg: Interviews (UP of Mississippi, 2021) reveal Cronenberg to be one of the most articulate and deeply philosophical directors now working, and they comprise an essential companion to an endlessly provocative and thoughtful body of work. Nathan Abrams is a professor of film at Bangor University in Wales. His most recent work is on film director Stanley Kubrick. To discuss and propose a book for interview you can reach him at n.abrams@bangor.ac.uk . Twitter: @ndabrams Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices