David Cronenberg is back behind the camera! Filming has commenced in Greece on the Canadian filmmaker's upcoming sci-fi movie titled Crimes of the Future. Viggo Mortensen, Kristen Stewart, Lea Seydoux, and Scott Speedman all star in the film.
Announced last spring, the movie marries together Cronenberg's favorite themes, the future and the human body in his first original screenplay since 1999's eXistenZ. His previous efforts uniting those ideas have resulted in some of cinema's finest body horror (happy 35th birthday, The Fly! Hello, Videodrome!). The way marketing materials are positioning it, Crimes of the Future leans more into the sci-fi angle.
The story takes a "deep dive into the not-so-distant future where humankind is learning to adapt to its synthetic surroundings," reads the official summary. "The evolution moves humans beyond their natural state and into a metamorphosis, altering their biological makeup. While some embrace the limitless potential of ‘transhumanism’, others attempt to police it. Either way, 'Accelerated Evolution Syndrome', is spreading fast."
"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," said Mortensen, whose involvement in the movie marks the fourth time he's collaborated with Cronenberg. Last year, Cronenberg appeared in Mortensen's directorial debut, Falling.
He adds: "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."
Cronenberg is supreme at generating cinematic worlds distinctly his own. Luckily, the movie also reunites the director with long-term production designer Carol Spier who has worked with him since 1983's The Dead Zone, with composer Howard Shore on deck to write the score.
Filling out the rest of the cast are Welket Bungué (Berlin Alexanderplatz), Don McKellar (Blindness), and Lihi Kornowski (Losing Alice), along with recently announced additions: Tanaya Beatty (Yellowstone), Nadia Litz (Big Muddy), Yorgos Karamichos (The Durrells), and Yorgos Pirpassopoulos (Beckett).
Cameras are now rolling with principal photography scheduled to wrap up in September. With no release date set for Crimes of the Future, now's as good a time as any to get acquainted with the best sci-fi movies of all time.
