David Cronenberg is Canada's greatest filmmaker, no-one makes films quite like he does. His directorial career got off to a splendid start with low-budget body-horror films such as Shiver (1975) and Rabid (1977), then he became world famous with Scanners (1981), Videodrome (1983) and The Fly (1986). By the late 1980's/early 1990's, he moved into making more cerebral horror films, not just dealing with the body, but more with the mind, with Dead Ringers (1988), Naked Lunch (1991) and Crash (1996). In recent times however, he's made a bit of a change to the types of films he makes. For example, he received critical plaudits galore for making A History of Violence (2005), which saw him sell out to Hollywood, but it was his best film in years, and then he would do it again 2 years later, reuniting with Viggo Mortensen after A History of Violence, the film was Eastern Promises (2007), a dark look at Russian gangsters in London. Now, Cronenberg's streak of selling out to great success continues, but this is very, very different to what he's done before, it's a spy thriller!!
But, he's already been able to attract a very good cast for this film. The Matarese Circle is not the sort of film we have come to expect from Cronenberg, but it sounds very exciting indeed!!
Based on a 1979 novel by Robert Ludlum, (best known for the Bourne books, which became very successful films.) The Matarese Circle focuses on two arch-enemy spies. CIA operative Brandon Scofield (Denzel Washington) and Russian spy Vasili Taleniekov (Tom Cruise) whose hatred of one another goes back many years. However, they are forced to team up to fight against a political conspiracy planned by a secret organisation known as Matarese.
Doesn't sound like a Cronenberg film, does it??
But no matter. Ludlum's works are being optioned right, left and centre after the Bourne films made their mark. But, if there's going to be violence in this film, then Cronenberg will deliver that in spades!!
However, he's got a good leading cast, and has been lucky to get double Oscar winner Denzel Washington in it, and pulled off an amazing coup by getting Cruise to appear in it as a Russian spy!!
Not much is known at this early stage, but the script is being done by Wanted writers Michael Brandt and Derek Haas for MGM, filming is set to start this summer.
How does this sound?? And it'll be interesting to see what Cronenberg can bring to it. He has had the odd departure from the norm a few times in the past, in 1979 he made Fast Company, a low-budget racing film based on Cronenberg's love for cars. He made M. Butterfly (1993), based on a successful play, and the film was accused of being a cash-in on The Crying Game. Spider (2002) is a dark psychological drama about a schizophrenic piecing together how he became that way. This is another film away from what we normally expect from him, but every director is entitled to a change, and seeing as he made so many horror films early on in his career, it's understandable that he'd want to try different films now. He's a very talented director and it'll be exciting to see what he can do with a spy film!!
