“ The body is reality ”: the Canadian filmmaker David Cronenberg on mortality and the production of films – National

For almost all his career, David Cronenberg was considered a pioneer of the “body horror” sub -genre – and it is easy to see why.

The famous Canadian filmmaker is behind Scanning,, Videodrome and the 1986 remake of Volley -Just some of the very influential science fiction and horror classics he made during the decades. Many films share the emphasis on the disturbing and graphic violations of the human body.

However, the 82 -year -old Torontonian only accepted this title – or allowed others to link the expression “body horror” to his films.

“I have never used this term to describe my own work,” explains Cronenberg in an interview with National World National ‘S Eric Sorensen. “But he stayed, and I’m stuck with that.”

Personal connections

For the average moviegoer, Cronenberg’s latest work, The shroudswill not necessarily help his defense. The film concerns a technological entrepreneur inventing a machine that monitors corpses as they decompose inside their graves – allowing people to look at their loved ones who are dead and buried which is slowly descending.

But it is one of the most personal films of Cronenberg to date, having been inspired by the death of his wife in 2017 and the sorrow that followed.

The film itself is no secret. Like Cronenberg, the morbid inventions of the film’s protagonist are the product of his desire for his own husband. In past interviews, Cronenberg had described an intense desire to join his wife in his coffin during his burial – a feeling also mentioned in the film.

“The death of my wife was the instigator of this film. I would not have made this film, I would not have thought of writing it, if that was not the case. But I think you could overcome the idea of ​​the personal aspect because I think that all the art is personal in one way or another,” said Cronenberg.

“There is always an autobiographical element because it is your life that allows you to understand what your characters are, who they are, how people relate to each other.”

For the uninitiated, this raises questions about what inspires others the disturbing visions present in the other Cronenberg films, such as the sexual fetish of a man for the collisions of fatal cars in Accident or heartbreaking human changes motivated by technology Crimes of the future.

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But for Cronenberg – long fascinated by the human body – these extremes simply reflect how intense our anxieties are for our changing bodies and our mortality.

“There is a time when a child learns that the child will not live forever … It’s quite difficult. It is a major turning point in the life of any human, ”he says.

“The body is reality. Once you start with it and consider that death is inevitable – and if you are an atheist like me, you consider that death is oblivion – I mean, it’s the end of you. You disappear. We have put it all together, then you have my films.”

True to Canada

Cronenberg has never made a duty to be so subversive when he started making films over 50 years ago. Son of a musician and writer, he was just a creative attracted by the potential of the medium to express his ideas. With short films and no official training, everything he cared was cared for was to be good in this area.

“It was not even the idea of ​​the subject that was considered. It was my ability to be a technically filmmaker,” he said, while remembering the challenges of his first commercial film.

“At the beginning, I said to myself,” Oh my God, I don’t think I can do it. The faces of the heads are bad size in the frame. The angle is not correct. Both strokes don’t really work together. And I thought I may not really have the sensitivity.

Cronenberg was also not sure if his career as a filmmaker would even prosper in Canada. Partly motivated by better financial incentives in the American film industry, he presented his first feature film, Thrillto Hollywood leaders first. He also considered moving permanently in the United States because he already had personal ties south of the border through his American father. It was only when he obtained funding from the Canadian Film Development Corporation, now Telefilm Canada, that he decided to stay.

He preferred it anyway and always does it.

“I really felt that my sensitivity was Canadian and different from the United States,” he said. “I don’t think of the United States, they imagine that the Canadians were different, but I could really feel it when I went to America how different it was.”

Quintesses Cronenberg… and Canadian

Decades of international renown later, the eccentricity of Cronenberg films is now considered a Canadian cinema par excellence. Its impact and influence beyond are also emblematic of the way in which Canada’s filmmakers do their best when they do not try to imitate Hollywood.

Not that Cronenberg was not successful there either, after having made star dramas like A story of violence And Oriental promises. He was even initially approached to work on crowd dishes like Top gun,, Star Wars And, to its confusion, Flashdance.

“I thought I would probably have destroyed this film (Flashdance) In one way or another, “admits Cronenberg.” (But) I considered it a positive assessment of my skills as a director. »»

It is clear that the distinct work corpus of Cronenberg will continue to fascinate the public and the aspiring filmmakers long after his departure. Even if it also means that his name will forever be associated with the genre “body horror”.

But faithful to his beliefs, he is not too concerned about heritage.

“I am not worried about it,” he says. “Once I have died, it will not be a problem.”