David Cronenberg is prepared for people to walk out of Crimes Of The Future during Cannes
“That’s a very special thing," the auteur says in a recent interview
Director David Cronenberg knows he’s a little freak who makes freaky films, and he’s well aware that folks will probably walk out of his next feature, Crimes Of The Future. The auteur expects that some viewers will only make it five minutes before deciding to make a swift exit during the film’s premiere at Cannes Film Festival next week.
“I do expect walkouts in Cannes, and that’s a very special thing. There are some very strong scenes,” Cronenberg tells Deadline. “I mean, I’m sure that we will have walkouts within the first five minutes of the movie. I’m sure of that.”
For viewers who manage to make it through the first five minutes, well, Cronenberg says the final 20 minutes of Crimes Of The Future will be the last straw.
“Some people who have seen the film have said that they think the last 20 minutes will be very hard on people, and that there’ll be a lot of walkouts. Some guy said that he almost had a panic attack,” Cronenberg explains. “People always walk out, and the seats notoriously clack as you get up, because the seats fold back and hit the back of the seat. So, you hear clack, clack, clack.”
However, while there may be surgery in abundance in the film all about body modification, Crimes Of The Future may be less controversial than Cronenberg’s previous works like the psychosexual Crash.
“For one thing, there’s really no sex in the movie. I mean, there’s eroticism and there’s sensuality, but of course, part of what the movie says—and one of the characters says it very straightforwardly—is that surgery is the new sex. If you accept that, then, yeah, there’s sex in the movie, because there’s surgery! So, people might be put off by that,” Cronenberg says.
He continues, “Whether they’ll be outraged the way they were with Crash, I somehow don’t think so. They might be revulsed to the point that they want to leave, but that’s not the same as being outraged. However, I have no idea really what’s going to happen. I guess that is the description of this movie: It’s going to either attract or repel people.”
You can try to use your imagination to think about the horrors in store for Cannes viewers—but it probably won’t come close to what Cronenberg has actually conjured up. Viggo Mortensen has teamed up with the director once more for Crimes Of The Future, in which he stars alongside Kristen Stewart, and Cannes royalty Léa Seydoux.