Viggo Mortensen and Canadian director David Cronenberg are apparently trying to work together on a new film as the actor revealed in a recent chat with GQ Magazine, revealing that the film will see Cronenberg going back to his “origins.” The project might even end up in the thriller or horror genre depending how you take in Viggo’s answers below during the interview.
Adding that filming could begin as early as this summer.
GQ: Are you two in talks for another collaboration sometime soon?
MORTENSEN: “Yes, we do have something in mind. It’s something he wrote a long time ago, and he never got it made. Now he’s refined it, and he wants to shoot it. Hopefully, it’ll be this summer we’ll be filming. I would say, without giving the story away, he’s going maybe a little bit back to his origins.”
GQ: So, body-horror type stuff?
MORTENSEN: “Yeah, it’s very interesting. It’s almost like a strange film noir story. It’s disturbing and it’s good, I think. But since his origins, he’s obviously developed in terms of technique and self-assurance as a director.”
I’m sure the “origins” comment would lead many to believe he’s talking about David’s early work in the horror genre but we’ll likely have to wait on more concrete details.
At one point, David tried to get 20th Century Fox (pre-Disney merger) to make a film within the same universe of his remake The Fly. Here is how the filmmaker described the project to The Playlist back in 2012 calling it more of a sequel/sidebar than a full-on remake.
CRONENBERG: “It wasn’t really a remake, it was more of a sequel or a sidebar. It was a meditation on fly-ness. None of the same characters or anything and, of course, with an understanding of modern technology. It was something I was very pleased with and it was a disappointment not to get it made.”
THE FLY – When scientist Seth Brundle (Jeff Goldblum) completes his teleportation device, he decides to test its abilities on himself. Unbeknownst to him, a housefly slips in during the process, leading to a merger of man and insect. Initially, Brundle appears to have undergone a successful teleportation, but the fly’s cells begin to take over his body. As he becomes increasingly fly-like, Brundle’s girlfriend (Geena Davis) is horrified as the person she once loved deteriorates into a monster.
Viggo and David have previously worked together on the comic book adaptation A History of Violence, the Russian gangster film Eastern Promises, and A Dangerous Method. Interesting enough, a spiritual sequel to Eastern Promises is moving forward with Jason Statham’s Small Dark Look that was penned by screenwriter Steven Knight and that had been originally planned as a direct follow-up with Cronenberg expected to direct (formerly known as Body Cross) before budget issues killed it.
SOURCE: GQ
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