David Cronenberg

Director

• Born: March 15, 1943
• Place of Birth: Toronto, Ontario

Contribution: Canadian filmmaker David Cronenberg began making low-budget horror films in the early 1970s. A pioneer of the genre commonly known as body horror, he enjoyed commercial success for his films The Fly (1986) and A History of Violence (2005). Cronenberg never sacrificed his own creative direction and refused to direct mainstream material. In 2007, he received the top prize at the Toronto International Film Festival for his film Eastern Promises (2007).

Early Life and Education

David Paul Cronenberg was born in Toronto on March 15, 1943, to parents who encouraged his creative expression. His mother worked for the National Ballet as a piano accompanist, and his father owned a bookstore. His father occasionally wrote for the Toronto Telegram, a conservative newspaper. As a child, Cronenberg was interested in both science and fiction. Together, these subjects influenced his college career and later shaped his filmmaking. When he first enrolled at the University of Toronto, he declared science as his major but soon changed to English. After a friend shared an original short film with him, Cronenberg decided to become a filmmaker.

Film Career

In 1974, Cronenberg shot the film that established his reputation. Shivers, released in 1975, cost only $185,000 to produce and chronicled the chaos caused by a sexually transmitted parasite. Despite its subject matter and the fact that it was independently produced, the film was quite successful, garnering sales in thirty-five countries. Its success was accompanied by a significant amount of controversy, since the film was funded almost entirely by the Canadian Film Development Corporation and, consequently, by Canadian taxpayers.

Following this tempest, Cronenberg created a series of films including Rabid (1977), The Brood (1979), and Scanners (1981). In 1983, he released an adaptation of Stephen King’s 1979 novel The Dead Zone, much to the dismay of his cult following, who considered the film to be too mainstream. Later, facing financial troubles, Cronenberg directed the remake of the 1958 classic The Fly. Like all of his films, The Fly (1986), which tells the story of a scientist whose genes are accidentally merged with a fly’s, built on Cronenberg’s fascination with bodily fears; unlike his prior films, however, it was a certified commercial success.

In the wake of The Fly’s triumph, Cronenberg wished to make a disturbing film about twin gynecologists who fall in love with the same woman. Despite its departure from the schlock horror associated with his name, Hollywood rejected the film, Dead Ringers, again and again. Rather than surrender to commercialism, Cronenberg decided to remain in Toronto and figure out a way to produce the film himself. He formed a production team, the members of which worked tirelessly to see Cronenberg’s bizarre visions brought to life. Dead Ringers eventually made it to the screen in 1988.

Over the years, Cronenberg and his team managed to escape the body-horror pigeonhole title to which he had been relegated, and he went on to direct action films such as A History of Violence (2005). Cronenberg had other successful films over the course of his career, including Naked Lunch (1991), Crash (1996), eXistenZ (1999), Spider (2002), Eastern Promises (2007), A Dangerous Method (2011), Cosmopolis (2012), and Maps to the Stars (2014). A Dangerous Method was Cronenberg’s third film in a row to star actor Viggo Mortensen, coming as it did on the heels of A History of Violence and Eastern Promises. Cronenberg again reunited with Mortensen (and the director's preferred genre) for Crimes of the Future (2022), a body horror film that premiered at the 2022 Cannes Film Festival and competed for the Palme d'Or. (Several of Cronenberg's films previously premiered at the Cannes Film Festival, including Maps to the Stars, Cosmopolis, and A History of Violence.)

Cronenberg has also made several forays into acting. Following a cameo in the John Landis–directed Into the Night (1985), he appeared as Dr. Philip K. Decker in Clive Barker’s 1990 film Nightbreed. After several more cameos and minor appearances, his next significant role was in Don McKellar’s critically lauded film Last Night (1998). He also made cameo appearances in several of his own films, including The Fly, Dead Ringers, and Crash. Other television and film appearances credited to Cronenberg include eight episodes of the television series Slasher (2021), ten episodes of Star Trek: Discovery, where he played Kovich (2020-2024), and playing himself in the video The Death of David Cronenber, which he also directed. (2021).

In 2024, the film The Shrouds, which Cronenberg wrote and directed, premiered. At the time, Cronenberg indicated the film, inspired by the devastation he felt at losing his wife to cancer in 2017, would be his last. The storyline is about Karsh, a businessman who copes with the loss of his wife by creating burial shrouds that allow the living to communicate with the dead.

Cronenberg was made an officer of the Order of Canada in 2002. In 2006, he became a fellow of the Royal Society of Canada and was awarded the Cannes Film Festival lifetime achievement award. He was named to the French Legion of Honour in 2009 and awarded a Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Medal in 2012. In 2014 he was inducted into the Order of Ontario for his life's work. Cronenberg was later awarded the prestigious Golden Lion at the 2018 Venice International Film Festival.

Personal Life

David Cronenberg and his first wife, Margaret Hindson, had a daughter, Cassandra, prior to their divorce. In 1979, Cronenberg married his second wife, Carolyn Zeifman. The couple had a daughter, Caitlin, and a son, Brandon. Carolyn died in 2017. All of his children have worked with him on films.

Bibliography

Buchanan, Kyle. "Cannes 2022: David Cronenberg Is Practically Bionic Now." The New York Times, 26 May 2022, www.nytimes.com/2022/05/26/movies/cannes-david-cronenberg.html. Accessed 7 Jul. 2022.

Burgess, Steve. “David Cronenberg.” Salon. Salon Media Group, 30 Nov. 1999. Web. 2 Aug. 2013.

Cronenberg, David. “David Cronenberg on A Dangerous Method: Why Not Have Sex with Your Patient?” Interview by John Lopez. Vanity Fair. Condé Nast Digital, 17 Jan. 2012. Web. 2 Aug. 2013.

Cronenberg, David. “David Cronenberg on Cosmopolis, Star Wars, and Exposing Twilight Fans to Don DeLillo.” Interview by Scott Neumyer. Details. Condé Nast, 2 Jan. 2013. Web. 2 Aug. 2013.

"David Cronenberg." IMDb, www.imdb.com/name/nm0000343/. Accessed 19 Sept.2024.

Dee, Jonathan. “David Cronenberg’s Body Language.” New York Times. New York Times, 18 Sept. 2005. Web. 2 Aug. 2013.

Mottram, Burton. “David Cronenberg: ‘I’m Not Ready to Embrace Hollywood Respectability Quite Yet.’” Independent. Independent.co.uk, 21 Oct. 2007. Web. 2 Aug. 2013.

Vlessing, Etan and Scott Roxborough. "David Cronenberg Is Shrouded in Mystery — Even as He Bows a Painfully Personal Film at Cannes." Hollywood Reporter, 16 May 2024, www.hollywoodreporter.com/movies/movie-news/david-cronenberg-the-shrouds-cannes-legend-1235900485/. Accessed 19 Sept. 2024.