A History of Violence | |
---|---|
Directed by | David Cronenberg |
Screenplay by | Josh Olson |
Based on | |
Produced by | Chris Bender J. C. Spink |
Starring | |
Cinematography | Peter Suschitzky |
Edited by | Ronald Sanders |
Music by | Howard Shore |
Production companies |
|
Distributed by |
|
Release dates |
|
Running time | 96 minutes |
Countries | |
Language | English |
Budget | $32 million [5] |
Box office | $61.4 million [5] |
A History of Violence is a 2005 action thriller film directed by David Cronenberg and written by Josh Olson. It is an adaptation of the 1997 DC graphic novel by John Wagner and Vince Locke. The film stars Viggo Mortensen, Maria Bello, Ed Harris, and William Hurt. In the film, a diner owner becomes a local hero after he foils an attempted robbery, but has to face his past enemies to protect his family.
A History of Violence was in the main competition for the 2005 Palme d'Or and was put into a limited release in the United States on September 23, 2005, followed by a wide release on September 30, 2005. It has been described as one of the greatest films of the 2000s and has been named on various greatest of all time lists. The film was praised for its performances, screenwriting and atmosphere. William Hurt was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor, and Olson was nominated for Best Adapted Screenplay. Mortensen himself praised it as "one of the best movies [he's] ever been in, if not the best". [6] It is also notable as being one of the last, if not the last, major Hollywood films to be released on VHS. [7] [8]
Tom Stall is a diner owner who lives in the rural town of Millbrook, Indiana, with wife Edie, teenage son Jack, and daughter Sarah. One night, two spree killers attempt to rob the restaurant. When a waitress is threatened, Tom deftly kills both robbers with skill and precision. He is hailed as a hero and the story is picked up the national news media. Soon after, Tom is visited by Philadelphia-based mobster Carl Fogarty, who alleges that Tom is actually a former mob hitman named Joey Cusack. Tom vehemently denies this, but Carl remains persistent and begins to stalk the Stall family. Under pressure from Carl and his newfound fame, Tom's relationships with his family becomes strained.
Following an argument with Tom over the use of violence on a bully at his school, Jack runs away. He is caught by Carl, who, with Jack as his hostage, goes with his henchmen to the Stall house and demands that "Joey" return to Philadelphia with them. After the gangsters release Jack, Tom efficiently kills one of the two henchmen and severely injures the other, but Carl shoots and incapacitates Tom. Tom finally admits he is Joey. Before Carl can shoot Tom, Jack kills him.
At the hospital, Edie confronts Tom who admits to being Joey Cusack. He tells Edie that he ran away from Philadelphia to escape his criminal past. This admission deepens the tensions in their marriage.
After Tom gets out of the hospital, Sam, the local sheriff, expresses his concern and suspicions. As Tom is about to confess, Edie lies to Sam and convinces him to leave. Edie and Tom then get into a domestic dispute, culminating in violent sex. Afterward, Edie and Jack continue to further distance themselves from Tom, leaving him isolated.
Tom's brother, crime boss Richie Cusack, calls him and demands his return to Philadelphia, threatening to come to Indiana if he does not. In Philadelphia, Tom learns that the mobsters he offended took out their frustrations on Richie, penalizing him financially and delaying his advancement in the organization. Tom offers to make peace, but Richie orders his men to kill his brother. Tom manages to kill most of the gangsters and escapes. As Richie and his last henchman are hunting for him, Tom kills the henchman, takes his gun, and confronts Richie outside. Tom kills him with a single gunshot to the head.
Tom returns home, where the atmosphere is tense and silent as the family sits around the dinner table. His young daughter eventually hands him a dinner plate. Some moments later, his son offers him a communal plate of food and Edie looks at Tom with tears in her eyes.
The film is loosely based on the original graphic novel. Screenwriter Josh Olson intended from the beginning to use the original story as a springboard to explore the themes that interested him.
Mortensen read Olson's original version of the script and "was quite disappointed. It was 120-odd pages of just mayhem; kind of senseless, really." He only agreed to do the movie after meeting with Cronenberg, who (according to Mortensen) reworked the script. [9]
Most of the film was shot in Millbrook, Ontario. The shopping centre scene was shot in Tottenham, Ontario, and the climactic scene was shot at the historic Eaton Hall Mansion, located in King City, Ontario. [10] Harrison Ford turned down the role of Tom Stall. [11] Cronenberg stated that "I think it took three weeks to edit". [12]
The U.S. and European versions differ on only two fight scenes - one where Tom breaks the nose of one of Fogarty's thugs and one where he stomps on the throat of one of Richie Cusack's thugs. Both scenes display more blood flowing or gushing out of the victims in the European version. In addition, a more pronounced bone-crushing sound effect is used when Tom stomps on the thug's throat. [13]
A deleted scene, known as "Scene 44", features a dream sequence in the diner, where Fogarty tells Tom he will kill his family and him, to which Tom responds by shooting him with his shotgun at close range. He then approaches Fogarty's mangled body, which raises a gun and shoots him. In behind the scenes footage, Cronenberg expressed apprehension about the scene's similarity to his previous work. He even suggested a desire to have Fogarty retrieve the gun from his chest cavity had the action not been too similar to a scene from Videodrome . [14]
The film's title plays on multiple levels of meaning. Film critic Roger Ebert stated that Cronenberg refers to three possibilities:
... (1) a suspect with a long history of violence; (2) the historical use of violence as a means of settling disputes, and (3) the innate violence of Darwinian evolution, in which better-adapted organisms replace those less able to cope. "I am a complete Darwinian", says Cronenberg, whose new film is in many ways about the survival of the fittest—at all costs. [15]
Cronenberg himself described the film as a meditation on the human body and its relationship to violence:
For me the first fact of human existence is the human body. I'm not an atheist, but for me to turn away from any aspect of the human body to me is a philosophical betrayal. And there's a lot of art and religion whose whole purpose is to turn away from the human body. I feel in my art that my mandate is to not do that. So whether it's beautiful things—the sexuality part, or the violent part or the gooey part—it's just body fluids. It's when Elliott in Dead Ringer (sic) says, "Why are there no beauty contests for the insides of bodies?" It's a thought that disturbs me. How can we be disgusted by our own bodies? That really doesn't make any human sense. It makes some animal sense but it doesn't make human sense so I'm always discussing that in my movies and in this movie in particular. I don't ever feel that I've been exploitive in a crude, vulgar way, or just doing it to get attention. It's always got a purpose which I can be very articulate about. In this movie, we've got an audience that's definitely going to applaud these acts of violence and they do because it's set up that these acts are justifiable and almost heroic at times. But I'm saying, "Okay, if you can applaud that, can you applaud this?" because this is the result of that gunshot in the head. It's not nice. And even if the violence is justifiable, the consequences of the violence are exactly the same. The body does not know what was the morality of that act. So I'm asking the audience to see if they can contain the whole experience of this violent act instead of just the heroic/dramatic one. I'm saying "Here's the really nasty effects on these nasty guys but still, the effects are very nasty." And that's the paradox and conundrum." [16]
The soundtrack to A History of Violence was released on October 11, 2005.
A History of Violence premiered at the Cannes Film Festival on May 16, 2005, [17] and was released in the United States on September 30 following a limited release on September 23, 2005.
The film was released on DVD and VHS formats on March 14, 2006, and was reported by the Los Angeles Times as being the last major Hollywood film to be released on VHS, excluding limited promotional releases. [7] [18]
The film started with a limited release in 14 theaters and grossed $515,992 at the box office, averaging $36,856 per theater. A week later, it went on a wide release in 1,340 theaters and grossed $8.1 million over the weekend. During its entire theatrical run, the film grossed $31.5 million in the United States and a total of $61.4 million worldwide. [5]
On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes , 88% of 216 critics' reviews are positive, with an average rating of 7.90/10.The website's consensus reads: "A History of Violence raises compelling and thoughtful questions about the nature of violence, while representing a return to form for director David Cronenberg in one of his more uncharacteristic pieces." [19] Metacritic , which uses a weighted average , assigned the film a score of 82 out of 100, based on 37 critics, indicating "universal acclaim". [20] Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "C+" on an A+ to F scale. [21]
Rolling Stone critic Peter Travers gave the film four stars, highlighting its "explosive power and subversive wit", and lauded David Cronenberg as a "world-class director, at the top of his startlingly creative form". [22] Entertainment Weekly reviewer Lisa Schwarzbaum gave the film an A, concluding that "David Cronenberg's brilliant movie" was "without a doubt one of the very best of the year". [23]
Manohla Dargis of The New York Times called the film a "mindblower", and noted Cronenberg's "refusal to let us indulge in movie violence without paying a price". [24] Roger Ebert also gave the film a positive review, observing, "A History of Violence seems deceptively straightforward, coming from a director with Cronenberg's quirky complexity, but think again. This is not a movie about plot, but about character." He gave it three and a half out of four stars. [15]
It was ranked the best film of 2005 in the Village Voice Film Poll. [25]
In December 2005, it was named to the Toronto International Film Festival's annual Canada's top-ten list of the year's best Canadian films. [26]
BBC film critic Mark Kermode named the film the best of 2005.[ citation needed ]
In 2010, Empire named the film the 448th-greatest film of all time. [27]
The French film magazine Cahiers du Cinéma ranked the film as fifth place in its list of best films of the decade, 2000–2009. [28]
In his list of best films of the decade, Peter Travers named this number four, praising director David Cronenberg:
Is Canadian director David Cronenberg the most unsung maverick artist in movies? Bet on it ... Cronenberg knows violence is wired into our DNA. His film showed how we secretly crave what we publicly condemn. This is potent poison for a thriller, and unadulterated, unforgettable Cronenberg. [29]
In 2016, the film was ranked among the 100 greatest films since 2000 in an international critics' poll by 177 critics around the world. [30]
Award | Category | Nominee(s) | Result |
---|---|---|---|
Academy Awards [31] | Best Supporting Actor | William Hurt | Nominated |
Best Adapted Screenplay | Josh Olson | Nominated | |
American Film Institute Awards [32] | Top 10 Movie of the Year | Won | |
Austin Film Critics Association Awards [33] | Best Supporting Actor | William Hurt | Won |
Awards Circuit Community Awards | Best Director | David Cronenberg | Nominated |
Best Actress in a Supporting Role | Maria Bello | Nominated | |
Best Adapted Screenplay | Josh Olson | Runner-up | |
Best Cinematography | Peter Suschitzky | Nominated | |
Best Original Score | Howard Shore | Nominated | |
Belgian Film Critics Association Awards [34] | Grand Prix | David Cronenberg | Nominated |
Bodil Awards [35] | Best American Film | Won | |
British Academy Film Awards [36] | Best Adapted Screenplay | Josh Olson | Nominated |
Cahiers du Cinéma (2005) | Top 10 Film | David Cronenberg | 2nd Place |
Cahiers du Cinéma (2010) | Best Film of the 2000s | 5th Place | |
Cannes Film Festival [37] | Palme d'Or | Nominated | |
Central Ohio Film Critics Association Awards [38] | Best Film | 2nd Place | |
Best Director | David Cronenberg | Won | |
Best Supporting Actress | Maria Bello | Won | |
César Awards [39] | Best Foreign Film | David Cronenberg | Nominated |
Chicago Film Critics Association Awards [40] | Best Film | Nominated | |
Best Director | David Cronenberg | Won | |
Best Supporting Actress | Maria Bello | Won | |
Best Screenplay | Josh Olson | Nominated | |
Critics' Choice Awards [41] | Best Supporting Actress | Maria Bello | Nominated |
Dallas–Fort Worth Film Critics Association Awards | Best Picture | 8th Place | |
David di Donatello Awards | Best Foreign Film | David Cronenberg | Nominated |
Directors Guild of Canada Awards [42] | Outstanding Feature Film | Won | |
Outstanding Direction – Feature Film | David Cronenberg | Won | |
Outstanding Picture Editing – Feature Film | Ronald Sanders | Won | |
Outstanding Production Design – Feature Film | Carol Spier | Nominated | |
Outstanding Sound Editing – Feature Film | Alastair Gray and Michael O'Farrell | Won | |
Edgar Allan Poe Awards [43] | Best Motion Picture Screenplay | Josh Olson (screenplay); John Wagner and Vince Locke (graphic novel) | Nominated |
Empire Awards | Best Thriller | Nominated | |
Best Actor | Viggo Mortensen | Nominated | |
French Syndicate of Cinema Critics Awards | Best Foreign Film | David Cronenberg | Won |
Gold Derby Film Awards [44] | Best Motion Picture | Chris Bender, David Cronenberg and J.C. Spink | Nominated |
Best Director | David Cronenberg | Nominated | |
Best Supporting Actress | Maria Bello | Nominated | |
Best Adapted Screenplay | Josh Olson | Nominated | |
Golden Globe Awards [45] | Best Motion Picture – Drama | Nominated | |
Best Actress in a Motion Picture – Drama | Maria Bello | Nominated | |
Golden Schmoes Awards [46] | Best Supporting Actress of the Year | Won | |
Gotham Independent Film Awards [47] | Best Feature | David Cronenberg, Chris Bender and J.C. Spink | Nominated |
Hollywood Legacy Awards | Writer of the Year | Josh Olson | Won |
International Cinephile Society Awards [48] | Top 10 Films of the Year | 3rd Place | |
Best Director | David Cronenberg | Won | |
Best Supporting Actor | William Hurt | Runner-up | |
Best Adapted Screenplay | Josh Olson | Runner-up | |
International Film Music Critics Association Awards [49] | Best Original Score for a Horror/Thriller Film | Howard Shore | Won |
International Online Cinema Awards | Best Picture | Nominated | |
Best Director | David Cronenberg | Nominated | |
Best Actor | Viggo Mortensen | Nominated | |
Best Supporting Actor | William Hurt | Nominated | |
Best Supporting Actress | Maria Bello | Nominated | |
Best Adapted Screenplay | Josh Olson | Nominated | |
Italian Online Movie Awards | Best Director | David Cronenberg | Nominated |
Best Supporting Actress | Maria Bello | Nominated | |
Kansas City Film Critics Circle Awards [50] | Best Supporting Actress | Won | |
Las Vegas Film Critics Society Awards [51] | Best Picture | 5th Place | |
London Film Critics Circle Awards [52] | Film of the Year | Nominated | |
Director of the Year | David Cronenberg | Nominated | |
Actor of the Year | Viggo Mortensen | Nominated | |
Actress of the Year | Maria Bello | Nominated | |
Los Angeles Film Critics Association Awards [53] | Best Film | Runner-up | |
Best Director | David Cronenberg | Runner-up | |
Best Supporting Actor | William Hurt | Won | |
National Board of Review Awards [54] | Top Ten Films | 5th Place | |
National Society of Film Critics Awards [55] | Best Film | 2nd Place | |
Best Director | David Cronenberg | Won | |
Best Supporting Actor | Ed Harris | Won | |
New York Film Critics Circle Awards [56] | Best Film | Runner-up | |
Best Director | David Cronenberg | Runner-up | |
Best Actor | Viggo Mortensen | Runner-up | |
Best Supporting Actor | William Hurt | Won | |
Best Supporting Actress | Maria Bello | Won | |
North Texas Film Critics Association Awards | Best Supporting Actor | William Hurt | Won |
Online Film & Television Association Awards [57] | Best Picture | Chris Bender, David Cronenberg and J.C. Spink | Nominated |
Best Director | David Cronenberg | Nominated | |
Best Supporting Actor | William Hurt | Nominated | |
Best Supporting Actress | Maria Bello | Won | |
Best Adapted Screenplay | Josh Olson | Nominated | |
Best Film Editing | Ronald Sanders | Nominated | |
Best Casting | Mark Bennett and Deirdre Brown | Nominated | |
Best Cinematic Moment | Stair Scene | Nominated | |
Best Official Film Website | Nominated | ||
Online Film Critics Society Awards [58] | Best Picture | Won | |
Best Director | David Cronenberg | Won | |
Best Supporting Actor | William Hurt | Nominated | |
Best Supporting Actress | Maria Bello | Won | |
Best Adapted Screenplay | Josh Olson | Nominated | |
Best Editing | Ronald Sanders | Nominated | |
San Diego Film Critics Society Awards | Best Editing | Won | |
Sant Jordi Awards | Best Foreign Film | David Cronenberg | Won |
Satellite Awards (2005) [59] | Best Motion Picture – Drama | Nominated | |
Best Actor in a Motion Picture – Drama | Viggo Mortensen | Nominated | |
Best Supporting Actress in a Motion Picture – Drama | Maria Bello | Nominated | |
Satellite Awards (2006) [60] | Outstanding Overall DVD | Nominated | |
Saturn Awards [61] | Best Action/Adventure/Thriller Film | Nominated | |
Best Actor | Viggo Mortensen | Nominated | |
Best Supporting Actor | William Hurt | Nominated | |
Scream Awards | Best Director | David Cronenberg | Nominated |
Most Heroic Performance | Viggo Mortensen | Nominated | |
The "Holy Sh!t"/"Jump-From-Your-Seat" Award | The diner shootout | Nominated | |
SESC Film Festival | Best Foreign Film (Audience Award) | David Cronenberg | Won |
Southeastern Film Critics Association Awards [62] | Best Picture | 5th Place | |
St. Louis Film Critics Association Awards | Best Director | David Cronenberg | Nominated |
Toronto Film Critics Association Awards [63] | Best Film | Won | |
Best Canadian Film | Won | ||
Best Director | David Cronenberg | Won | |
Turkish Film Critics Association Awards | Best Foreign Film | 3rd Place | |
USC Scripter Awards [64] | Josh Olson (screenwriter); John Wagner and Vince Locke (authors) | Nominated | |
Utah Film Critics Association Awards [65] | Best Actress | Maria Bello | Runner-up |
Best Supporting Actor | William Hurt | Nominated | |
Vancouver Film Critics Circle Awards [66] | Best Director | David Cronenberg | Nominated |
Village Voice Film Poll | Best Film | Won | |
Best Director | David Cronenberg | Won | |
Best Lead Performance | Viggo Mortensen | 7th Place | |
Best Supporting Performance | Maria Bello | Won | |
Ed Harris | 8th Place | ||
William Hurt | 5th Place | ||
Best Screenplay | Josh Olson | 3rd Place | |
Writers Guild of America Awards [67] | Best Adapted Screenplay | Nominated | |
Young Artist Awards [68] | Best Performance in a Feature Film – Young Actress Age Ten or Younger | Heidi Hayes | Nominated |
Leo, a 2023 Indian Tamil language film co-written and directed by Lokesh Kanagaraj, is an adaptation of A History of Violence. [69] Lokesh said that Leo is his tribute to David Cronenberg's A History of Violence. According to Lokesh, "it inspired me to write Leo. A History of Violence left its mark on me and from that this movie was born. Leo is my tribute". [70]
David Paul Cronenberg is a Canadian film director, screenwriter, producer and actor. He is a principal originator of the body horror genre, with his films exploring visceral bodily transformation, infectious diseases, and the intertwining of the psychological, physical, and technological. Cronenberg is best known for exploring these themes through sci-fi horror films such as Shivers (1975), Scanners (1981), Videodrome (1983) and The Fly (1986), though he has also directed dramas, psychological thrillers and gangster films.
Viggo Peter Mortensen Jr. is an American actor, musician, and filmmaker. He is the recipient of various accolades, including nominations for three Academy Awards for Best Actor, three BAFTA Awards, four Golden Globe Awards, and an Independent Spirit Award.
Howard Leslie Shore is a Canadian composer, conductor and orchestrator noted for his film scores. He has composed the scores for over 80 films, most notably the scores for The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit film trilogies. He won three Academy Awards for his work on The Lord of the Rings, with one being for the song "Into the West", an award he shared with Eurythmics lead vocalist Annie Lennox and writer/producer Fran Walsh, who wrote the lyrics. He is a consistent collaborator with director David Cronenberg, having scored all but one of his films since 1979, and collaborated with Martin Scorsese on six of his films.
The Fly is a 1986 American science fiction horror film directed and co-written by David Cronenberg. Produced by Brooksfilms and distributed by 20th Century Fox, the film stars Jeff Goldblum, Geena Davis, and John Getz. Loosely based on George Langelaan's 1957 short story of the same name and the 1958 film of the same name, The Fly tells of an eccentric scientist who, after one of his experiments goes wrong, slowly turns into a fly-hybrid creature. The score was composed by Howard Shore and the make-up effects were created by Chris Walas, along with makeup artist Stephan Dupuis.
Dead Ringers is a 1988 psychological thriller film starring Jeremy Irons in a dual role as identical twin gynecologists. David Cronenberg directed and co-wrote the screenplay with Norman Snider. Their script was based on the lives of Stewart and Cyril Marcus and on the novel Twins by Bari Wood and Jack Geasland, a "highly fictionalized" version of the Marcuses' story.
Sinéad Moira Cusack is an Irish actress. Her first acting roles were at the Abbey Theatre in Dublin, before moving to London in 1969 to join the Royal Shakespeare Company. She has won the Critics' Circle and Evening Standard Awards for her performance in Sebastian Barry's Our Lady of Sligo.
A History of Violence is a graphic novel written by John Wagner and illustrated by Vince Locke, originally published in 1997 by Paradox Press and later by Vertigo Comics, both imprints of DC Comics.
Crash is a 1996 Canadian erotic thriller film written, produced and directed by David Cronenberg, based on J. G. Ballard's 1973 novel of the same name. Starring James Spader, Deborah Kara Unger, Elias Koteas, Holly Hunter and Rosanna Arquette, it follows a film producer who, after surviving a car crash, becomes involved with a group of symphorophiliacs who are aroused by car crashes and tries to rekindle his sexual relationship with his wife.
The 71st New York Film Critics Circle Awards, honoring the best in film for 2005, were announced on 12 December 2005 and presented on 8 January 2006.
The 9th Toronto Film Critics Association Awards, honoring the best in film for 2005, were given on 21 December 2005.
The 26th London Film Critics Circle Awards, honouring the best in film for 2005, were announced by the London Film Critics Circle on 8 February 2006.
Eastern Promises is a 2007 British-Canadian gangster film directed by David Cronenberg from a screenplay by Steven Knight. The film tells the story of Anna, a Russian-British midwife who delivers the baby of a drug-addicted 14-year-old trafficked Ukrainian girl who dies in childbirth. After Anna learns that the teen was forced into prostitution by the Russian Mafia in London, the leader of the Russian gangsters threatens the baby's life, and Anna is warned off by his menacing henchman.
Hot Pursuit is a 1987 American action comedy film directed by Steven Lisberger, written by Lisberger and Steven Carabatsos, and starring John Cusack, Robert Loggia, Wendy Gazelle, Jerry Stiller and Ben Stiller.
Appaloosa is a 2008 American Western film based on the 2005 novel Appaloosa by crime writer Robert B. Parker. Directed by Ed Harris and co-written by Harris and Robert Knott, Appaloosa stars Harris alongside Viggo Mortensen, Renée Zellweger and Jeremy Irons. The film premiered at 2008 Toronto International Film Festival and was released in selected cities on September 19, 2008, then expanded into wide-release on October 3, 2008. This movie has won four different awards, including the Western Heritage Award in 2009.
A Dangerous Method is a 2011 historical drama film directed by David Cronenberg. The film stars Keira Knightley, Viggo Mortensen, Michael Fassbender, Sarah Gadon, and Vincent Cassel. Its screenplay was adapted by writer Christopher Hampton from his 2002 stage play The Talking Cure, which was based on the 1993 non-fiction book by John Kerr, A Most Dangerous Method: The Story of Jung, Freud, and Sabina Spielrein.
Maps to the Stars is a 2014 internationally co-produced satirical comedy film directed by David Cronenberg, and starring Julianne Moore, Mia Wasikowska, John Cusack, Robert Pattinson, Olivia Williams, Sarah Gadon, and Evan Bird. The screenplay was written by Bruce Wagner, who had written a novel entitled Dead Stars based on the Maps to the Stars script, after initial plans for making the film with Cronenberg fell through.
Falling is a 2020 drama film written and directed by Viggo Mortensen in his feature directorial debut. The film stars Mortensen as John Peterson, a middle-aged gay man whose homophobic father Willis starts to exhibit symptoms of dementia, forcing him to sell the family farm and move to Los Angeles to live with John and his husband Eric. The film's cast also includes Sverrir Gudnason, Laura Linney, Hannah Gross and David Cronenberg.
Possessor is a 2020 science fiction psychological horror film written and directed by Brandon Cronenberg. It stars Andrea Riseborough and Christopher Abbott, with Rossif Sutherland, Tuppence Middleton, Sean Bean, and Jennifer Jason Leigh in supporting roles. Riseborough portrays an assassin who performs her assignments through possessing the bodies of other individuals, but finds herself fighting to control the body of her current host (Abbott).
Crimes of the Future is a 2022 science fiction body horror drama film written and directed by David Cronenberg. The film stars Viggo Mortensen, Léa Seydoux and Kristen Stewart. It follows a performance artist duo who perform surgery for audiences in a future where human evolution has accelerated for much of the population. Although the film shares its title with Cronenberg's 1970 film of the same name, it is not a remake as the story and concept are unrelated. The film marked Cronenberg's return to the science fiction and horror genres for the first time since Existenz (1999).
Infinity Pool is a 2023 science fiction horror film written and directed by Brandon Cronenberg, and starring Alexander Skarsgård, Mia Goth, and Cleopatra Coleman. The film follows a struggling writer and his wife on vacation who, after an accident, discover the country's dark culture.