David Cronenberg : Full of Promise

Viggo Mortensen in Eastern Promises, Peter Mountain*

David Cronenberg is relaxing at the Soho Hotel and enjoying the success of the Gala screening of his latest feature, Eastern Promises (see review), held last Wednesday at the Odeon Leicester Square. The Canadian director is famous for his controversial films, often violent and sexually charged, that investigate the innermost depths of the soul to expose perversion. His career started in the 1970s with horror movies Rabid and The Brood; soon he moved on to a more personal view of the human body, the organic world and the inorganic: see his 80’s masterpieces such as The Dead Zone, The Fly and gynaecological thriller Dead Ringers. His disturbing poetics reached an apex later with Crash, about people getting aroused by crashing their cars, and eXistenZ. But in the new millennium, Cronenberg’s interest has shifted towards identity and psychology, as in Spider and A History of Violence. Eastern Promises, though, is a classic noir peppered with his trademark explosions of violence. As the director gets ready for the interview his manners are charming and he wears a contagious smile. Which is quite unexpected, considering the subjects of his films. “But I think they are funny”, he protests with a laugh. Vera Brozzoni caught up with him.

VB: Do you mean it is possible to have fun while shooting a dark film?

Absolutely. Otherwise what’s the point? My actors are often surprised at how nice is the atmosphere on my sets, but I think humour is an essential element to filming.
You need the actors to relax, so that they can deliver their best performance.

VB: What was your reaction to the script to Eastern Promises?

 In 2004, the BBC had commissioned writer Steve Knight a TV film script about Eastern European human trafficking, after his success with Dirty Pretty Things (directed by Stephen Frears).
Then it developed into a film script. When I read it, I was in a difficult moment: I kept turning down projects, I couldn’t find anything interesting.
But this one had a spark: it was clean, innocent. I was immediately taken.

VB: You have already worked with Viggo Mortensen in A History Of Violence. How is it to work with him?

Working with him was a pleasure: I already knew his method so I didn’t have to worry about him.
He does lots of research for his roles: he visited prisons and spent time with very disreputable Russian people!
They gave him worry beads made of melted plastic cigarette lighters, you can see them in the film.
And he learnt to speak Russian quite well thanks to his frequentations and our dialect coaches. 

VB: What about the rest of the cast?

Naomi Watts and Vincent Cassel were wonderful. Both were jealous of Viggo’s nude scene and wanted one too! Vincent, who is French, made a commendable effort to speak English with a Russian accent.
We had lots of Russian extras, bodyguards and bouncers. Strange to say, we got two thumbs up from Russian criminals!

VB: What was it like to shoot in London for the first time?

Our location manager, David Broder,  guided us through North and East London.
He could tell us from the start where the characters lived, and why.
I found out that there is much more to London than tourist sights.
The troupe was excited to shoot there and not in Notting Hill, for a change.

VB: Despite your humour, your films are still violent and dark. What make you wants to focus on this?
I find it interesting to explore hidden places, I have a curiosity about what is normally concealed. You can find something profound there. Not that a comedy can’t be revealing, but delving into the dark side is more interesting.


*Focus Features, All Rights Reserved.

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