Oscar Profile #594: David Cronenberg

Born March 15, 1943 in Toronto, Canada, David Cronenberg is the son of a musician mother and writer-editor father. A voracious reader from an early age, he developed a strong interest in the science fiction writings of Ray Bradbury, Isaac Asimov, and later, Philip K. Dick, all of whom would influence his film work. Controversial non-science fiction writers William S. Borroughs and Vladimir Nabokov would also become strong influences.

Cronenberg made his film debut with the 1966 short, Transfer, followed by the 1967 short, From the Drain, the 1969 art-house film, Stereo, and the 1970 art-house film, Crimes of the Future. He then made a series of Canadian TV documentaries that kept him busy for the next two years. He began concentrating on horror films with 1975’s Shivers. His breakthrough film was the 1981 sleeper hit, Scanners.

The now hot director’s first major Hollywood film was 1983’s The Dead Zone adapted from Stephen King’s best-selling novel of the same name. His first film to be nominated for an Oscar was his 1986 remake of The Fly. It was nominated for Best Makeup, which it won. His next film, 1988’s Dead Ringers was nominated for 13 Genies (the Canadian Oscars), of which it won 11 including three for Cronenberg (Best Picture, Director, Screenplay). The film also won Cronenberg the Los Angeles Film Critics’ award for Best Director as well as Best Supporting Actress for Genevieve Bujold. The National Society of Film Critics honored Cronenberg and co-writer Norman Snider with its screenplay award. The New York Film critics gave star Jeremy Irons its Best Actor award. Oscar failed to nominate it for anything.

Cronenberg’s 1991 adaptation of idol Burrough’s Naked Lunch was nominated for 10 Genie awards and won 7 including another one for Cronenberg as Best Director. It also won Best Picture, but Cronenberg did not share in that as he was not one of the film’s producers. He also won National Society of Film Critics’ awards for Best Director and Best Screenplay and the New York Film Critics award for Best Screenplay while Judy Davis won Best Supporting Actress. Again, Oscar took no notice.

Cronenberg’s 1993 adaptation of David Henry Hwang’s play, M. Butterfly failed to win any major awards, but 1996’s Crash won Cronenberg a Special Jury Prize at the Cannes Film Festival. 1999’s eXistenZ received 3 Genie nominations including Best Picture and won for Best Editing. 2002’s Spider earned Cronenberg a Directors Guild of Canada award for Best Director.

The three films Cronenberg made with actor Viggo Mortensen from 2005-2011, A History of Violence, Eastern Promises, and A Dangerous Method represent some of the best work of his career. While all three received major awards recognition, Oscar remained out of reach for Cronenberg. A History of Violence received just two Oscar nominations, Eastern Promises one, and A Dangerous Method none.

Cronenberg’s next two films, 2012’s Cosmopolis and 2014’s Maps to the Stars were critical and commercial failures, but his forthcoming Crimes of the Future reunites him with Mortensen, so his luck may well be returning.

David Cronenberg, who is also a busy actor, shows no signs of slowing down at 79.

ESSENTIAL FILMS

THE FLY (1986)

This remake of the 1958 sci-fi classic starring Jeff Goldblum as the scientist slowly turning into a fly after one his experiments goes terribly wrong, was a critical as well as a commercial hit for Cronenberg. The director was surprised when the film was seen by some critics as a cultural metaphor for AIDS, since his intention was to provide a more general analogy for disease itself, terminal conditions like cancer, and more specifically, the aging process. An Oscar winner for Best Makeup, it was a BAFTA nominee for both Makeup and Special Effects. Goldblum was nominated for various critics’ awards, but Oscar sadly looked the other way.

DEAD RINGERS (1988)

Jeremy Irons won the New York Film Critics’ award for Best Actor for his portrayal of twin gynecologists who have a falling out over patient Genevieve Bujold who won the Los Angeles Film Critics’ award for Best Supporting Actress. Based on a pair of real-life twin genecologists, Irons got the role after it was turned down by both Robert DeNiro, who didn’t want to play a gynecologist, and William Hurt who didn’t want to play twins. Irons kept track of which character he was playing by walking on the soles of his feet for one twin and his heels for the other. Despite its heavy critical recognition, Oscar was once again not interested.

A HISTORY OF VIOLENCE (2005)

Oscar finally gave a screenplay nomination to a Cronenberg film, but it was Josh Olson who received the recognition, not Cronenberg who did not take credit for the work he did in drafting the screenplay based on a graphic novel. The film also received an Oscar nod for William Hurt for his ten-minute performance as a gangster toward the end of the film. Oscar overlooked the film for Best Picture, Cronenberg for Best Director, Viggo Mortensen for Best Actor as the “is he or isn’t he” hero, Ed Harris for Best Supporting Actor as the main gangster, and Maria Bello for Best Supporting Actress Mortensen’s wife.

EASTERN PROMISES (2007)

After ignoring Jeff Goldblum in The Fly, Jeremy Irons in Dead Ringers, and Viggo Mortensen in A History of Violence, Oscar finally gave a Best Actor nomination to the star of a Cronenberg film by recognizing Mortensen for his portrayal of an enigmatic member of the Russian mob in London. With equally strong work from Naomi Watts, Armin Mueller-Stahl, and Vincent Cassel, this was another first-rate Cronenberg film that deserved more than it got from Oscar. Jeremy Irons’ wife, Sinead Cusack, has an important supporting role as Watts’ supportive mother.

A DANGEROUS METHOD (2011)

Michael Fassbender won numerous Best Actor awards for his portrayal of Carl Jung in conjunction with his performances in the same year’s Jane Eyre and Shame, while Viggo Mortensen received numerous Best Supporting Actor awards for his portrayal of Sigmund Freud in this film about the birth of psychoanalysis. Keira Knightley is more than a bit over the top as the hysterical patient they share, but Vincent Cassel is spot on as another patient, a womanizing hedonist, who was once himself a renown psychiatrist. Unlike most of Cronenberg’s films which are made in Canada, this one was filmed on location in Germany and Austria.