CRIMES OF THE FUTURE: David Cronenberg and Viggo Mortensen on their unnerving new film

Eight years after his last feature film (2014’s Cosmopolis), legendary Canadian director David Cronenberg is back with Crimes of the Future, a return to the boundary-pushing sci-fi body horror of Cronenberg classics like Videodrome and The Fly.

Mixing in elements of traditional film noir with Cronenberg’s unique take on the intersection between humanity and technology, the film is set in a future timeline where most humans have evolved (or devolved) beyond the capacity to feel pain. A small minority experience something quite different; some people’s internal body structures have begun to change, including the growth of new organs and abilities.

Cronenberg reunites with his frequent lead Viggo Mortensen (A History of Violence, Eastern Promises) who stars as Saul Tenser, a performance artist who surgically removes his new organ growths before a live audience with the help of his partner Caprice (Léa Seydoux, No Time to Die). The shows put Saul on the radar of the clandestine National Organ Registry, a small team aiming to catalogue those exhibiting non-human-like new body growths.

Saul is soon thrust into a government plot to help track down a group of radical evolutionists, who are seeking to push and customize the human body in striking new ways — ‘’surgery is the new sex” — as Saul’s infatuated contact Timlin (Kristen Stewart) enthusiastically tells him.

A wry and seductive look at how we deal with both pain and pleasure, Crimes of the Future is pure Cronenberg through and through, a beguiling and entrancing film that should only reveal itself further with subsequent viewings.

We caught up with David Cronenberg and Viggo Mortensen at the Montreal premiere of Crimes of the Future to discuss their long working relationship and what they hope audiences take away from their provocative new film. Crimes of the Future is in theatres now.

Bad Feeling Magazine: How has your working relationship changed over the course of the films you’ve made together?

David Cronenberg: It’s been a very full collaboration on all four films. He’s even directed me in one film [2020’s Falling], so we have five collaborations. I mean, it changes because we’ve changed. We’re older. And more experienced. On this movie, Viggo has now directed a film, which he hadn’t before. But basically, what changes is the fact that he’s playing a different character. And I’m creating a different world than he’s ever been in with me before. This is the first time he’s been in a script that I wrote originally. So that made it difficult. But basically, the actual working day-to-day collaboration has not changed.

Viggo Mortensen: We’ve just gotten to know each other better. And I’ve gotten to understand, I guess, his way of working better and better. And he. I think, has gotten more streamlined, you know, his confidence in what he’s shooting, knowing what he needs for editing has become more precise and, and efficient, I guess, in a way, which is nice. That means as an actor, you’re not going to get many shots at the scene, so you better be prepared.

How did the ‘’Surgery is the new Sex’’ idea come about? It’s a very provocative idea.

David Cronenberg: I don’t really think about what people will take away from it. I’m just thinking, here’s an idea I had, I’m showing it to you, you will have a reaction to it. it was something that I thought was interesting, maybe provocative, but basically, yes, I was just talking about technology and sensibility. And the confluence of those two things, especially if you’re presenting a world in which pain and pleasure have changed, possibly disappeared, they will reemerge in a different form, because we have the need for that. But it might be in a very strange and difficult to assimilate form.

Viggo, what was your impression when you first read this script? It’s maybe the most Cronenbergian Cronenberg film in some time.

Viggo Mortensen: I thought it was a really good classic film noir story, that was my first impression. And also, inside it was an unusual, quite beautiful, and surprisingly tender love story. I like that aspect a lot. And the fact that it was Léa Seydoux, I thought, oh, that could be good. And it was more than that. It was wonderful. She was a great acting partner, I really liked working with her.

What was the working process like between you two? As you said, you really had to know what you were doing since there weren’t many chances for revisions.

Viggo Mortensen: I was used to working with David, she wasn’t, but she was very well prepared. But the first couple of days, she was not sure why he wasn’t saying much. And she said,”Is he okay? Is he happy with what I’m doing?”  I said, ”Yeah, if he wasn’t, he would tell you. But if you have a question, ask him. Otherwise, he’s just going to move on if he’s happy.” She got the hang of it.

What was the most challenging aspect of executing this film?

Viggo Mortensen: Well, the character is not exactly passive, but he is a little bit, and he’s very reactive compared to other characters I’ve played for David and characters I normally play. It’s very subtle. He had a lot of physical ailments, digestion, and breathing problems, he couldn’t stand or sit comfortably more than a few seconds without shifting. He just wasn’t at ease in his own body for most of the movie, until the very end. So, how to play that and get that across with the voice and body language, without doing too much and then being distracted. I counted on David to just watch what I did. And sometimes saying, ”Okay, that was good, there was too much of that. And not enough here.” And so, just modulating. It was a good process.

What you can play is the reality of the scene from moment to moment. So, the ordinary human things are what I focused on. The fact that he’s an artist who’s competitive and somewhat jealous, and maybe he’s paranoid, defensive, insecure, sometimes and other times supremely confident. And the contradictions and the realities are very protective about his physical… conditions on the one hand, but the contradiction is that he then is looking to reveal his literally innermost secrets in public performances. So, it’s a strange contradiction.

What do you hope audiences take away from the film?

Viggo Mortensen: Well, I hope they’re entertained. And I hope that it gives them a lot to think about. I think with most of [Cronenberg’s] movies, all of them really, with successive viewings you get more each time. I think most directors, even when they make good movies, you watch them a second, third, or fourth time, not that you see less, but you don’t see more. And you might see things and think, yeah, maybe it’s not as profound as I thought. With David, it’s the other way. They grow more on you and they become more timely as time goes by.

David Cronenberg: I have no idea. I don’t have hope. I just hope they find it interesting and stimulating. That’s the base. That’s the bottom line.

Crimes of the Future is in theatres now.