Cronenberg's Upcoming Films (Cosmopolis Trailer)

[Truth.]

David Cronenberg Says That 'Eastern Promises' Sequel is Now Dead

by Ethan Anderton
August 14, 2012
Source: The Playlist
Eastern Promises

It's been two and a half years since we heard that Viggo Mortensen was going to reteam with director David Cronenberg (along with writer Steven Knight) for a sequel to their crime thriller Eastern Promises. Just a couple months ago Vincent Cassel was finally confirmed to return for the promising sequel as well, but now we have bad news for fans who have been waiting patiently. The Playlist recently talked to Cronenberg while making the rounds for Cosmopolis and when asked what he was doing next, the filmmaker bluntly said, ""It was supposed to be 'Eastern Promises 2.' But that's dead." What the hell?

Apparently Croneberg sounded pretty frustrated and full of disbelief when he continued, "We were supposed to start shooting 'Eastern Promises 2' in October. [But] It's done... If you don't like it talk to James Schamus at Focus. It was his decision." It sounds like the studio didn't give a greenlight to the production. This might be a question of dollars and sense, but the film made about $56 million worldwide, and it's not as if Focus Features only backs films that make huge bank at the box office anyway. Maybe they just weren't happy with the script? It's hard to say since a fall shoot was planned, but this is some disappointing news for Cronenberg fans. I guess they'll have to settle for seeing Cosmopolis soon for now.

[Career Over Like Mike(NJJ)]

Did nobody else like this as much as I did then? Top 3 movie of 2012 right here.

[Tommy Bunz]

Limited Release, don't think its playing in that many theaters.
Pretty sure its almost exclusively being played in the arthouse circuit.

[jamrage]

Did nobody else like this as much as I did then? Top 3 movie of 2012 right here.

I thought it was mostly shit. Pseudo-intellectual nonsense, in my opinion. Thoroughly insipid.

Beautifully shot, and I agree that Pattinson was a great choice for the role, but at the dialogue. It's a screenwriters wank fest. A marvelous example of how people DON'T act.

I really can't believe this got made. In that regard, I'm pleased that it did. It's definitely a much different type of movie than what gets made these days.

There's a great quality torrent out there now.

[Spartan]

Not a dig or anything but are there any movies that you do like, jamrage?

[Tommy Bunz]

Finally got off my ass and watched this, and its pretty fantastic.
It is nonsensical and the dialogue is thick and odd and to me that's a major part of the appeal. Cronenberg channels it all into something other-worldly and surreal (it's somewhat Lynch-ian which is probably why jamrage hates it). Pretty crazy how well it fits into his body of work, even though there's very little violence on screen it still feels very violent....it's all buried in the words and oozing out of the performances.
I hated the Pattison casting just because of the Twilight association but the dude can act. Him and Giamatti both should get nominated for awards for their performances. Cronenberg's growing reputation as an actor's director is well fucking deserved.
Definitely a movie that will reward repeat viewings, i'm not even sure I've fully wrapped my head around it yet.

[jamrage]

Not a dig or anything but are there any movies that you do like, jamrage?

Just saw your post.

I love movies man, I'm just very vocal about the ones I don't like. I generally don't like movies like "Cosmopolis" with very pretentious dialogue and meandering plots. I also don't like super surreal films that are indecipherable.

Here's a list of a few films that I've watched in the last week or so that I've enjoyed:

Looper
Seven Psychopaths
Argo
Santa Sangre (I'm sure you're saying "wtf" given what I just said above, but it represents everything I love about avant garde film.)
Sawdust and Tinsel

[Career Over Like Mike(NJJ)]

Finally got off my ass and watched this, and its pretty fantastic.
It is nonsensical and the dialogue is thick and odd and to me that's a major part of the appeal. Cronenberg channels it all into something other-worldly and surreal (it's somewhat Lynch-ian which is probably why jamrage hates it). Pretty crazy how well it fits into his body of work, even though there's very little violence on screen it still feels very violent....it's all buried in the words and oozing out of the performances.
I hated the Pattison casting just because of the Twilight association but the dude can act. Him and Giamatti both should get nominated for awards for their performances. Cronenberg's growing reputation as an actor's director is well fucking deserved.
Definitely a movie that will reward repeat viewings, i'm not even sure I've fully wrapped my head around it yet.

If Cosmopolis doesn't make this board's year end polls because most of the stoner CYE regulars are too lazy to see it, it would be a tragedy. :(

[Larry2times]

Cosmopolis is indeed the business, the fruity garbled dialogue is a clincher and if ye can forgive the entry level opinion - it reminded me of Clockwork Orange (the book). Ill see myself out.

The Lynch comparison is spot on, quirky and seemingly not a lot of happens but I really can see myself returning cos its i dunno - rich, dense? Theres a lot going on

[Larry2times]

Oh and yeah Pattison was a revelation, it wouldve been easy to fuck that up but he killed it

[Spartan]

Not a dig or anything but are there any movies that you do like, jamrage?

Just saw your post.

I love movies man, I'm just very vocal about the ones I don't like. I generally don't like movies like "Cosmopolis" with very pretentious dialogue and meandering plots. I also don't like super surreal films that are indecipherable.

Here's a list of a few films that I've watched in the last week or so that I've enjoyed:

Looper
Seven Psychopaths
Argo
Santa Sangre (I'm sure you're saying "wtf" given what I just said above, but it represents everything I love about avant garde film.)
Sawdust and Tinsel

I'll add these with Hell Comes To Frog Town then.

[jamrage]

Not a dig or anything but are there any movies that you do like, jamrage?

Just saw your post.

I love movies man, I'm just very vocal about the ones I don't like. I generally don't like movies like "Cosmopolis" with very pretentious dialogue and meandering plots. I also don't like super surreal films that are indecipherable.

Here's a list of a few films that I've watched in the last week or so that I've enjoyed:

Looper
Seven Psychopaths
Argo
Santa Sangre (I'm sure you're saying "wtf" given what I just said above, but it represents everything I love about avant garde film.)
Sawdust and Tinsel

I'll add these with Hell Comes To Frog Town then.

Damn, you haven't seen Hell Comes To Frog Town? You're in for a real treat.

[Spartan]

Of course I've seen it, I meant "films that you actually like".

[Tommy Bunz]

Finally got off my ass and watched this, and its pretty fantastic.
It is nonsensical and the dialogue is thick and odd and to me that's a major part of the appeal. Cronenberg channels it all into something other-worldly and surreal (it's somewhat Lynch-ian which is probably why jamrage hates it). Pretty crazy how well it fits into his body of work, even though there's very little violence on screen it still feels very violent....it's all buried in the words and oozing out of the performances.
I hated the Pattison casting just because of the Twilight association but the dude can act. Him and Giamatti both should get nominated for awards for their performances. Cronenberg's growing reputation as an actor's director is well fucking deserved.
Definitely a movie that will reward repeat viewings, i'm not even sure I've fully wrapped my head around it yet.

If Cosmopolis doesn't make this board's year end polls because most of the stoner CYE regulars are too lazy to see it, it would be a tragedy. :(

It will make the year end polls if I have any say in the matter. My vote so far still goes to the Avengers because it was the most fun I've had in theaters in a long time but I'd probably put this above the overhyped and ultimately disappointing conclusion to Nolan's Batman trilogy.
I legitimately think Giamatti is going to win the best supporting actor award off this thing.

Jamrage/Spartan/whoever else.....have any of you bothered to watch any of the Frogtown sequels? There are like fucking five of them, I'm sure they are complete trash but hopefully enjoyable trash.

[drizzle]

the stoner CYE regulars are too lazy to see it

lol but accurate, i kept meaning to go see this but never got motivated enough to make the trek

[Spartan]

@ Frogtown discussion in a Cronenberg thread. Not seen the sequels.

[jamrage]

Of course I've seen it, I meant "films that you actually like".

, dick.

[jamrage]

@ Frogtown discussion in a Cronenberg thread. Not seen the sequels.

I feel like I might have seen the second one, but I can't confirm it. If I did, I don't remember shit about it.

[Spartan]

R Pattz, asymmetrical prostates, rat throwing and Paul Giamatti with a towel on his head - what's not to love about this movie?

[Career Over Like Mike(NJJ)]

R Pattz, asymmetrical prostates, rat throwing and Paul Giamatti with a towel on his head - what's not to love about this movie?

The car is a space capsule, occupied by a lonely Major Tom of world finance -- a plunonaut, if you like.

[perlman]

Good movie. The look of it reminded me a lot of Fight Club. For those wondering, in the book he gets shot and buried as an unidentified body. Also in the book, and possibly in the movie, he brings down the cyber currency system on purpose after seeing those burning monks. Nigga just bought all the yen, yo! And the word "yen" has a lot of meaning in the book so I'm not sure why they changed it to yuan.

[Comedy Quaddafi]

Did nobody else like this as much as I did then? Top 3 movie of 2012 right here.

I thought it was mostly shit. Pseudo-intellectual nonsense, in my opinion. Thoroughly insipid.

Beautifully shot, and I agree that Pattinson was a great choice for the role, but at the dialogue. It's a screenwriters wank fest. A marvelous example of how people DON'T act.

I really can't believe this got made. In that regard, I'm pleased that it did. It's definitely a much different type of movie than what gets made these days.

There's a great quality torrent out there now.

I thought some of the dialogue was pretty cool and I don't mind that no one seemed to be a real human. But the movie was dull and needed a story to go with the style IMO. I'm sure it was a cool book but it didn't really work as a movie.

[perfectprism]

to for recommending this, it's exactly how a Delillo book should be adapted.

Is there a word for these kind of movies (basically the philosophical ramblings of a revolving cast of characters in a loose narrative framework)?

I love movies like this (Richard Linklater films, Metropolitan ) but I'm kind of lost as where to go next.

Any of you dudes have recommendations for similar fare?

[drizzle]

Tarkovsky's Stalker is the Citizen Kane of movies about people talking philosophy while not doing much in particular. There may or may not be aliens involved too. Tarkovsky's Solaris also fits, it's a lot more overtly sci-fi but just as heady.

[Tommy Bunz]

Good one. I'd probably recommend Aguirre the Wrath of God too. Not quite exactly the same as its just Kinski's ramblings/decent into madness but stylistically its similar.
Might want to check out some Ingmar Bergman too, Seventh Seal or Wild Strawberries

[Spartan]

Hell Comes To Frogtown

[perfectprism]

Good call on Aguirre, I've seen it (due to enthusiasm years ago) and it was hugely influential on me but I never really associated it with this sort of style until now. Might be time for a rewatch. I've seen Seventh Seal and was a little bit bored by it though I still enjoyed it alot. I'll check his other stuff.

I've been holding out on watching Tarkovsky stuff because I wasn't really sure what to expect even though it seemed to fit with my tastes, and I wanted to make sure I had a fat bowl/blu-ray copy on a hi-def TV/3 hours of solitude available for maximum potential. Really fuckin excited to get it done now with this new info.

and , I saw that in the movie thread and was gonna check it anyways even if you aren't serious.

I guess almost all Tarantino movies can ostensibly fit into this category, but it's still sort of a rough fit. Seems like an under-developed genre of movies. Linklater is the only one who seems to have really tried to take the straight-up dialogue/conversation/philosophy approach seriously and continuously revisit/refine it with Slacker, Waking Life and the Before soon-to-be trilogy. I imagine it's quite hard to pull off, plus you necessarily have to have a wealth of good ideas to run with. Activates my stoner-sensors like nothing else due the semantic-priming/hyper-priming (google it) phenomena of weed mixed with the visuals of film. Shame there hasn't been more output taking advantage of this, but maybe Cosmopolis will get a following a set the ball rolling a little more.

Thanks dudes.

[drizzle]

I guess almost all Tarantino movies can ostensibly fit into this category,

reaching

pop culture psychobabble does not equate to valid discourse

i'd also not recommend watching tarkovsky movies stoned, they will most likely just put you to sleep

[Tommy Bunz]

oh jesus yea i agree with drizzle don't watch stalker stoned
Wait for a rainy saturday afternoon or something and turn off your phone/get rid of all other distractions and just let that shit take you in. You really have to vibe with a Tarkovsky movie early on or its not going to work.
My opinion on the guy has changed a ton over the past 5 years or so, used to mostly bore me, then I rewatched Stalker and it finally clicked. Now its one of my favorite movies ever.

I'm trying to think of other movies like this, I know there's more. Definitely would say The Thin Red Line also fits.

[perfectprism]

I think I'm pretty much immune to boredom when I am stoned, but warnings noted. I just like to kind of absorb the feeling of a movie more than anything else and being stoned helps greatly in that. I could care less about plot/characters/dialogue most of the time . I've been more permanently and fundamentally altered by watching shit like Blade Runner, 2001: ASO, Days of Heaven etc. stoned than by hard psychedelics or traumatic emotional experiences in my own life. It's like tree-topping an artistic vision straight to the dome. Soak it up and move on and let it rattle around inside you, fuck any discourse or extended arguments or critical analysis (even though I try that sometimes on here and irl...makes me feel like taking a shower every time). This philosophy has served me well so far

Never seen Thin Red for some reason but I like most other malick stuff alot so good looks.

Yeah Tarantino's shit is a reach I was just throwing it out there. The overall plot-as-a-pretense-for-rambling-characters kinda feel still fits though.

The aforementioned Metropolitan is a perfect example of what gives me a stoner boner, I'd highly advise anyone who likes this sort of stuff check that