Crimes of the Future

It’s been eight agonizing years since the body horror maestro, David Cronenberg (The Fly, A History of Violence), last released a movie. And for his newest, in theaters now, he went back to a script that he’d written in the 1980s. While Crimes of the Future shares the title of his 1970 student film, it is entirely its own world with only the title remaining. Set in a world where humans have become desensitized to pain, the ramifications of this are explored by a performance art duo (Viggo Mortensen and Léa Seydoux) who use a pod designed for autopsies to perform live organ retrievals. Mortensen’s cloaked artist is able to “will” new organs into existence, and he has them catalogued by his biggest fan (Kristen Stewart). But he is beginning to doubt the value in this performance as it is. The world of art vs. artifice is blurring – particularly when an “Inner Beauty Contest” for Best Organ is further popularizing their artform. When he receives a hint that a young boy (Scott Speedman’s son) had developed a new digestive tract to consume plastic, the film moves from body horror into film noir as he attempts to reveal the links and allegiances between underground manufacturers, organized crime, body performers and the police.

We recently sat down with Cronenberg, Mortensen, Seydoux and Speedman to discuss the themes of Crimes of the Future. Check out part of our interview below. And prepare your stomach and brain to parse through all the ideas coming from the director who gave us “long live the new flesh” in Videodrome and now gives us, “long live the new organs!”

 

 

 

Tickets for Crimes of the Future are available here at Fandango.