Recent reports indicate that David Cronenberg will follow up A
History of Violence - arguably his most well-received picture to date - by making his first ever film on
American turf. The project is called Maps to the Stars, and is being described as "darkly comic drama
about Hollywood excess and intrigue." Hold off on that "Boy, that sounds just like..." reaction for a
second, though, because Cronenberg is way ahead of you: "It is not," he says, "a satire
like The
Player." Just so you know.Since Cronenberg has actually never worked in Hollywood before, he'll be relying heavily on the film's screenplay (by Bruce Wagner, who wrote Scenes from the Class Struggle in Beverly Hills and I'm Losing You, which Cronenberg executive produced) for "a genuine look at Hollywood culture." Despite taking aim at an incredibly easy target, the director insists that he "won't fall back on some cliches or simplistic sloganeering, because the culture and what it reveals about Western culture and the rest of the world is very complex." Jeez, alright already. The man is clarifying so much before he even gets started that even he's sounding a little worried.
Cronenberg will steel himself for the border crossing and start shooting in LA in the fall.
