‘Crimes Of The Future’: David Cronenberg Predicts Walkouts At Cannes In “First Five Minutes” Due To Graphic Scenes

We’re ecstatic that Canadian filmmaker David Cronenberg (“Naked Lunch“) will be returning to body horror. The subgenre’s popularity has a lot to do with his previous efforts. His upcoming pic, “Crimes of The Future,” sees Viggo Mortensen (“Eastern Promises“) reunite with Cronenberg with co-stars Léa Seydoux and Kristen Stewart also taking roles. The film will be part of the Cannes Film Festival slate.

The prospect of people walking out at the Cannes premiere is exciting to Cronenberg as he tells Deadline “that’s a very special thing,” and it wouldn’t be the first time. His sexually-charged car accident fetish film “Crash” got a harsh reaction at the festival.

READ MORE: David Cronenberg, James Gray & Park Chan-Wook Top Cannes Film Festival 2022 Slate

“There are some very strong scenes. I mean, I’m sure that we will have walkouts within the first five minutes of the movie. I’m sure of that. Some people who have seen the film have said that they think the last 20 minutes will be very hard on people, and that there’ll be a lot of walkouts. Some guy said that he almost had a panic attack. And I say, ‘Well, that would be OK.’ But I’m not convinced that that will be a general reaction. I do expect walkouts in Cannes, and that’s a very special thing.”

Seydoux (“Blue Is The Warmest Colour“) is getting praise for work on the new body horror film in a new profile on the French actress from The Hollywood Reporter, as Mortensen calls her “the most committed onscreen partner he’s ever worked with.” Cronenberg was impressed by her fearlessness, which was needed to play her character, Caprice.

“[She]’s like, ‘I don’t care what it sounds like or looks like, if it’s right for the character and right for David, then I am going all the way.’ Which seems to be her attitude all of the time,” Mortensen said of his co-star.

“Some actors are afraid of certain things, and it’s very specific to them,” explains Cronenberg. “For a movie like this, you need an actor to be uninhibited in a very broad sense of the word, and Léa certainly brings that to [Caprice].”

Here is the official synopsis from NEON:

As the human species adapts to a synthetic environment, the body undergoes new transformations and mutations. With his partner, Caprice, Saul Tenser, a celebrity performance artist, publicly showcases the metamorphosis of his organs in avant-garde performances. Timlin, an investigator from the National Organ Registry, obsessively tracks their movements, which is when a mysterious group is revealed… Their mission – to use Saul’s notoriety to shed light on the next phase of human evolution.

“Crimes of The Future” is being released domestically on June 3. Stay tuned for our coverage of the Cannes Film Festival starting on May 17.