In less than a week, David Cronenberg will be shooting his latest film, “The Shrouds,” in Toronto.
Diane Kruger (possibly replacing Lea Seydoux) will star alongside Vincent Cassel in Cronenberg’s upcoming sci-fi film. We can now also add another stalwart actor to the cast, none other than Viggo Mortensen (via GQ).
Mortensen and Cronenberg have become as inseparable as De Niro/Scorsese in their peak years. So far, the two-decade collaboration between the 80-year-old director and 63-year-old actor has developed over five films, including the upcoming ‘Shrouds.’
Let us not forget that Cronenberg also cameo’ed in Mortensen’s directorial debut, “Falling.”
Cronenberg has mentioned that ‘Shrouds’ is part of the aborted Netflix project we had previously reported on. Supposedly, the streaming giant got cold feet after reading the second episode. The film is being co-produced by Saïd Ben Saïd.
“It’s the story of a man who loses his wife. It’s about the incapacity to cope with the loss of a loved one,” Cassel told The Guardian. “I never thought he had such confidence in me and I’m really flattered. I told him, ‘David, honestly, I have no idea how I’m going to play this.’ And he said that’s exactly why he chose me.”
Cronenberg told IndieWire while at 2022 Cannes that “The Shrouds” will take place in a world where people can watch their deceased relatives decaying in real-time.
He may have been hinting at retirement, with no film released in eight years, but the legendary Canadian director is not done. He’s premiered “Crimes of the Future” at Cannes this past May and now has this latest one ready to go.
While James L. Brooks teased last year that "we'll soon be seeing" Jack Nicholson, 89, act again, and that he was "reading scripts," that idea has now been shut down by his close friend Michael Douglas, 82.