I guess I haven’t been paying close enough attention, but apparently David Cronenberg’s next film isn’t The Matarese Circle or Cosmopolis or a sequel to Eastern Promises, all of which were on the table through most of 2009. However, there are ties to Eastern Promises with The Talking Cure, Cronenberg’s next film which is said to start filming on May 17 for ten weeks.
Deadline reports thst film will star Viggo Mortensen who is replacing Christoph Waltz, who had to bow out to star in Water for Elephants, as Sigmund Freud in the film based on the Christopher Hampton play centered on the conflict between Freud and his pupil Carl Jung played by Michael Fassbender (Hunger). Keira Knightley also stars as Sabina Spielrein, a disturbed young woman brought to see Jung by her father after which Jung and Sabina have an affair.
The Playlist has also come across the Facebook page for the French distributor Mars Films whose latest post translates to read the following:
The cast of THE TALKING CURE the next film by David Cronenberg has been announced Viggo Mortensen and Michael Fassbender will play respectively Sigmund Freud and Carl Jung, along with Keira Knightley and Vincent Cassel.
No word on Cassel’s role in the film, but it serves as an Eastern Promises reunion bringing Cronenberg, Mortensen and Cassel together again.
The film will most likely be released in 2011 with what I would suspect a Cannes debut as this cast and director combination has “Oscar push” written all over it. Unfortunately I can’t seem to find the name of the screenwriter, but I wouldn’t be surprised if Hampton did his own adaptation. His previous work includes Atonement and Dangerous Liaisons, which was also an adaptation of his own play and ended up winning him an Oscar in 1989.
The Talking Cure will be Cronenberg’s first film since Eastern Promises in 2007.
