Le Vidéo Club de David Cronenberg

May 17, 2022 2:01 PM

David Cronenberg goes to a video store and talks about some of his favorite movies. (23-minute video, includes a few NSFW film clips)
posted by Gerald Bostock (8 comments total)

This is really great. It's a great interview format.

"That was as close as I got to making a Star Wars movie."

Heh. "Cronenberg's Return of the Jedi" is one hell of a what-might-have-been.
posted by mandolin conspiracy at 3:30 PM on May 17, 2022 [3 favorites]

Yeah similarly I've got a big ol soft spot for Total Recall, in all its "Indiana Jones On Mars" nonsense glory, but David Cronenberg's Total Recall is something I'll always wonder about now.
posted by Phobos the Space Potato at 3:35 PM on May 17, 2022 [5 favorites]

Cronenberg used to shop at the video store I worked at in Toronto, Art & Trash, and I went to school with his nephew. Pleasant man.
posted by dobbs at 5:34 PM on May 17, 2022 [1 favorite]

That was wonderful. And what mandolin conspiracy said; this is a fantastic example of one of my favorite formats for an interview (I wish the 5-minute "Criterion Closet Picks" videos allowed their subjects to stretch out like this). Apparently this is at a store called JM Video in Paris? It looks like they have a lot more of them, too.

Loved the story about turning down the opportunity to direct Return of the Jedi but really loved the fantastic stuff about casting, Ralph Fiennes, and not needing to direct good actors after 19:20. And he's so unassuming and funny and a bit modest but not too much...

Thanks, Gerald Bostock, for this very neat find.
posted by mediareport at 7:50 PM on May 17, 2022 [2 favorites]

That was really great! And great to see him so full of praise for other directors, too! Titane just moved up to next on my to-watch list after hearing him talk about it.
posted by lock robster at 11:58 PM on May 17, 2022

lock robster, Cronenberg's Crash is one of my favorite movies and Titane is the first movie I have ever had to watch in stages. Have fun!
posted by late afternoon dreaming hotel at 5:54 AM on May 18, 2022 [1 favorite]

I wish I could read his script for Total Recall. I imagine it would be not too dissimilar to how he approached Naked Lunch.
posted by cazoo at 11:22 AM on May 18, 2022

His passing remarks about his childhood and movie theatres being across the street from each other hit home. Even as late as the early 80s, there were still a TON of decrepit old movie theatres in Toronto.
posted by brachiopod at 11:50 AM on May 18, 2022