In an interview conducted at the start of the year, Viggo Mortensen said that he and his A History of Violence, Eastern Promises, and A Dangerous Method director David Cronenberg were gearing up to work together again, this time on a project that would take Cronenberg "back to his origins" and feature "body horror type stuff". That project has now started filming in Athens, Greece under the title Crimes of the Future, and Mortensen has been joined in the cast by Lea Seydoux, Kristen Stewart, Scott Speedman, Tanaya Beatty, Nadia Litz, Yorgos Karamichos, Yorgos Pirpassopoulos, Welket Bungue, Don McKellar, and Lihi Kornowski.
Crimes of the Future will take
a deep dive into the not-so-distant future where humankind is learning to adapt to its synthetic surroundings. The evolution moves humans beyond their natural state and into a metamorphosis, altering their biological makeup. While some embrace the limitless potential of ‘transhumanism’, others attempt to police it. Either way, “Accelerated Evolution Syndrome”, is spreading fast.
Mortensen previously said this "strange film noir story" was something Cronenberg originally wrote a long time ago, but recently pulled off the shelf and "refined". Now that filming is underway, the actor has released the following statement:
As we begin filming Crimes of the Future, just two days into this new adventure with David Cronenberg, it feels like we’ve entered a story he collaborated on with Samuel Beckett and William Burroughs, if that were possible. We are being pulled into a world that is not quite like this or any other, and yet is one that feels strangely familiar, immediate and quite credible. I can’t wait to see where we end up."
This marks the first time Cronenberg has directed one of his own original screenplays since eXistenz in 1999. Robert Lantos is producing the filming alongside Panos Papahadzis. Steve Solomos is co-producer. Joe Iacono, Thorsten Schumacher, Peter Touche, Christelle Conan, Aida Tannyan, Victor Loewy, and Victor Hadida serve as executive producers. Bonnie Do and Laura Lanktree are associate producers.
Rocket Science is handling international distribution sales. Deadline lists the distribution deals that are already in place:
Neon (USA), MK2|Mile End (Canada), Metropolitan (France), Weltkino (Germany, Austria and Switzerland), The Searchers (Benelux), Argonauts Productions (Greece), Front Row (Middle East), Capella (CIS/ the Baltic States), and Moviecloud (Taiwan).