The Shrouds: Vincent Cassel, Diane Kruger, Guy Pearce star in David Cronenberg thriller

During a press conference at the San Sebastian film festival last September, writer/director David Cronenberg said his Crimes of the Future cast member Léa Seydoux would be playing a role in his next project, the afterlife thriller The Shrouds, joining previously announced star Vincent Cassel (who worked with Cronenberg on Eastern Promises and A Dangerous Method). But while Cassel remains on board the project, Seydoux had to drop out and has been replaced by Diane Kruger (Inglourious Basterds). Also new to the cast is Guy Pearce (Memento).

Cassel will be taking on the role of Karsh, an innovative businessman and grieving widower, who builds a novel device to connect with the dead inside a burial shroud. This burial tool installed at his own state-of-the-art though controversial cemetery allows him and his clients to watch their specific departed loved one decompose in real time. Karsh’s revolutionary business is on the verge of breaking into the international mainstream when several graves within his cemetery are vandalized and nearly destroyed, including that of his wife. While he struggles to uncover a clear motive for the attack, the mystery of who wrought this havoc, and why, drive him to reevaluate his business, marriage and fidelity to his late wife’s memory, as well as push him to new beginnings.

Details on Kruger and Pearce’s characters have not been revealed. Cronenberg has said that The Shrouds is “a very personal project for me. People who know me will know parts of it are autobiographical.“

Deadline reports that The Shrouds is set to begin filming in Toronto on May 8th. Saïd Ben Saïd of SBS Productions and Martin Katz of Prospero Pictures, both of whom worked with Cronenberg on Crimes of the Future, are producing. Given that Crimes of the Future only made $4.5 million at the global box office, it’s good to see that they’re still sticking with Cronenberg. Distribution is being handled by SBS International.

Are you Cronenberg fan, and are you looking forward to The Shrouds? What do you think of Vincent Cassel, Diane Kruger, and Guy Pearce leading the cast? Let us know by leaving a comment below.