While many filmmakers throughout the last century have come to view entry into the Cannes Film Festival as the pinnacle of talent — a forum where the best of the best can unveil their work on a global scale — 81 year-old Canadian horror master David Cronenberg understands that it’s not without its tradeoffs. Premiering his latest project, “The Shrouds,” there back in May, Cronenberg was met with a relatively tepid response (though our own review listed it as a Critic’s Pick). As he continued to screen the film at TIFF in his home country and now in the U.S. at the New York Film Festival last week, favor around the film has warmed. As reported on by Deadline, while speaking at Alice Tully Hall following the film’s screening, Cronenberg admitted that the Cannes audience didn’t quite respond to “The Shrouds” in the way that he intended.
“They didn’t get the movie, partly because of the language and cultural things and the fact that maybe people felt if they laughed it was being disrespectful or something,” Cronenberg said. “It’s the pressure of the Cannes Film Festival. We didn’t get the kind of laughs that I knew we would get, let’s say, at the Toronto Film Festival or that we would get here.”
Explaining how “life without humor” is not something he would wish to face, Cronenberg discussed how that philosophy extends into his filmmaking, especially in relation to the stresses that come about during production.
“To me, movies are children playing in a sandbox. You can get so serious about it because of the money, because of the time pressure,” Cronenberg said, adding, “I heard that an Ingmar Bergman set was actually hilarious and a lot of laughs. … That makes sense to me because the seriousness goes into the filmmaking.”
Cronenberg went on to speak about his own personal relationship with his material, explaining that his art can address tragedies and events from his own life while still standing on its own.
“Art is absolutely not therapy,” said Cronenberg to the crowd at Alice Tully Hall. “It is not therapeutic. It’s something else, but it’s not that.”
For him, creating that level of separation allowed him to approach “The Shrouds” on a tactical level rather than an emotional one.
“It’s the craft of screenwriting that preoccupies you, not your grief or your sadness. Then when you’re making the movie, it’s the same thing,” Cronenberg said. “The you as a craftsperson takes over. … And that’s the distance that you have and I think you have to have.”
“The Shrouds” has been acquired by Sideshow and Janus films for U.S. distribution and will be released theatrically Spring 2025.
