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Cronenberg seduces
Author: Tim Chapman • Sep 1st, 2005 •Category: Ballardosphere, David Cronenberg, film, sexual politics
Good interview with David Cronenberg in Canada’s Toro Magazine, including a brief exchange on Crash -
What happens when you get an actor who says no to a piece of direction?
I’ve never had that.
There was a problem, wasn’t there, with Elias Koteas doing a gay scene in Crash?
Yeah. But he did it.
What happened there?
I don’t yell and scream. It’s just not my style. It’s always a seduction, always Machiavellian. The one thing I never do is yell. Except once. That was at James Woods [in Videodrome (1983)]. I said, “Will you just stop fucking around and just get out there and say the fucking lines!” You have to understand, though, that Woods is a very smart man, but he got to the point where he was exasperating, and he knew what I was saying when I said it. But with Elias it was odd. It wasn’t homophobia so much as a comment [James] Spader made triggered some cultural aversion to being perceived in a certain way. I think he was testing me to see if he could get out of it. I made him understand that the whole movie was blown if he didn’t do that scene.
The interview also reveals Cronenberg’s likely next project, Martin Amis’ London Fields, and a promising new attitude to critics -
“I’m not actually a violent person but I had to learn to kill with my bare hands to make this movie [A History of Violence ]. So I could now kill a critic, any critic, in seconds. It’d be so fast people wouldn’t know why he dropped to the ground. And I’m tempted to sometimes.”
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It was hardly a ‘gay’ scene, though, was it? A bit of nibbling, was there even any kissing? Then followed by an almighty ramming of cars together. More symbolic than anything…what’s Elias so worried about?
[...] ped to the ground. And I’m tempted to sometimes. full article: TORO Magazine found via Ballardian
09/07/05 - Articles of Interest [...]
i can’t stand homophobic persons but in the culture of Greeks (a thing i share with mr Coteas) homosexuality is very repressed and ofcourse it is a big issue. I’m sure Coteas wasn’t acting as a homophobic, but he was aware of the scene’s negative potential. Us film magazine “Cineaste” reviewed “Crash” and stated that > referring to the penetration and not just kissing of the characters.
For the record, when “Crash” was projected in Athens for a second week, there was a member of the audience that actually shouted at Coteas “Shame on you, man! You are Greek, not homo! Shame on you” - don’t wish to comment more on the subject….