Director David Cronenberg is back at it again. His specialty, or career focus, of exploring the mechanical nature of sexuality and the more unsavory aspects of human psychology takes a new turn with his latest project The Talking Cure.
Australian distributor Hopscotch Films recently revealed a casting update on its Facebook page. Keira Knightley and Inglourious Basterds actors Christoph Waltz and Michael Fassbender have signed on for starring roles.
Based on the book and play by Christopher Hampton, the film will explore the collaborative relationship and rivalry between two pioneers of psychoanalysis Carl Jung and Sigmund Freud.
Until more details surrounding Cronenberg’s take on Hampton’s play are revealed, it’s difficult to say how Knightley and Waltz will fit in the director’s universe, but this is certainly an expansive subject matter worthy of a creepy psycho-sexual adaptation.
Of Cronenberg’s most notable projects – Naked Lunch, Videodrome, The Fly and Crash (1996) – Dead Ringers comes to mind when reading about The Talking Cure. Jeremy Iron’s befuddling dual performance as twin gynecologists heavily enriched Cronenberg’s disturbing vision of the unraveling of two great minds. And maybe something of that nature will occur onscreen again.
Do you think Knightley is right for a Cronenberg film?