Born: 15 March 1943, Canada
Masterpieces: Scanners (1981), The Fly (1986)
Other notable films: Shivers (1975), Rabid (1977), The Brood (1979), Videodrome (1983), The Dead Zone (1983), Dead Ringers (1988), Naked Lunch (1991), Crash (1996), eXistenZ (1999), A History Of Violence (2005)
Mini Bio:
Canadian director David Cronenberg isn't your average film maker. Cronenberg explores themes in his films that other directors dare not touch. As a child he grew up surrounded by books and art, his father was an occasional columnist for the Toronto Telegram and a freelance writer and his mother was a professional pianist. Cronenberg's early interests included science and fiction and went on study science at the University of Toronto. However he later dropped science in favour of English.
After a friend made an ambitious student feature, Cronenberg instantly fell in love with film making. After directing two short films, Transfer (1966) and From The Drain (1967), Cronenberg would go on to form the Canadian Filmmakers Distribution Centre with three other filmmakers. His next project, the 62 minute film Stereo (1969), used funds from a grant he obtained. His follow up, Crimes Of The Future (1970), earned him attention in art film circles.
In the 1970's Cronenberg started his horror film career with Shivers (1975), which launched him as a writer and a director. Next came Rabid (1977) and The Brood (1979), both of which some critics believed were distasteful, but many considered them to be artistic visions.
The 1980's were huge for Cronenberg, whose titles from this era include Scanners (1981, a personal favourite of mine), which is about a certain race of humans who have the ability to take control of peoples minds (even explode them, pictured), and Videodrome (1983), a film about a TV station that gradually turns its viewer's reality into video hallucination. Cronenberg also directed the film adaptation of Stephen King's novel The Dead Zone (1983), remade The Fly (1986) and directed Dead Ringers (1988). Cronenberg was able to deliver a quality of film making and storytelling not often seen in the horror genre, this raised him to international status.
This is kinda how I feel after a day at the production office.
He later went on to direct Naked Lunch (1991), Crash (1996), which won a Special Jury Prize at the Cannes Film Festival, and eXistenZ (1999). His more recent effort A History Of Violence (2005) opened with excellent reviews, confirming that he still has it.
Cronenberg has achieved what other directors only dream of: an international reputation, constant high quality films, and a massive world-wide fan base that await his next film.
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