Cool News
David Cronenberg To Direct Denzel Washington And Tom Cruise In THE MATARESE CIRCLE!
Beaks here...
David Cronenberg's transition to A-list studio filmmaker is complete: according to The Hollywood Reporter, the man who once stuck a vagina under Marilyn Chambers's armpit will direct Denzel Washington and Tom Cruise in MGM's THE MATARESE CIRCLE.
Adapted from the Robert Ludlum novel by WANTED screenwriters Derek Haas and Michael Brandt, THE MATARESE CIRCLE centers on an unlikely partnership between two longtime rival spies who're brought together to bring down an "international circle of killers" called "The Kelly Affair" "The Matarese". Denzel will play Brandon Scofield of the CIA; Cruise is "in final negotiations" to co-star as Russian operative Vasili Taleniekov.
In terms of scale, this will unquestionably be the biggest film Cronenberg has ever directed. Visually, I can't wait to see what he does with this material. How will his icy precision translate to a big-budget action picture? I imagine his film will be the stylistic antithesis to what Paul Greengrass did with the BOURNE series, but I'm wondering about pace. Though Cronenberg has never been a plodding storyteller, he's never moved at a breakneck clip either. Should be interesting to see how he reconciles his controlling tendencies with the commercial demands of a franchise movie.
THE MATARESE CIRCLE was followed in print by THE MATARESE COUNTDOWN. I bet MGM has plans for more than one sequel.
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Jeez dude....
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"i'M GOING TO RIP BRUNDLEFLY'S HEAD OFF!"
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Good for all involed parties.
LINCOLN 09 FTW! -
And we thought him playing a German without an accent sucked...
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HAd some pretty good action in it and old Creepy Cronenberg pulled it off just fine. I'd actually like to see him do a superhero movie, something like Moon Knight or even Preacher.
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Would have been to cast Viggo as the Russian. But whatever, Cruise might be a douche, but i can still enjoy his screen presence and he is talented. Really excited for this.
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I'm actually surprised Cronenberg didn't tap Mortenson for the role, who I thought would've been a 100x better than Cruise in Valkyrie. Does Cruise even have drawing power like that anymore? Can he even act anymore? I didn't even like the cameo in Tropic Thunder. Scientologists must have some serious pull.
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My first gig on a film set was as a PA on Cronenberg's CRASH. I could walk to work for some locations because much of it was shot in the slummy student areas of Toronto, where I lived at the time.
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Even his more mainstream recent releases have been inventive twists on their respective genres, and the man sure knows how to crawl under the audience's skin and fuck their minds. James Wood's ChestVagina-VHS-player still tops it for me. And in Rabid I believe it was a retractable penis spike sheathed within a vagina under her armpit -- but I'll shut up now...
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Actually made me sick to my stomach, it's the only movie to make me do that. Just every frame of that flick makes me want to squirm.
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This film makes me nervous. Denzel= meh. Hopefuly this gets cronen an oscar. fuck the academy.
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it's good to see Cruise getting back to business instead of jumping on couches and creeping everyone out. Plus a very talented director doing an espionage thriller...right up my alley. At the very least the cinematography will be ten times better then the handheld crap in the Bourne movies.
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now Viggo is to Cronenberg what Bruce Campbell is to Sam Raimi :(
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Annoying on multiple levels, in fact.
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Feb 11, 2009 9:20:45 PM CST
Hollywood, stop working with Closeted Gay Cult Member...
by filmcritic3000
You're only encouraging the falsehood that people want to watch Xenu Boy in movies.
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Perhaps Bryan Singer is on the phone to Cronenberg as we speak, warning him about the great misfortune that may await him...
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this will lead to some high-dollar weirdness on down the line
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television is reality, and reality is less than television
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He plays Tom in every role.
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was better than any of the shit nominated for Best Picture. It was an old-school war time thriller "Day of the Jackal" sort of deal. Plus, you could actually sympathize with Von Stauffenberg and his crew, as opposed to "The Reader" which demands we see the humanity in a pedophilic Nazi bitch. And beware of the "Slumdog Millionaire" brigade. The scene where the little kid is covered in shit is perfect visual metaphor for how I felt watching that overrated hunk of drivel.
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...but it sure smells good!
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Can't wait.
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Talk about one-note actors. Denzel makes Tommy look like De Niro.
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Some talkbackers are wanting to already do some revisionism, trying to convince people that Valkyrie sucked. It was a decent flick, Cruise was perfectly acceptable in it, and only children would not understand why pretend accents are unnecessary in that movie.
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Cronenberg has never made a sequel, unless you count his writing credits on Scanners II and III.
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Feb 11, 2009 10:37:55 PM CST
denzel wasn't the same in malcom, or inside, or training
by ironic_name
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Seeing as how he is one of the most successful actors ever. I think he is a freak wierdo in his personal life, but I could care less. He's made some damn fine movies in his career...in fact almost all of his movies have been pretty fuckin good. So sue me if I'd like to see him make some more good movies.
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So the guy jumps on a couch and looks to the stars a bit too much and we're supposed to forget about Risky Business, Born on the 4th of July, A Few Good Men, The Firm, Jerry Maguire, Top Gun, Mission Impossible, Magnolia, Vanilla Sky, Collateral, and Tropic Thunder?? Tom Cruise aint going to win an oscar anytime soon, but he knows how to entertain.
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...that was a penis. Rabid. Watch it, it's good. Not quite The Brood good, but good.
And Cronenberg rules. -
I mentioned that in my above post, and I'm not being snarky, but thank you for proving my memory isn't totally fucked.
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and then you have something worth seeing.
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Don't forget Rain Man, the Color of Money, Interview w/ a Vampire...Hell even his "bad" movies aren't bad, just disappointing...
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Probably not, since Countdown takes place about 15-20 years after Circle, and the KGB agent dies at the end of Circle to save Scofield.
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I miss the old Cronenberg. The guy who wasn't afraid to put anything from the deepest darkest recesses of his imagination on the screen. Don't get me wrong this flick sounds like 15 different kinds of awesome. And I really enjoyed history of Violence but I didn't care much for Easter Promises
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Woops, spoiler above.
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sooo is this gonna be PG-13 because if it is I'm gonna go into a nerd rage.
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What about Viggo?
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is as good as his German.
That's a joke, of course. -
before you come out with such an absolute, you have to be absolutely sure dude. I for one think Cruise is intense in life and no more offensive than any person who believes that their imaginary god is the true one. Fact..... Cruise consistently chooses risky roles with the best directors in the biz. His only flop of late was a great little film by Robert Redford of which his scenes were the best. His performances in Born on the 4th of July, and Magnolia are mindblowing. So uh I guess my point is that as long as this guy keeps up this record of class(and if this rumour is true he will) I'll be their to watch some kickass films. By being so insular you are ignorant about this guys superior filmography
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talk about a drunken rant!
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What about Viggo? Viggo Mortenson is perfect for the Russian Operative. What in heck is MGM thinking? Viggo not TOm Cruise. Don't get me wrong I'm a big Cruise fan and I think he's a good actor but c'mon Viggo should be the guy. I admired his performance in Eastern Promises and I love the collaboration he and Cronenberg has developed. Hate to see them not do a picture together.
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Wasn't there talk of Cronenberg directing Tom Cruise in a remake of Nacho Vigalondo's Timecrimes? I'm conflicted on the idea of a remake of it, frankly. I loved Nacho's film. If more people had gotten to see it, there wouldn't be any need for a remake. But I want to see Nacho do SOOOO many more films. A high profile remake of his work could get him the attention he deserves and some cache' to be allowed to do more original projects. Also, in terms of directors, you could do a lot worse than Cronenberg for Timecrimes. So is that going to happen? Or can we just give Nacho some money for his next feature now?
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Pretty curious how Cronenberg handles the big budget.
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Cruise's cameo in Tropic Thunder was genius. He totally pulled that off and it was one of the most talked about parts of the film. Funny as hell. Off screen I can't stand Cruise. He's totally full of himself and he acts like a total dork. But on screen the guy is pretty good.
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I'm with the above poster. I miss the crazy deformity obsessed Cronenberg. History of violence was ok, nothing special IMO, but Eastern Promises was an absolute waste.
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He really has worked with the best. As much as I enjoy Cronenberg lately, I'd really love to see a new Videodrome or Dead Ringers-type thing from him.
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Now that would be cool news.
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Cronenberg can do know wrong in my eyes...I will be there day 1.
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But Cronenberg doing big budget action flick with Washington and Cruise as Russian sounds interesting. While I don't want to see Cronenberg wasting time on junk like this, if hollywood is going to keep on making junk like this, I wanna see guys like Cronenberg helming them.
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Connery, Ford... anyone could do it better!
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It's not because he jumped on a couch, it's because he believes he's going to end up on the planet Splarg as a contempory of the great alien god Zorg. Cruise is an absolute wacko.
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Sorry, I wasn't reading any posts closely, I was in a rush, and I really wanted to clear up any Cronenberg falsities. Good to hear there is another out there who has seen Rabid.
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I met Jennifer Jason Lee not long after eXistenZ was released, while I worked at a crappy job in a small town. She wandered in, and I stammered, "You were excellent in eXistenZ, and that was a great film." She replied, "I didn't think anyone saw that."
Yep, I love me some Cronenberg. -
Go on Tom - sign on! This could be the most interesting 10 years of your career coming up right now...
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Cronenbg is much better off leaving the juvenile twisted creepiness behind and doing some serious quality films. Cruise is decent enough at acting, but yeah Viggo would have been a great kgb agent. He was the best russian mobster ever. Cruise probably came attached though.
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Just rewatched Poltergeist last night, and seeing the MGM lion at the beginning of a big movie felt like a relic. What, are they down to three movies a year now? Oh, and Eastern Promises was brilliant, balls and all.
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He pulled it off quite nicely in Eastern Promises. Fantastic movie by the way.
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. . . Cruise has worked with. That's one fucking impressive list. Now he gets to add Cronenberg. What are the odds Woody ever gives him a call?
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The only person that can make me stay away from a film, regardless of director, and this will be no exception. P.S. "Juvenile twisted creepiness" is a pretty philistine view of the movies he's made for the last 35 years.
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Cronenberg? And Denzel? And Cruise? That is just odd. But I guarantee it'll be one hell of a ride.
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And death to Videodrome. Long live the new flesh.
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Worst Irish accent ever!
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"I will bring a special for both of you!" "Thank you, Chinese Waiter!" Haha, eXistenZ is hillarious. Oh, and I keep seeing everyone say "Viggo should be the Russian", and as good as he was in EP, does anyone really want him to keep repeating the same performance in Cronenberg movies? "Oh, who did he play in this one?" "Another Russian" "....oh." I dunno. Don't get me wrong. I really hope the Cronenberg/Viggo partnership continues (especially when/if David decides to go back towards some classic body horror), but it'd be like if in every Burton movie Johnny Depp played an aloof/eccentric weirdo -- oh wait!
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They should all begin with "The Littlest;" so The Last Samurai becomes The Littlest Samurai, this movie becomes The Littlest KGB Agent, Top Gun becomes The Littlest Pilot, and All the Right Moves becomes The Littlest Cornerback.
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Valkyrie = The Littlest Nazi.
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share the screen with denzel. it'd boost your career plus they'd think you're a great actor. that seems to be the lesson now. travolta is doing it, and now tom cruise.
btw, cruise must be desperate now to be willing to share a screen with someone as big a name as he is. he usually is a one man show and doesn't share poster space. -
(that was cut)with Cruise in Jerry McGuire in "Too Fat To Fish". Cruise comes off as a total asshole. Will I not see a movie with him because of it? No. But its an interesting look at the "star" mentality that affects some.Now in this case, wouldn't it be more interesting with Washington cast as the Russian?
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would've been totally weird and great. But after History of Violence and Eastern Promises, I'm ready to be signed up for anything Cronenberg. It'll still have his stamp on it. I'm not the biggest fan of Cruise the actor, but for some reason, I could picture him pulling this off.
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Robert fucking LUDLAM? the writers of fucking WANTED? I dont get it.
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LIVES OF THE MONSTER DOGS by Kirsten Bakis. A mad prussian scientist and his followers spend decades in a secret town in the Canadian arctic creating a race of intelligent human like dogs for military purposes only to be massacred by the dogs who make their way to the known world and become strange celebrities in NYC untill an illness begins to drive them all mad.
History is a story of death.
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Cronenberg doing weird, shit-ass movies like Rabid, The Brood and, especially, Videodrome. If he wants to make Hollywood thrillers now, God bless him, but there was a time when his name on a movie meant we were in for a total mind fuck. I'd be curious to know why he decided to go in a more commercial direction. Was it money? I don't blame him if it was, dogs need dog food, mortgage companies need checks, but it is a shame. Nobody else's movies made me rear my head back on my neck as much.
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Feb 12, 2009 9:00:48 PM CST
between this and Candyland, I feel the universe is conning me...
by badmrwonka
seriously...is Steven Soderbergh going to direct an episode of Gossip Girl next? what in the holy fuck is going on!??!
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was better and more fleshed out than Ludlum's Matarese Circle. If anyone is fan of The Matarese Circle would do themselves a favor by looking this series up. It's a good read.
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and have all but forgotten about Naked Lunch. Talk about a mind fuck. Remember though, Cronenberg's first film was about auto racing and he did direct M Butterfly. At least we should rejoice that the man is attracting A-list talent and making major films, as opposed to Carpenter, who seems more concerned with selling off property and playing videogames, or George Romero who is stuck in his zombie rut.
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Feb 14, 2009 2:47:52 AM CST
a big budget Videodrome sequel with Denzel Washington...
by the amazing g
directed by Cronenberg of course, I'D BUY THAT FOR A MOTHERFUCKING DOLLAR!!!!!!!!
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