David Cronenberg lashes out at US over anti-abortion laws

By Magdalena Tsanis

Cannes, France, May 24 (EFE).- David Cronenberg on Tuesday criticized the United States, where the Supreme Court is expected to overturn a law that grants women abortion rights.

The Canadian filmmaker was speaking at a press conference for his latest body-horror movie Crimes of the Future at the 75th edition of the Cannes Film Festival.

Competing for the Palme d’Or, Cronenberg’s first film in eight years was welcomed with a six-minute standing ovation during its premiere Monday evening.

The movie, starring Viggo Mortensen, Léa Seydoux, Kristen Stewart and Scott Speedman, is about a future dystopian society where there is no pain and human transformations and mutations are the norm.

The theme of Crimes of the Future, which Cronenberg said he wrote the script for 20 years ago, has become more relevant nowadays, the director said.

“It’s the constant in history, that there’s somewhere in the world that wants to control its population,” Cronenberg said.

“In Canada … we think everybody in the US is completely insane. I think the US has gone completely bananas. I cannot believe that the elected officials are saying the things they are saying there. Not just about Roe v. Wade but everything else,” he added.

Roe v. Wade was a 1973 decision in which the US Supreme Court ruled that the US constitution protects a pregnant woman’s freedom to choose to have an abortion.

“We talk about Putin and the invasion of Ukraine, but then south of the border in Canada we feel the vibrations that are weirdly similar,” Cronenberg continued.

In his vision of the future world, Cronenberg displays objects such as a sarcophagus that serves as an operating table, a uterus-shaped bed hung in the air, and a chair that is responsible for feeding Mortensen.

Mortensen is one of Cronenberg’s frequent collaborators, having teamed up in movies such as A History of Violence, Eastern Promises and A Dangerous Method.

The Danish actor said that Cronenberg’s sense of humor is what he most appreciates about working with him and that he makes actors feel like they are a part of the story.

French actor Léa Seydoux highlighted the freedom she felt while filming with Cronenberg and the pleasure of talking with him, not just about cinema, but “love, life and death.” EFE

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