When you arrive in Toronto, you’re likely to go to your hotel in a gangster car. David Cronenberg lives in Toronto, a clean and cold city that look likes American megalopolis.


In Cosmopolis, in competition in Cannes Film Festival, is denouncing the financial world. 

Eric Packer, the main character, is a young billionaire and the most powerful man in New York. He’s doing business in his limo and drives across the city, that’s on the verge of chaos. He’s adapting Don Delillo’s novel for his 20th film. 



David : “You have to betray the book to adapt it because if it’s a literal adaptation, you’re going to fail. You must accept you’re doing a film and you’re not translating a book. You’re making a new thing. It only took me six days to write the script and believe me, it’s a record. You can easily take one year to write a screenplay. But here, 6 days were enough because the novel is already working as a film. The 1st three days, I just copied the dialogues without changing anything but I put it in the form of a screenplay. And then the next 3 days, I filled in the scenes. But after I wrote down the dialogues, I asked myself if it really made a film. And for me the answer is yes. It made a really good film. However, I didn’t change any line in the dialogues. The character played by Juliette Binoche has just one scene in the film but it’s a very long scene in the film. In the book, it’s in her flat in NY but I put the scene in the limo. I thought it was more interesting to put them in a more restrained place. Because he has power, he forces people to come to him and his employees must go in his limo to see him. That’s why in the scene with Juliette, I’d rather see her come to him and he doesn’t come to his flat.

It’s a metaphor. When you’re inside this limo, it’s so luxurious with all these screens, these drinks, this food and there’s even toilets in there. We got everything we want but we aren’t in the real world. In fact, when we’re in the limo, we’re in Eric’s mind. He’s sitting in his own head. It’s similar to being in a submarine, it’s both hostile and foreign. It’s as if he was under water and he could only breathe was inside the limo. If he gets out, he’ll obviously drowns. Throughout the film, he finds out he’s a prisoner and he has absolutely no freedom at all. The blame is not only on the system but it’s as if the system had contaminated his body. From a political point of view, we can say it’s the capitalism that enslaved him. So he looks for darker and more dangerous way to be free. His wife tells him “Free to do what? To be broke and die?” and he answers her “Yes”.

I began thinking about it when I was doing The Fly. I was thinking about Samuel Beckett, an irish playwright whose text are simple and austere. However beyond this austerity and simplicity, there’s a big complexity. That’s what’s interesting for me. I’ve loved the cinema of many directors like Fellini. He made outgoing and voluptuous films but it’s not my temper. I found my own sobriety if we may call it. A kind of austerity, an ascetism. I don’t shoot very much and I do few takes. I don’t multiply the angles. With maturity, you’re more and more confident and we know perfectly what we want and we’re more accurate. We know what’s going to work. So I end up simplifying my filmaking definitively.

I’ve always been on cautious with money but I don’t understand anything. I often read financial press but the words they use are more abstract than Heidegger’s philosophy. We invent money. It doesn’t exist as a natural resource. It comes from society. However , we can’t control it. It has his own life and can destroy people’s. So my relation with money is very simple. I don’t invest money in complex . I’m not interested. I know we can deny money but I try to make it as simple as possible.

mention @:22

A certain Englishman is mentioned at the 1:56 mark

HollywoodLife.com spoke with Project Soulmate co-founder Jennifer Zucher about whether it’s a good idea for Hollywood stars to date and work together — like Robsten and Lea Michele & Cory Monteith!

Kristen Stewart just confessed that she would totally work with Robert Pattinson again. The actress met Rob while shooting Twilight and they’re still together. But is it healthy to date and work with your partner?

Plus, Robsten aren’t the only ones!

Mention begins at 0:50…

Welcome to Thursday Trailer Face-Off, a feature in which we cast a critical eye on two similar upcoming film releases, pitting them against each other across a variety of categories to determine which is most deserving of your two hours. This week: 4:44 Last Day on Earth vs. Cosmopolis, two films by cult directors in which too-cool-for-school city slickers must come to terms with their imminent demises.

Premise
4:44 Last Day on Earth chronicles the final hours of a super cool, loft-dwelling actor-painter couple (played by Willem Dafoe and Shanyn Leigh) as they, along with the rest of human civilization, await the inevitable apocalypse set to occur at 4:44 AM. Cosmopolis, on the other hand, is centered on a hotshot young billionaire named Eric Packer (Robert Pattinson). On his way to the barber, Packer, an asset manager, discovers that some financial missteps will cost him his entire fortune. Oh, yeah, he’s destined to be the victim of assassination, as well. Both films revolve around well-off protagonists, a circumstance that could possibly blunt the emotional impact of each. That being said, our own fictional well-being wouldn’t be at risk in the latter; so why should we care what happens to Edward, er, Eric?
Advantage: 4:44 Last Day on Earth

Director
Abel Ferrara (4:44) is known for his gritty depictions of New York City and violent, self-destructive characters (he really likes killing off leads). Because of this, Ferrara hasn’t broken through to popular directorial heights despite an impressive list of projects, 1992′s Bad Lieutenant being the director’s cinematic peak. Cosmopolis director David Cronenberg has a similar taste for darker themes but has, unlike his counterpart, been able to establish a niche within the mainstream as an artful provocateur. 1986′s The Fly and A History of Violence, Cronenberg’s 2005 drama starring Viggo Mortensen, stand as masterpieces of modern film.
Advantage: Cosmopolis

Lead Actor
One simple question: who would win in a fight, the Green Goblin or a sparkly hipster vampire? That’s what we thought.
Advantage: 4:44 Last Day on Earth

Protagonist Coolness Factor
Willem Dafoe is a successful actor who lives in Manhattan with his artist wife. That’s cool. Pattinson is a 28-year old billionaire with a sweet limo (which you have to admit this one is, even if you don’t like limos), tons of influence, and just about everything he could ever want at his fingertips. The best part: he takes part in his own self-destruction. One billion tearful Willem Dafoe brow-trembles couldn’t even come close.
Advantage: Cosmopolis

Use of New York City
Ferrara’s film captures New York City on the precipice of destruction, the city etched in unnatural contrast during the daytime shots and cloaked in murky darkness at night. Conversely, Cosmopolis emphasizes interior environments (Packer’s luxury limo is a key physical feature of the plot), and because of the film’s singular focus, the camera stays in close proximity to Pattinson, losing sight of the city at large.
Advantage: 4:44 Last Day on Earth

Verdict
Cosmopolis looks like an intriguing vehicle for the maturing Rob Pattinson, and David Cronenberg is an icon behind the camera. Ferrara’s 4:44 Last Day on Earth, however, seems to have the upper hand with its compelling storyline and a proven lead actor-director combo.
Advantage: 4:44 Last Day on Earth