David Paul Cronenberg CC OOnt (born March 15, 1943) is a Canadian film director, screenwriter, producer and actor.

[1] He is a principal originator of the body horror genre, with his films exploring visceral bodily transformation, infectious diseases, and the intertwining of the psychological, physical, and technological.

[6] From the 2000s to the 2020s, Cronenberg collaborated on several films with Viggo Mortensen, including A History of Violence (2005), Eastern Promises (2007), A Dangerous Method (2011) and Crimes of the Future (2022).

[13] A voracious reader from an early age, Cronenberg started off enjoying science fiction magazines like The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction, Galaxy, and Astounding, where he first encountered authors who would prove influential on his own work, including Ray Bradbury and Isaac Asimov, although he wouldn't encounter his primary influence, Philip K. Dick, until much later.

[14][15] Cronenberg also read horror comics published by EC, which in contrast to the others, he described as "scary and bizarre and violent and nasty—the ones your mother didn't want you to have.

He also cited less obvious films as influences, including comedies like The Bed Sitting Room, as well as Disney cartoons such as Bambi and Dumbo.

[17] Cronenberg said he found these two Disney animated films, as well as Universal's live-action Blue Lagoon, "terrifying" which influenced his approach to horror.

[19] Cronenberg even wished to screen Bambi as part of a museum exhibition of his influences, but Disney refused him permission.

[23] Cronenberg, Ivan Reitman, Bob Fothergill, and Iain Ewing were inspired by Jonas Mekas and formed the Toronto Film Co-op.

[7] During this period, he focused on his signature "body horror" films such as Shivers (1975) and Rabid (1977), the latter of which provided pornographic actress Marilyn Chambers with work in a different genre, although Cronenberg's first choice for the role had been a then little-known Sissy Spacek.

Even then, he showed variety by making Fast Company (1979) between The Brood and Rabid, a project reflecting his interest in car racing and bike gangs.

Janet Maslin of The New York Times remarked on the film's "innovativeness", and praised Woods' performance as having a "sharply authentic edge".

Other regular collaborators include actor Robert A. Silverman, art director Carol Spier (also his sister) sound editor Bryan Day, film editor Ronald Sanders, his sister, costume designer Denise Cronenberg, and, from 1979 until 1988, cinematographer Mark Irwin.

Perhaps the best example of a film that straddles the line between Cronenberg's works of personal chaos and psychological confusion is his 1991 "adaptation" of Naked Lunch (1959), his literary hero William S. Burroughs' most controversial book.

The novel was considered "unfilmable", and Cronenberg acknowledged that a straight translation into film would "cost 400 million dollars and be banned in every country in the world".

But, in fact, when I look at a person I see this maelstrom of organic, chemical and electron chaos; volatility and instability, shimmering; and the ability to change and transform and transmute.

[30] In 2008, Cronenberg realized two extra-cinematographic projects: the exhibition Chromosomes at the Rome Film Fest, and the opera The Fly at the LaOpera in Los Angeles and Theatre Châtelet in Paris.

In July 2010, Cronenberg completed production on A Dangerous Method (2011), an adaptation of Christopher Hampton's play The Talking Cure, starring Keira Knightley, Michael Fassbender, Vincent Cassel, and frequent collaborator Viggo Mortensen.

[39] In a May 2016 interview, Viggo Mortensen revealed that Cronenberg is considering retiring due to difficulty financing his film projects.

[47] One of Cronenberg's earliest unproduced film concepts was Roger Pagan, Gynecologist, about a neurotic man who impersonates a medical expert.

In the early 1980s Cronenberg attempted to make a film adaption of Mary Shelley's Frankenstein that took place in the modern day.

[49] Cronenberg wrote an original script for Universal after Videodrome titled Six Legs, but the film was never made although aspects were incorporated into The Fly and Naked Lunch.

[56][57] In the mid-1990s, he was attached to direct a version of American Psycho, with a screenplay adaptation by the author himself Bret Easton Ellis and with Brad Pitt starring in the role of Patrick Bateman.

Cronenberg's vision of the film would have concluded with a musical number involving Barry Manilow's "Daybreak" and Bateman on the World Trade Center.

[58] In 1999, Cronenberg was reportedly interested in taking the helm of Charlie Kaufman's adaptation of Confessions of Dangerous Mind, with Sean Penn at that time circling to star.

[59] The following year, he was circling to direct Basic Instinct 2 for which he had a "good script" and Rupert Everett in the lead, but MGM said no because the actor is gay.

[61] For a time it appeared that, as Eastern Promises producer Paul Webster told Screen International, a sequel was in the works that would reunite the key team of Cronenberg, Steven Knight, and Viggo Mortensen.

[64] In the October 2011 edition of Rue Morgue, Cronenberg stated that he has written a companion piece to his 1986 remake of The Fly, which he would like to direct if given the chance.

"[70][71] In Cronenberg's later films (e.g. A History of Violence, Eastern Promises and A Dangerous Method) openly religious characters become more common.

[86] The opening of the "David Cronenberg: Evolution" Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) exhibition occurred on October 30, 2013.