David Cronenberg isn’t rushing to be the first one at the theater to see the latest blockbuster.
During a recent chat with Jim Jarmusch for Interview Magazine, the director-writer-actor, known as a leader of the body horror genre, shared that he doesn’t prefer the communal experience of going to the movies.
After noting that part of the reason was because he watches “everything with subtitles” due to his hearing and that “parking is not so great in Toronto,” he expanded on why he “stopped going to the cinema many years ago.”
“I only see movies in real theaters every once in a while, mostly at film festivals, and I’ve found that the projection isn’t always so great,” Cronenberg explained. “I remember being in Venice onstage with Spike Lee and some others. He was talking about the Cathedral of Cinema, the whole religious aspect of it. And I said, ‘Spike, I’m watching Lawrence of Arabia on my watch, and there are a thousand camels there. I can see every one of them.’ I was joking, but what I meant was, I don’t find the cinema experience all that great. Maybe it’s because I’m older. I don’t feel that communal thing.”
The Shrouds filmmaker is also seemingly thrilled that filmmaking technology has progressed over the years, allowing for more creative control.
“I do find that people talking about streaming can be very passionate in the way that we were passionate in the movie theater after we saw a film,” Cronenberg said. “So it’s different, but I don’t think it’s worse. I also don’t miss working with film. The cutting and editing was a nightmare for me. It was very restrictive. You have so much more control now. And of course, we are control freaks to a certain extent, if you’re making a film.”
He added, “I have nostalgia for the old films, but I don’t have that Spielberg-esque need to actually shoot on film.”
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