I was struck by the surety ofAntiviralas a debut.
Was that the case behind the scenes, or were you quite nervous about your first feature?
Um, I dont know I kind of forget actually.
It was both nerve-racking and weird.
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How did you go about casting Caleb Landry Jones, because hes great.
Yeah, I love Caleb.
You know, hes a nuanced physical actor, and he had some exciting weird thing about him.
We both had a long talk, and we were both very happy with each other, I think.
I never had to push him.
He would always push himself sometimes further than we were comfortable with.
He treads the line, doesnt he, in that hes a quite amoral character.
So was that something you explored in the edit?
He was always that character.
He was complex, funny, maybe a little more wise-crack-y.
He was always an antihero, though.
It almost becomes a monster movie, where hes the creature, in a way.
He reminded me of Richard the Third.
That hunched, disturbing presence.
Its like some of the silent movies, people keep saying.
That body language, that physical nuance.
The concept is fascinating.
I read somewhere that it might be inspired by Sarah Michelle Gellar.
[Laughs] It was practically a documentary at that point.
But we were already done shooting by then.
So where did the inspiration for it come from?
It started with an interesting disease, I guess.
I was sick with the flu, and I had this fever dream.
So afterwards, I was trying to think about a character who might see disease as an intimate thing.
And then it developed into a metaphor, which I thought was an interesting way of discussing that culture.
Do you think celebrity cultures changed?
That we dont have Hollywood idols anymore, but are obsessed over celebrities at a more base level?
I think theres always been a bit of that, even when they were idols.
Im talking about celebrity obsession as a broader human impulse the saints, say.
But the mania that surrounds them, in the sense that theyre deified, is huge still.
So theres that dual impulse to elevate them and to rip them to pieces.
What has really changed is the rate at which we consume media.
It produces celebrity extremely quickly.
Because she became visible; she became famous for being famous.
So I think the rate of that is increasing, and that industry is becoming increasingly insular.
The system can produce the celebrities, make a huge amount of money, then discard them.
There are no books.
Nobody seems to own anything.
Was that your intention?
And the celebrities note that theres never any discussion of why theyre famous.
Its just this entirely insular world that is unrelated to anything besides fame.
I was trying to think of the various ways that people could make money out of celebrities.
The character Levine says, Were all rats here.
Were all scavenging the bin.
Because to have power over them will elevate them somehow.
Its voyeurism, a power that comes from being on the invasive side of the equation.
Were you hinting at a certain element of hatred, as well, from the public toward celebrities?
Where beneath the adulation, theres also resentment?
Theres resentment, for sure.
Theres resentment and also theres the fantasy of being them.
One of the lines in the film is celebrity is a collaboration and it is.
People become famous because theyre visible, and if theyre visible, other people make money out of them.
We choose to participate in that culture.
You grew up with a celebrity of a different kind, of course.
Did growing up with a world-famous film director feed into your film as well?
Yeah, for sure.
How much do you think your fathers films have influenced your filmmaking?
The ones I have seen, Ive mostly seen once.
I cant see them neutrally.
Hes my father, so Im very influenced by him in that sense.
His influence is all over the place, isnt it?
The day before I sawAntiviral, coincidentally, I rewatched the Japanese filmTetsuo.
Yes, andBody Hammer,too, the second one.
But you might see that influence.
It goes round and round.
It becomes part of the culture.
Where can you see your career going next?
This is obviously just an early step for you.
I hope I can make another film.
It actually came out today in Canada, so Im not sure how its done.
But at least its been getting into some decent festivals.
Do you think youll continue along the same vein, which fuses elements of horror and science fiction?
Probably, a bit.
I wasnt specifically trying to work within one particular genre when I was making this film.
Its several different genres at once, isnt it?
It tips over into detective or hard-boiled territory at one point.
We tried to go a bit noir with it.
It wont be space ships.
Itll be light sci-fi with some horror stuff, depending on how it goes Im not totally sure yet.
Weve had a real renaissance in science fiction lately in any case Looper,Safety Not Guaranteedand so on.
It can be a very useful tool for examining human society.
If it were offered, could you imagine going down a more mainstream route?
Could you imagine being part of the Hollywood superhero movie system?
I dont think so.
And beyond that, you have so much money that you start to lose control.
I was fortunate enough to have a lot of control over this film.
I wouldnt want to make a studio film because Im not confident that Id have control over it.
Maybe that changes when you have a long career and youre well established, but its all about control.
Brandon Cronenberg, thank you very much.
Antiviralis out now in selected UK cinemas, with its home release to follow on the 11th February.
