David Cronenberg continues his move away from the downright weird with the announcement that he’s due to bring Don Delillo’s 2003 novel, Cosmopolis, to the big screen. It’s going to be a challenge, as Eric Packer, the 28-year-old multi-millionaire protagonist of the book, is a bit of an asshole, and there’s no straightforward narrative, instead following the character over 24 hours, as he travels across Manhattan (initially to get a haircut) cheating on his wife and getting paranoid someone’s trying to kill him, while also taking in financiers getting murdered, the funeral of a rapper and some violent anti-globalisation protests.
However Cronenberg has shown in the past he’s quite good at taking books that would seem dififcult to film and finding a way to turn them into great movies. That said, we can’t help half-missing the old Cronenberg, who brought us completely mental treats like Videodrome and The Fly, even if A History of Violence and Eastern Promises have been very different but still very good.
The film’s due to start filming next year, although there’s no news yet on when it might appear in cinemas.