Back in December we heard that Christoph Waltz had been in cast in David Cronenberg’s upcoming Freudian drama, The Talking Cure, alongside Keira Knightley and Michael Fassbender. Well, it seems that Waltz is now out of the film.
Since Inglourious Basterds, the recent Oscar winner has become much in demand, and so Deadline reports that rather than Talking Cure he’s doing Water For Elephants (where he’s taking over from Sean Penn), the Depression era Circus drama, co-starring Reese Witherspoon and Robert Pattinson. Apparently The Talking Cure filmmakers weren’t too happy about him dropping out, thinking that after Basterds he wouldn’t want to play another sadist, which he will in Water For Elephants.
However, while his departure inititally threatened the entire production, it seems they’ve found a suitable replacement, with Cronenberg reteaming with Eastern Promises star Viggo Mortensen for the film. The former Aragron will star as Freud in Talking Cure, opposite Fassbender as Carl Jung. The movie, based on Christopher Hampton’s play, follows their complicated relationship with a brilliant and beautiful patient, Sabina Spielrein (Knightley), who has been driven mad by her past, and the feud between Freud and his pupil Jung.
A May shoot is planned for the movie.