With each new trailer, clip, or image from David Cronenberg’s Cosmopolis, I’ve become more intrigued and eager to check the film out.  We’ve seen a few trailers teasing the seriously trippy and surreal world that Cronenberg has created, and I’m interested to see Pattinson shine in a role that doesn’t ask him to brood for 120 minutes.  For those unfamiliar with the film, Pattinson plays a successful banker whose entire life unravels over the course of a single day.  These images give us more looks at Pattinson’s character, as well as supporting players Jay Baruchel, Samantha Morton, Paul Giamatti and Kevin Durand.

Hit the jump to check out the images.  Cosmopolis will premiere at the Cannes Film Festival, which runs from May 16 – 25th.

Before Paul Verhoeven cranked out Total Recall in 1990, producer Dino De Laurentiis approached David Cronenberg to direct the feature.  The project never came to fruition because Cronenberg’s vision never coincided with De Laurentiis’.  The two parted ways, Cronenberg went on to make The Fly, and Verhoeven made a movie where a woman has three boobs.  Wins all around.

But the question of “What If?” is always fascinating, and we’ve never had a chance to see what Cronenberg was planning until now.  Artist Ron Miller and his wife Judith Miller worked at De Laurentiis’ studio outside Rome, and the duo produced concept art and sculptures under the direction of production designer Pierluigi Basile (1982′s Conan the Barbarian).  Ron Miller has now released some of the designs he and his wife created along with some details on how Cronenberg planned to adapt the source material, Philip K. Dick‘s short story “We Can Remember It For You Wholesale”.  Hit the jump for more.

The first trailers for David Cronenberg‘s adaptation of Don DeLillo‘s novel Cosmopolis have been delightfully intense.  The movie looks like a return to the strange and surreal for Cronenberg, and a huge departure for star Robert Pattinson.  For those unfamiliar with the film, Pattinson plays a successful banker whose entire life unravels over the course of a single day.  In advance of the film’s debut at the Cannes Film Festival, the first clip has gone online.  It’s as bizarre as the trailers have led us to believe, and the dialogue definitely seems to have the odd, detached style of DeLillo’s writing.  I’m now even more anxious to see how Cannes reacts to the picture.

Hit the jump to check out the clip.  The film also stars Sarah Gadon, Kevin Durand, Jay Baruchel, Samantha Morton, Juliette Binoche, Paul Giamatti, and Mathieu Amalric.  The 2012 Cannes Film Festival runs from May 16 – 25th. [Update: We have added a new trailer and two more clips.]

The full line-up for the 2012 Cannes Film Festival has been announced, and there are some heavy hitting debuts making their premieres.  As we’ve previously reported, Wes Anderson‘s Moonrise Kingdom will open the festival.  This year’s Cannes will also include Cosmopolis (directed by David Cronenberg), The Paperboy (from Precious director Lee Daniels), Lawless (from The Road director John Hillcoat), Killing Them Softly (from The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford director Andrew Dominik), Mud (from Take Shelter director Jeff Nichols), Rust & Bone (from A Prophet director Jacques Audiard) and On the Road (from The Motorcycle Diaries director Walter Salles).

Click on the corresponding link for more on each film, and hit the jump for the full line-up.  The 65th Cannes Film Festival runs from May 16 – 25th.

Last month, we showed you a brief trailer for David Cronenberg‘s adaptation of Don DeLillo‘s Cosmopolis, which featured a potentially surprising and exciting turn from star Robert Pattinson.  In the film, Pattinson plays a newlywed billionaire who ends up losing his bride and his billions in a single day.  Two full trailers have now gone online, and Cronenberg is the star of both.  Pattinson still looks good, but these trailers show off a David Cronenberg surrealism we haven’t seen in some time.   And judging by these trailers, it’s very good to have it back.

Hit the jump to check out the trailers.  The film also stars Sarah Gadon, Kevin Durand, Jay Baruchel, Samantha Morton, Juliette Binoche, Paul Giamatti, and Mathieu Amalric.  Cosmopolis will premiere next month at the Cannes Film Festival.

With Gary Ross’ non-return to direct the follow up of his blockbuster film, The Hunger Games, Lionsgate turned to a wish-list of directors that included David Cronenberg, Alfonso Cuaron and Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu.  While those names were merely placeholders for a director with an arrow’s chance in Panem at getting the job (something we waxed poetic about in our recent podcast), two more names have cropped up that seem to have a bit more validity to them.  Reportedly, some conversations have already taken place with directors Bennett Miller (Moneyball) and Francis Lawrence (Constantine) to helm the sequel, Catching Fire.  Hit the jump for more on these potential candidates.

David Cronenberg is one of the greatest working directors, of that there is little question. But for those who’ve been following his work since the beginning, his career has taken a turn for the respectable. It’s easy to suggest that he’s holding back the weird for the sake of possible Oscar glory (which was denied him here) watching something like A Dangerous Method. But there’s enough perversity and intelligence in the film to mark it as a Cronenberg movie, even if it doesn’t go all out. Michael Fassbender stars as Carl Jung, who takes in Sabina Spielrein (Keira Knightley) under the suggestion of Sigmund Freud (Viggo Mortensen). From there, things get weird. Our review of the Blu-ray of A Dangerous Method follows after the jump.

Well this took a little longer than expected.  Following Sunday’s news that Gary Ross will not be returning to direct the Hunger Games sequel, Catching Fire, the first “shortlist” story has now surfaced online.  Lionsgate has to begin filming Catching Fire by August in order to have Jennifer Lawrence wrapped in time to be on the set for Fox’s X-Men: First Class sequel in January (there’s also that November 2013 release date for Catching Fire that’s looming).

Given the short prep time, I assumed the studio would be going for a journeyman director to get in and get things done quickly and succinctly.  Thankfully, it appears that’s not the case as the studio has shortlisted a few creatively exciting choices for Ross’ replacement: David Cronenberg, Alfonso Cuaron, and Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu.  Hit the jump for more.

In this week’s opening paragraph I want to use a few lines to encourage reader feedback. The “Top 5″ weekly feature has been up and running since May of 2011 and has undergone very few presentation and/or aesthetic changes along the way. Because I’m thrilled when you, the reader, chooses to spend a few weekend minutes with me, I want to make sure that I’m consistently delivering something you look forward to checking out. That said, I invite any and all “Top 5″ feedback be e-mailed to me directly at colliderjason@gmail.com. Don’t worry, constructive criticism isn’t required. We could all use a good “you suck because you suck” sentiment to keep us honest every now and then.

Awaiting you in this week’s “Top 5″ is a slew of interviews for The Hunger Games, a recap of Michael Bay‘s campaign to turn Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles into aliens so as to make them more believable (yes, you read that right), a NSFW international teaser trailer for David Cronenberg‘s Cosmopolis, a sparkling new Prometheus trailer, and all of our WonderCon 2012 coverage. In case you don’t know the drill, I’ll remind you that a brief recap and link to each follows after the jump.

A NSFW international teaser trailer has gone online for David Cronenberg‘s Cosmopolis.  The teaser provides the first look at the tone of the film, and more importantly, Robert Pattinson‘s performance in it.  In Cosmopolis, Pattinson plays a newlywed billionaire who ends up losing his bride and his billions in a single day.  Even when Pattinson isn’t doing Twilight, he’s hewed towards romantic dramas with Remember Me and Water for Elephants.  However, as Twilight draws to a close, his upcoming films will perhaps provide him with the necessary escape velocity to get away from Edward Cullen.  In Bel Ami, he plays a character who fucks his way up the social ladder of 1890s Paris, and in Cosmopolis, his character purposely shoots himself in the hand.  I can take or leave Bel Ami, but Cosmopolis looks pretty great, and I’m eager to see Pattinson break free of his famous mopey vampire.

Hit the jump to check out the trailer.  The film, based on the novel by Don DeLillo, also stars Sarah Gadon, Kevin Durand, Jay Baruchel, Samantha Morton, Juliette Binoche, Paul Giamatti, and Mathieu Amalric.  Cosmopolis will likely open sometime this year. [Update: We've added a new poster for the film after the jump.]

David Cronenberg is teaming up with Media Rights Capital for a new television drama, Knifeman.  The story sounds like just the sort of thing that would lure the only director listed on the Wikipedia page for “body horror”: “[Knifeman] centers on the trials and triumphs of a radical, self-educated surgeon delivering a visceral portrait of the extraordinary and unorthodox lengths he will go to uncover the secrets of the human body.”  The book is based on the Wendy Moore novel The Knife Man, a biography about 18th century surgeon John Hunter.  THR mentions neither Hunter nor his century, so I wonder if this is a modern-day adaptation inspired by Hunter.  I hope not.  The period tale sounds much more interesting than your typical medical drama, and makes enough sense for Cronenberg coming on the heels of the A Dangerous Method, a biopic about Sigmund Freud and Carl Jung.

Cronenberg will direct the pilot, and stay on as executive producer.  Rolin Jones will script Knifeman based on a story he developed with his fellow Friday Night Lights writer Ron Fitzgerald.  Hit the jump for a synopsis of Moore’s book.

With less than two weeks left in 2011, it’s time to set our sights on movies that will be opening in 2012. Since the coming year is releasing a ton of big budget movies that will dominate media coverage, we thought we’d take a moment to highlight some of the lesser known fare that will be gracing the screens over the  next twelve months. We’ve got some new posters that will be a first look at these projects for some of you and a gentle reminder for others. First up is the superhero “found footage” thriller Chronicle by director Josh Trank (The Kill Point). Trank’s cinematic directorial debut features three teenagers who become imbued with superpowers and how those abilities darken their lives. Next, from David Cronenberg (A Dangerous Method) comes Cosmopolis, starring Robert Pattinson (Twilight). The adaptation of the Don DeLillo’s novel by the same name follows a young billionaire (Pattinson) as his limo traverses Manhattan in search of a haircut (not making this up). Finally, the animated Rise of the Guardians, which has the most charming poster in my opinion, is based off of the “Guardians of Childhood” book series by William Joyce and features childhood legends teaming up to take on the Boogeyman. Hit the jump to check out the posters.

[This is a reprint of my review from the 2011 Toronto International Film Festival.  A Dangerous Method opens tomorrow in limited release.]

Psychoanalysis is a funny profession. Its doctors aren’t like cardiologists or gastroenterologists. Your heart is your heart, your intestines are your intestines, and so forth. Psychoanalysis, on the other hand, attempt to impose rationality on the irrationality of emotions. It works from a vague definition of “normal” and then tries to determine why a behavior deviates from that unspecified norm. Sigmund Freud believed it was not the place of psychoanalysts to simply point out the abnormality, while his protégé Carl Jung thought that the practice was worthless if it couldn’t be advanced to help those in need. These two figures illustrate the clash of the ego, id, and super-ego in David Cronenberg‘s A Dangerous Method, a film which brilliantly explores Freudian concepts and how we wish to indulge our base emotions but instead build a wall of reason and science to imprison our desires. However, in attempting to convey this blockade, A Dangerous Method inadvertently cuts off its emotional connection to the audience.

Last month, we received confirmation that David Cronenberg had written a sequel to his 1986 classic horror film, The Fly.  At the time, Cronenberg explained “The Fly is not exactly a remake, it’s sort of a sequel, kinda. Yeah, that was a thing. I’ve written a script of that, and I don’t know if that’s going to really happen, but that has to do with Fox.”  According to The Playlist, Fox has made their decision and that decision is to pass on the movie.  This doesn’t mean Fox won’t remake The Fly at some point, but if they do, it probably won’t be with Cronenberg.  On the one hand, it frees him up to visit new territory, but it also opens the door that some hacky director could come in and deliver a pointless new version (e.g. The Thing).

However, Cronenberg isn’t moving on to completely new material.  Hit the jump for an update on Eastern Promises 2.

New images from David Cronenberg‘s adaptation of Don DeLillo‘s Cosmopolis have found their way online.  The film stars Robert Pattinson as a newlywed billionaire who ends up losing his bride and his billions in a single day.  I’m willing to give Pattinson a pass on the Twilight films since I think the material is untenable, and I want to see if he rises to the challenge of a demanding lead role in a David Cronenberg movie.  (However, I feel it’s important to mention that I never saw Remember Me or Water for Elephants.)

Hit the jump to check out the images.  The film impressive cast also stars Sarah Gadon, Kevin Durand, Jay Baruchel, Samantha Morton, Juliette Binoche, Paul Giamatti, and Mathieu Amalric.  Cosmopolis will likely hit theaters in 2012.