Crimes of the Future: David Cronenberg film earns R rating with violence, grisly images, graphic nudity

Distributor NEON will be releasing director David Cronenberg‘s new film Crimes of the Future in New York and Los Angeles on June 3rd before giving it a wide release on June 10th. With those dates creeping up on us, the ratings board has officially given Crimes of the Future an R rating – and they revealed that the film earned that R with “strong disturbing violent content and grisly images, graphic nudity and some language“.

At the recent CinemaCon event, our own Chris Bumbray got to see a trailer for Crimes of the Future that hasn’t been released yet. You can read his reaction to the trailer HERE and check out his interview with Cronenberg at the bottom of this article. The premiere of Crimes of the Future will take place at the Cannes Film Festival later this month.

The film stars Léa Seydoux, Kristen Stewart, Scott Speedman, Tanaya Beatty, Nadia Litz, Yorgos Karamichos, Yorgos Pirpassopoulos, Welket Bungue, Don McKellar, Lihi Kornowski, and Viggo Mortensen, who previously starred in the Cronenberg films  A History of Violence, Eastern Promises, and A Dangerous Method. Scripted by Cronenberg, this one tells the following story:

As the human species adapts to a synthetic environment, the body undergoes new transformations and mutations. With his partner Caprice (Seydoux), Saul Tenser (Mortensen), celebrity performance artist, publicly showcases the metamorphosis of his organs in avant-garde performances. Timlin (Stewart), an investigator from the National Organ Registry, obsessively tracks their movements, which is when a mysterious group is revealed… Their mission – to use Saul’s notoriety to shed light on the next phase of human evolution.

Mortensen previously said this “strange film noir story” was something Cronenberg originally wrote a long time ago, but recently pulled off the shelf and “refined”. This marks the first time Cronenberg has directed one of his own original screenplays since eXistenz in 1999.

A programmer who supposedly had the chance to watch Crimes of the Future already said,

I cannot say much, obviously, but if people thought Crash was divisive back in 1996, this is going to create way more chaos and controversy for sure. The last twenty minutes are a very tough sit. I expect walk-outs, faintings and real panic attacks (I almost had one myself!) at the Lumière theatre. No hyperbole, I promise. Seydoux’s role is way too bonkers and RADICAL to contend for a Cannes Best Actress award in my book, but I’d love to be proven wrong. I see no precedent in Cannes for a performance of that caliber/genre gaining momentum with a jury … I mean Seydoux basically plays a (very oft-naked) Gina Pane-like artist of the near future.”

Robert Lantos produced Crimes of the Future alongside Panos Papahadzis. Steve Solomos is co-producer. Joe Iacono, Thorsten Schumacher, Peter Touche, Christelle Conan, Aida Tannyan, Victor Loewy, and Victor Hadida served as executive producers. Bonnie Do and Laura Lanktree are associate producers.

Are you looking forward to Crimes of the Future now that it has an R-rating? Let us know by leaving a comment below.