The Shrouds: David Cronenberg to direct Vincent Cassel in afterlife thriller

Writer/director David Cronenberg’s new body horror film Crimes of the Future will be having its world premiere at the Cannes Film Festival this month, then distributor NEON will be releasing Crimes of the Future in New York and Los Angeles on June 3rd before giving it a wide release on June 10th. So while we’re still some weeks away from seeing the latest Cronenberg movie, the filmmaker himself is already looking ahead to his next project. Variety reports that Cronenberg has cast Vincent Cassel in the lead role of his next thriller, which is titled The Shrouds. Cronenberg and Cassel previously worked together on Eastern Promises and A Dangerous Method.

The story Cronenberg has crafted for The Shrouds centers on

Karsh (Cassel), an innovative businessman and grieving widower, who builds a device to connect with the dead inside a burial shroud. Karsh’s revolutionary business is on the verge of breaking into the international mainstream when several graves within his cemetery are vandalized and nearly destroyed, including that of his wife. While he struggles to uncover a clear motive for the attack, the mystery of who wrought this havoc, and why, will drive Karsh to reevaluate his business, marriage and fidelity to his late wife’s memory, as well as push him to new beginnings.

It seems likely that Cronenberg was inspired to work on this project in response to the loss of his wife Carolyn, who passed away in their home in 2017. That loss inspired the short film The Death of David Cronenberg, which was filmed in their home. When that short – which Cronenberg made with his daughter Caitlin and shows him climbing into bed with a 5’9″ silicone body that looks exactly like himself – was released, he said,

[She] died in that house, in a bed, and it felt when she died, partly, like I died, and I still feel that. That corpse is my wife to me. So it’s not just a frivolous horror film. It is a film about love and the transient aspect of being human.”

Cronenberg says he embraces death because he has no choice; “this is man’s fate”. 

The Shrouds is expected to start filming in March of 2023. Saïd Ben Saïd of SBS Productions, Martin Katz of Prospero Pictures, and Michel Merkt are producing the film, with CAA Media Finance handling U.S. Sales and FilmNation Entertainment overseeing international distribution. Sales will launch at the Cannes film market later this month.

Saïd Ben Saïd provided the following statement:

We are thrilled to be going on a journey into the newest world from the distinctive imagination of David Cronenberg. His ability to write smart and unconventional screenplays and then translate them into unique experiences on screen makes him a unique voice in film.”

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