The news that came out two years ago seemed so simple, so natural, that you couldn't even complain about it being a remake-- David Cronenberg was planning to remake his own 1986 film The Fly, which itself was a remake of a 1958 schlock horror classic. There weren't many details about the kind of script Cronenberg was planning to write, and given that since then he's made the Sigmund Freud-Carl Jung drama A Dangerous Method, it's clearly not a priority for him.
But, as it turns out, The Fly is still a possibility, and according to Cronenberg himself it's not as straightforward a remake or sequel as it sounds. Talking to Shock Till You Drop, Cronenberg explained thusly:
"'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."
Even though Cronenberg is an undisputed auteur of the modern age who ought to have the power to do whatever the hell he wants, it's clear this is a case where the studio holds all the cards, and he just have to be ready for whatever they decide. And given how much Cronenberg's filmmaking style has changed since The Fly, you have to wonder just how interested he would be in revisiting the same territory. Can the man who made the restrained, talkative A Dangerous Method bring the visceral intensity needed for The Fly? Or is a different version of it actually what we need? Feel free to speculate over these questions for a long time, or maybe forever, since even Cronenberg doesn't seem certain that this sorta-kinda sequel will ever actually exist.
