David Cronenberg has spent a significant portion of his filmmaking career obsessing over movies titled after bugs. It started with The Fly and later came M. Butterfly and most recently was Spider. He's better known these days for directing something worth watching, this year's acclaimed A History of Violence. Now Variety is reporting the announcement of his next project, A Map To The Stars, something that sounds like a step in the wrong direction.
Cronenberg, who is currently at work on a couple of little known European flicks, describes A Map To The Stars as a dark dramedy about the excessive and secret lives of the Hollywood crowd: "You could say it's a Hollywood film because the characters are agents, actors and managers, but it is not a satire like 'The Player,'".
If it's not a satire, why would we care about watching it? Hollywood has become a bloated empire that spends its days churning out remakes and sequels while simultaneously patting itself on the back by handing out awards for the few worthwhile movies it pseudo-produces by shopping around at the indy film festivals.
The script is being written by none other than Bruce Wagner. "Who?", you say. You remember him, he's the guy who wrote A Nightmare On Elm Street 3 and the TV miniseries "Wild Palms". Cronenberg continues, "I won't fall back on some cliches or simplistic sloganeering, because the culture and what it reveals about Western culture and the rest of the world is very complex." I'd hate to think Hollywood reveals anything significant about Western culture. Then I look at the ratings of TV shows like "The O.C." and realize Cronenberg is probably right. I think I might move to Australia.
Shooting on A Map To The Stars is set to begin this fall.
