Beauty Break: Carol Spier & Cronenberg

by Cláudio Alves

As far as I'm concerned, EXISTENZ has Oscar-worthy production design.

Over the years, David Cronenberg has unleashed unimaginable visions onto the big screen, stretching the limits of body horror along the way. In the week the underrated eXistenZ celebrates its 25th anniversary, I was reminded of one name that should be nearly as recognized as that of the Canadian director. After all, Cronenbergian wouldn't be the same without the contributions of Carol Spier, his hard-working production designer whose mind has birthed such sights as Videodrome's flesh-like walls and the ruined tomorrow in Crimes of the Future. This year, the duo's new collaboration, The Shrouds, will premiere at Cannes in the official competition. Maybe Spier could even take the festival's Technical Grand Prize. It'd be a nice change of pace since, despite her genius, the artist has rarely been recognized by awards voters.

With all this in mind, let's recall some of Carol Spier's greatest creations for Cronenberg's nightmare cinema. Here are ten highlights from their shared filmography and where to watch them…

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The Spy Who Crunched Me

by Jason Adams

Hey! Eyes down here! Thank you. Yesterday came news that the long-rumored sequel-of-sorts to David Cronenberg's 2007 film Eastern Promises was gaining some momentum... and that momentum was taking it straight towards the above-splayed abdominal muscles of one Jason Statham. Should we all be so lucky. And I think you can tell already that I'm hoping this film exists solely for a re-do of Viggo's balls-out sauna-brawl, just subbing in Jason, so we'll just go ahead and get that out of the way upfront. Say hello to our upfront business! 

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The New Classics - Eastern Promises

Michael Cusumano here to argue a case for the the best fight scene of the last two decades.

The Scene: The Sauna Fight
It’s no surprise that just about every discussion of the sauna fight from Eastern Promises dwells on the bare skin. If the King of Middle Earth strips down to his tattoos and takes on two goons in a bathhouse brawl it’s gonna dominate the conversation.

And it’s not only gawking. It’s thematically on point. This scene uses nakedness to make you feel a character’s vulnerability as effectively as any film since Psycho, plus all the skin on display reflects the film’s obsession with bodies -- bodies as currency and bodies defaced and disfigured... 

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Viggo Mortensen: Still here, still fantastic

Our celebration of Actors this month continues with Lynn Lee on Viggo

Is Viggo Mortensen the most interesting man in the world?  Based on his peripatetic history and eclectic interests, he’s certainly a contender.  In addition to acting, he’s a prolific painter, photographer, composer, and poet who founded his own publishing house.  A dual American and Danish citizen who spent his early childhood in South America and Denmark before returning to his native New York, he speaks multiple languages, with greatest fluency in English, Spanish, and Danish.  Oh, and his ex-wife is punk singer Exene Cervenko, with whom he has a son. 

As my husband put it, “Viggo Mortensen is who James Franco wishes he was.”

I can’t speak to the artistic merits of Viggo’s off-screen pursuits, but I do see him as a kind of anti-Franco in keeping them largely off the public radar.  And while he’s clearly driven by a need to express himself via many outlets, he still exudes a sense of some private, fundamentally unknowable core self.  It permeates his screen presence, too, and is part of what makes him so intriguing as an actor.  (Well, that plus the rugged Scandinavian good looks and dimpled chin don't hurt, either.)  More...

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Linked Up

Today's links.

• Towleroad Sean Penn to receive the Stanley Kramer (and other movie news)
• Playbill Olympia Dukakis will star in the little seen Tennessee Williams' play The Milk Train Doesn't Stop Here Anymore starting tomorrow off Broadway. D'ya think the title inspired Martin Scorsese back in the day?
• Serious Film takes a long predictive look at the eventual Oscar Supporting Actress lineup, the 7 top contenders and some more still.
• MNPP's wishin' and hopin' for Eastern Promises 2
• Movie|Line the most scathing reviews of new wide release Season of the Witch
• Just Jared Kristin Chenoweth is out and about, a free woman. Now that she's done with Broadway's high-grossing Promises Promises, can we please get her into a movie musical? C'mon Hollywood. You're so lame. Make more musicals. OBEY.
• AV Club a sequel of sorts (more like a spin-off) to Knocked Up centering on Paul Rudd & Leslie Mann's married couple? For sure count us in. They made a great comic pair. 
• THR the recipients of Oscar's technical achievement awards (which we be handed out on February 12th)
  

A few more... I can't stop.

• Chateau Thombeau It Happened... an 82 flashback. (I'm on a Tootsie kick cuz of that Dustin Hoffman griping over in new Best Pics episode.)
• In Contention party for The Social Network's dvd.
• Cinema Blend Vera Farmiga and Elle Fanning to star as mother and daughter in indie drama Pure Life
• China Lion is new distribution company that will hopefully make more Asian films available in Australia, New Zealand, Canada and the US of A. I think you should know that the Chinese remake of American blockbuster What Women Want (pictured right) is opening in 2011. Why do we care? Because it's Gong Li and Andy Lau and not Helen Hunt and Mel Gibson, that's why!