Cronenberg making 'Maps to the Stars'

The 'History of Violence' director will work on a dark Hollywood thriller later in the year.

Feb  6 2006

Action thriller 'A History of Violence' was one of the surprise successes of last year, managing to please both critics and audiences alike.

Considering it was director David Cronenberg's biggest hit for nearly two decades and featured on countless end of year lists, it's a cinematic crime that the film has been ignored by pretty much every award ceremony in recent months.

The good news however, is that such ignorance on the part of award-voters hasn't put Cronenberg off. On the contrary - today he announced that his next project is to be a Hollywood drama entitled 'Maps to the Stars'.

Based on a script by Bruce Wagner, the director is also planning to make the film on American soil, which would make it his first ever US shoot.

Describing the project to Variety, Cronenberg said: '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'. Bruce is brilliant about writing characters in this world, and I'd wanted to do something with him for ages.'

Cronenberg continues: 'Hollywood is a world that is seductive and repellent at the same time, and it is the combination of the two that makes it so potent.

'I won't fall back on some clichés or simplistic sloganeering, because the culture and what it reveals about Western culture and the rest of the world is very complex.'

'Maps to the Stars' is set to start shooting in LA and Toronto in the autumn, and The TOMB will have more news on the project as and when it breaks.

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