Cronenberg plus Mortensen equals strong connection and winning chemistry for movie viewers
By Stacey Silberman
HOLLYWOOD, CA (Hollywood Today) 9/16/07 – The Toronto Film Festival, presented its top prize to Canadian director David Cronenberg for his new crime thriller “Eastern Promises.”
Viggo Mortensen (“Lord of the Rings”) told Hollywood Today, that “I did look forward to working with Cronenberg because I felt a strong connection with him. We have a similar way of looking at making movies. It’s about making the story work. He knew from working with me and I knew from working with him that the concern would always be about serving the story. He knew that I wouldn’t just be obsessed with only making my character work at the cost of the story or of other characters. Everything that I was doing was to contribute to the overall story.”
Victor Loewy, longtime distributor and colleague of Cronenberg, accepted the award while the director promoted his film in New York this weekend. Obviously, “Eastern Promises” distinguished itself from the other 348 films, voted on by festival audiences over the last 10 days.
Crime thriller “Promises,” starring Viggo Mortensen (“Violence”) and Naomi Watts (“21 Grams”), explores the underbelly of a notorious Russian mob family in London after midwife Anna (Watts) goes looking for the truth followimg the death of a teenager during childbirth.
Mortensen plays charismatic Russian-born Nikolai, who drives for the crime family. Mortensen and Cronenberg worked together previously on “Violence.” They apparently have a great actor-director relationship.
Watts had never worked with Cronenberg before this film, but had a pre-conceived impression about the director. “He was very different than I expected. Also, because I’d seen his work and the nature of his work, that it’s always fairly dark, twisted, mysterious and unusual, I expected to meet a man who was inaccessible and brooding. But, he’s just the opposite. He’s very light and always cracking jokes. Also he’s very easy-going and uncomplicated. And yet, the thing about David, is that he just exudes confidence,” said Watts to HT. “”That just trickles down the line.”
The R-rated film should perform well at the box office this weekend after taking the coveted prize.
“Eastern Promises” also features actors Vincent Cassel, Armin Mueller-Stahl, Sinead Cusack, Donald Sumpter and Jerry Skolimowski.
Toronto Film Fest Complete list of winners:
Cadillac People’s Choice Award: “Eastern Promises,” directed by David Cronenberg.
FIPRESCI International Critics Prize: “La Zona,” directed by Rodrigo Pla.
Artistic Innovation Award: “Encarnacion,” directed by Anahi Berneri.
Diesel Discovery Award: “Cochochi,” directed by Israel Cardenas & Laura Amelia Guzman.
CityTV Award for Best Canadian Feature Film: “My Winnipeg,” directed by Guy Maddin.
Toronto-City Award for Best Canadian First Feature Film: “Continental, Un Film Sans Fusil,” directed by Stephane Lafleur.
Award for Best Canadian Short Film: “Pool,” directed by Chris Chong Chan Fui.