The closest David Cronenberg has come to directing a family-friendly Movie is when he turned down Star Wars: Return of the Jedi. Otherwise, he tends to dabble in R-rated body horror, naked bathhouse fights, and movies where people get turned on by car crashes. OK, technically, it was only one movie, 1996’s Crash, but what a movie it is! The Special Jury Prize winner is the better Crash movie, obviously, but it’s also many people’s introduction to Cronenberg’s filmography, including Kristen Stewart.

“I actually know the first movie of David’s that I watched was Crash, when I like was far probably too young to watch it. But I’m really glad I did,” the Oscar-nominated Spencer actress said at a press conference at the 2022 Cannes Film Festival. “I felt like I was going to get in trouble, which is why I loved it. And didn’t understand it at all.”

Stewart also didn’t understand Crimes of the Future, Cronenberg’s new movie, until she watched it. “We, the actors, spent every single day after work being like, ‘What the f*ck are we doing?’ But then I watched the movie last night, and it was so crystal clear to me,” she said. “It [was] so exposing, and it does feel like you’re hacking up organs when you’re making something, and if it doesn’t feel that way it’s not worth it.”

Based on the early reviews, Stewart was right to put her faith in Cronenberg. Just think, somewhere out there is the next Kristen Stewart, being confused but intrigued by the “surgery is the new sex” movie at too young of an age. It’s inspiring, really.

(Via IndieWire)