David Cronenberg: Diane Kruger 'didn't need directing' on The Shrouds
'The Shrouds' director David Cronenberg says Diane Kruger "really didn't need directing" on the film, despite playing three characters, and he was "impressed" with "how good" her triple portrayal was.
David Cronenberg says Diane Kruger "really didn't need directing" on 'The Shrouds', despite playing three different characters.
The 82-year-old filmmaker was "impressed" with "how good" Kruger's performance was in the body horror movie, in which she portrayed Becca - the late wife of Vincent Cassel's character Karsh - Terry, and Hunny.
Asked if he was "more surprised than usual" about how the movie's actors, especially Diane Kruger playing three different characters, interpreted the script considering Cronenberg famously doesn't give a lot of direction, he told Slant Magazine: "No, just that I was impressed with how good she was and in such detail.
"To me, she really didn’t need directing. She could do it herself.
"I know she doesn’t feel that way, but the script gave her absolutely gave her what she needed to create those characters.
"That’s not always the case, and when it’s not, then additional directing from me [is needed]. But the script is the director."
'The Shrouds' tells the story of widower Karsh, who builds new technology GraveTech, which connects with the dead as their corpses decay in a burial shroud.
Despite the movie being a horror film, David Cronenberg - who also penned the script for the motion picture - believes it is an "attractive" proposition, because it "suggests there's an afterlife".
Asked if 'The Shrouds' speaks to the subtext of the "body horror" genre, he said: "I think, for most horror films, the subject is always death and fear. Of death.
"Ironically, when there’s a creature from beyond the grave or a ghost, it’s a religious concept.
"Because if there’s a ghost or a creature from beyond the grave, then there’s a possibility of some kind of afterlife.
"In a weird way, however scary that might be, it’s attractive because it suggests there’s an afterlife."
However, Karsh doesn't believe in such a concept.
David Cronenberg added: "I think Karsh makes it very clear that he’s an atheist.
"He doesn’t believe in a life beyond death, so his project isn’t what religion promises. It’s not about heaven or living in some kind of afterlife."
