Brandon Cronenberg caught the attention of critics and audiences last year with his second feature film, Possessor. Most viewers were impressed by the Canadian director’s grim and even slightly perverted tone at times. The success was highlighted by numerous awards and nominations from dozens of festivals around the world. Quite naturally, the producers’ interest in the son of the notorious David Cronenberg has increased significantly.
It will hardly be a surprise to anyone that his next project – a limited series – is set to follow the tonal trend in his work. It is about the book “Super-Cannes” by the famous writer James Graham Ballard, which appeared in print in 2000. One of the main motives in Ballard’s work is the self-conscious isolation of an individual or a group of individuals in various forms and the consequences thereof. The book in question covers exactly this topic, but in a very extreme and extreme form, extremely suitable for Cronenberg.
“Super-Cannes” tells the story of an extremely modern high-tech business park on the outskirts of Cannes. In it, a select section of the world’s global elite have come together to form a closed, capitalist society with the latest technology at hand. This is a place with luxury apartments, GPs and security, and everything they might need. However, this society hides under its surface a world of violence, sexual perversions, insanity and manipulation that is beginning to spiral out of control.
This will not be the Cronenberg family’s first contact with the work of J. G. Ballard, because David’s father screened the novel “Catastrophe” in 1996. Other notable adaptations include Steven Spielberg’s “Oscar-nominated” Empire of the Sun and Ben Whitley’s “Super-Cannes” skyscraper.
Here is what Brandon Cronenberg himself shares about the project:
It was an extremely prophetic novel that is more relevant today than ever. It is an intoxicating mix of sarcastic politics and non-standard psychology, built around a terribly satisfying detective story. I am excited about the opportunity to adapt it.
“Super-Cannes” will be told in the form of a series, but it is not yet clear under whose hat this will happen. The project is at a very early stage of development, but news will certainly follow in the coming months.
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