Auteur Theory

So we've come to the end of our cinematic journey through the world and warped mind of director David Cronenberg. Needless to say, we've seen some things. There were growths. There were fluids. There was genitalia growing out of places where there shouldn't be. But as we end our first season, it's time to take one last trip through the most absurdly bizarre and corruptly depraved places of all... Hollywood!!!

It's David Cronenberg's 2014 dark show business satire Maps to the Stars. It doesn't matter if you're a deranged A-lister Julianne Moore, a hipster self-help guru John Cusack, or a disfigured, disturbed debutante Mia Wasikowska; all is not right in the state of Tinseltown. Join Nick and Chris for one last trip down Cronenberg Blvd., and stay tuned for news of what's next for Auteur Theory.

Yeah, the World. It's pretty much fucked. It's gotten to the point that even a pretty-boy millionaire can't even get across town in his high-tech/high-security limo to get a damn a haircut without society collapsing around him! This week, it's David Cronenberg's adaptation of Don DeLillo's dystopian satire Cosmopolis.

Nick and Chris are joined once again by Liz Manning to question the big questions: Capitalism. Technology. Economy. Narcissism. Jay Baruchel. And Rats. Tune in and join the debate over just what that anti-social, gun-toting rascal Paul Giamatti did at the end there. This one's a corker of a social apocalypse!

Of all the strange worlds Cronenberg has brought to the screen over the decades, the most surprising might be the stately parlours of turn-of-the-century Vienna. It's the 2011 historical drama A Dangerous Method. Nick and Chris are joined by author and artist Suzanne Steinberg and director and performer Mack Duncan to see if the Master of Body Horror can hold his own in the genteel world of the period costume drama. Will he plum the depths of darkest aspects of human psychology, as he has with other films, or will it be a scholarly snooze? Tune in to find out.

So, even when we started this season several months ago, we knew what you - the listener - really wanted to hear. Half an hour of host Christopher R. Smith rambling about the early days of Canadian television and some old commercials he found on YouTube.

In this special bonus episode of Auteur Theory, Chris risks the bends for an especially deep dive into the odds and ends of David Cronenberg's cinematic and television career. From his 1960s experimental student films, his sporadic work for the Canadian Broadcast Company, his expansion into the literary world, and every other weird little avenue he took in his decades as an auteur.

If you're a real Cronenberg nerd and want to hear about the connection between Cronenberg and Cadbury Chocolate, this is the show for you. We'll be back next week with our regularly scheduled programming.

Russians. They exist. And sometimes, it turns out, some of them aren't the nicest guys. In fact, some of them are up to no good at all! Never has this been more clearly illustrated (well, maybe not never) than in David Cronenberg's 2007 crime drama Eastern Promises.

Nick and Chris are joined once again by film critic Bill Pierce to take another look at this morality tale of blood and borscht in the mean streets of London. And, yes, you very briefly see Viggo's balls. Get over it so we can talk about the damn movie.

Auteur Theory is back and inviting you to take up a stool at our low-key, small-town podcast diner for a cup of joe. As long as a one-eyed Ed Harris doesn't show up and you are who you say you are, there shouldn't be a problem. You are you who say you are? Right?

It's David Cronenberg's 2005 crime drama A History of Violence. This week, Nick and Chris are joined once again by Cecil Laird of The Horror Show and Derk Harron of Here Comes the Pitch to take a look at Cronenberg's take on small town living. I'm sure no one will lose a jaw. We'll see you there, neighbor!

We here at Auteur Theory hope you're having a wonderful week and in great spirits. But if you'd like to change that, how about a trip to the grayest of England's gray, crumbling streets with a mumbling, mentally-broken Ralph Fiennes as your guide? It's David Cronenberg's 2002 downer psycho-drama Spider.

Nick ad Chris are joined by Cecil Laird of The Horror Show to take a look at one of Cronenberg's most acclaimed, but seldom-viewed efforts. Is it an overlooked diamond-in-the-rough, or just rough to watch? Join us to find out.

After a decade of dabbling with high-brow psycho-dramas, David Cronenberg is back in the straight-up body-horror game, and now Jennifer Jason Leigh and Jude Law are on the run. It's Cronenberg's mind-bending 1999 virtual reality sci-fi thriller eXistenZ.

Nick and Chris are joined once again by Perla Caballero to revisit Cronenberg's look into the 21st century in all its diseased, erotically-charged, existential crisis-inducing strangeness. Lubricate your bio-port with a little EX-60 and let's play.

Sex. Car crashes. More sex. Broken glass. Still more sex. Twisted metal. Sex. Based on this very accurate and apt description, you can pretty much decide if you're gonna love or hate this one.

It's David Cronenberg's controversial 1996 psycho-sexual drama Crash (and, no, not the shitty 2004 racism-is-bad-mmkay Oscar-winner). Cronenberg's sleek and stylish take on J.G. Ballard's underground cult-classic novel is one of the most divisive of his (and anyone else's) cinematic career.

Nick and Chris are joined by Perla X. Caballero to discuss whether or not this film that shocked audiences in the mid-90s still packs its visceral gut-punch today.

On this week's show, Nick and Chris take a look at one of David Cronenberg's strangest films. Strange, relative to Cronenberg, that is - this movie has nary a bursting cocoon, involuntary surgery, or phantasmagoric stomach-vagina in sight! It's the 1993 period-piece romantic drama M. Butterfly.

We join Jeremy Irons in 1960s Beijing, where his ill-fated romance/obsession with an opera singer gets him into all sorts of shit. Does David Cronenberg's unique style still work outside of the world of Canadian bio-horror and in the world of Chinese opera and political unrest? Join Nick and Chris to find out.