DAVID CRONENBERG ARRIVED on the world's cinema screens with a viscous splash. His unmistakable Cartesian horror films Shivers, Rabid, The Brood, Scanners, Videodrome, and Existenz were extraordinary meditations on making the mental physical, and made Cronenberg one of the most admired auteurs of the late seventies and early eighties. 

But since 1983's The Dead Zone, most of Cronenberg's films — like The Fly, Dead Ringers, M. Butterfly, Naked Lunch, Crash, Spider, A History of Violence, A Dangerous Method, and the upcoming Cosmopolis — have not been made from his original scripts, but have been adaptations from the works of others. 

Curious about my hero's transition from originator to adapter, I sat down with David Cronenberg to discuss the artist's life and work.

            —  Jonathan Penner

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It's Dangerous to Be an Artist

As a young upstart...