CRONENBERG TAKES PAINKILLERS

Director David Cronenberg (eXistenZ, The Dead Zone) told SCI FI Wire that his next film, Painkillers, will find him once again tapping into the SF vein. "I've been saying that it's about performance artists in the future, but in the near future," Cronenberg said in an interview. "That's all I can really say, because I'm rewriting it, and it's sort of a deep rewrite. I haven't looked at it in a while, and now I'm coming back to it."

Cronenberg confirmed rumors that both Nicolas Cage and Ralph Fiennes (who appears in the director's upcoming Spider) are considering playing the lead character in Painkillers. "No one is attached," he said. "No one has made a deal. But yes, Nic Cage has read the first draft and liked it and said he was interested. And, yes, Ralph has read the same script and said he would be interested in doing it. So that's good. Maybe I should get them both in the movie. Now that would be interesting."