William Bickley

David Paul Cronenberg is a Canadian director. Born in 1943 to a journalist father, Milton, and a pianist mother, Esther, he showed early talent in literature and music. Before university, he published several dark stories. He began higher education in the Science Department at the University of Toronto, later switching to Literature. During this time, he started in film with short films like *Transfer*, *From the Drain*, *Stereo*, and *Crimes of the Future*. He received offers for television series. His first feature film, *They Came From Within*, about a parasite that makes its victims uncontrollably sexual, was unconventional for its time and faced funding issues. He secured half the budget himself. His successful independent films attracted Hollywood producers, and *The Dead Zone* (1983) and *The Fly* (1986) brought him wider recognition. During this period, he made *Dead Ringers* (1988), one of his best-known films. He worked with Viggo Mortensen on *A History of Violence*, *Eastern Promises*, and *A Dangerous Method*. Many of his films feature music by Howard Shore. In 2014, he published his first book, *Consumed*. Of Jewish heritage, Cronenberg is an avowed atheist. Cronenberg's films, with their dark and unsettling mise-en-scène and masterful use of costume and music, distinguish him from most sci-fi horror directors. A pioneer of what could be called 'Body Horror', he depicts man-made dangers—machines, artificial biological agents, mutated parasites—transforming humans mentally and physically, imbuing each scene with meaning. In this context, he promotes his concept of 'New Flesh'. His films illustrate the severe problems that arise from science being used to pervert natural human processes. In later works, these concepts shifted from organic representations (body, blood) to philosophical and psychological narratives, and he succeeded with both approaches. He married Margaret Hindson in 1970, divorcing in 1977; they have a daughter, Cassandra. He has been married to Carolyn Zeifman since 1979, and they have two children, Caitlin and Brandon. Brandon Cronenberg is also a director.