You're Not Dead Until You're Forgotten by John Dunning

Author:John Dunning
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: MQUP
Published: 2014-10-15T00:00:00+00:00

Sound supervisor Danny Goldberg keeps an eye on David Cronenberg directing his first feature, The Parasite Murders, in 1974.

We were all excited. Ivan Reitman came on as the producer. But before we agreed to let David direct, we gave him a camera to get an indication how he would go about shooting this film. We were a little concerned that in his film Crimes of the Future he appeared more preoccupied with angles and architecture – which he had been studying at college – than with actors.

The test confirmed that and caused us some worry. The script was finished by David, and he was adamant that he direct it. André and I were unaware at the time that Ivan was looking for another director while visiting LA. The project was so attractive that we prevailed on Ivan to put aside his apprehension about David and let him do it. It was a wise decision. With Ivan there to keep him on track, David quickly absorbed the techniques of filmmaking on a major scale (albeit our low-budget major scale). He was low key and unflappable on set. He knew what he wanted as he followed his vision of the film, while his soft-spoken approach endeared him to the actors. In all the time I worked with David, I never saw him lose his cool. How he remained calm through all the crises that beset a director on a shoot is a tribute to his passion for filmmaking, and one that certainly furthered his career as one of Canada’s most renowned directors.

The film was not without its problems, but to us it was well worth it. And as was our custom, we decided to do a major launch. But this one blew up in the face of the CFDC. Parliament even got involved, after the film touched off a controversy when, in the September 1975 issue of Saturday Night, Marshall Delaney – AKA Robert Fulford – had castigated the CFDC for investing in The Parasite Murders as follows. “If using public money to produce films like The Parasite Murders is the only way that English Canada can have a film industry, then perhaps English Canada should not have a film industry.”

But we weren’t going to take that lying down. We responded by sending out a pamphlet to every member of Parliament. Our point was that there was a place for horror in Canadian filmmaking. This film had been accepted at such prestigious film festivals as Edinburgh. It had won awards and acclaim, nailing down two prizes at the famous Sitges Horror Festival. Better still, it was selling around the world. And, yet, here we were being shut out on our own turf with a very successful film. This blackballing by the CFDC as a partner was to last a very long time for our commercial filmmaking. The Canadian culturists had won.

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