Art house movies rarely get their own sequels, but David Cronenberg's exceptional crime film Eastern Promises seemed like it was going to be the exception. Cronenberg was all set to reteam with Viggo Mortensen, Oscar-nominated for his performance as Russian mobster Nikolai Luzhin, in the fall for Eastern Promises 2. Original screenwriter Stephen Knight was on board to write the screenplay. But art house or no art house, it's still Hollywood after all, and no project is completely safe from last minute shenanigans.
JoBlo has spoken to David Cronenberg, and when he wasn't talking about his new Robert Pattinson film Cosmopolis, he was revealing that Eastern Promises 2 is dead in the water."Unfortunately, just recently it fell apart I think for good," says the director. "It was a disappointment because I literally thought I would be in pre-production on it this October. But it is pretty much dead."
Although Eastern Promises 2 was not going to be the first sequel made from a David Cronenberg joint (both The Fly and Scanners had their own, considerably less-than-acclaimed follow-ups), it would have been the first sequel that Cronenberg actually directed himself. Presumably he had a pretty good story to tell with Nikolai Luzhin, who wound up in a very interesting place and predicament at the end of the first Eastern Promises. While we're happy that this frees Cronenberg to pursue new and original projects, we're also disappointed that, according to Cronenberg, we're never going to find out what made him want to do a sequel in the first place.
JoBlo has spoken to David Cronenberg, and when he wasn't talking about his new Robert Pattinson film Cosmopolis, he was revealing that Eastern Promises 2 is dead in the water."Unfortunately, just recently it fell apart I think for good," says the director. "It was a disappointment because I literally thought I would be in pre-production on it this October. But it is pretty much dead."
Although Eastern Promises 2 was not going to be the first sequel made from a David Cronenberg joint (both The Fly and Scanners had their own, considerably less-than-acclaimed follow-ups), it would have been the first sequel that Cronenberg actually directed himself. Presumably he had a pretty good story to tell with Nikolai Luzhin, who wound up in a very interesting place and predicament at the end of the first Eastern Promises. While we're happy that this frees Cronenberg to pursue new and original projects, we're also disappointed that, according to Cronenberg, we're never going to find out what made him want to do a sequel in the first place.