Wonderful! Crash would not be made today. And this kind of candid, intelligent conversation about any film is long gone. I don't really do 'heroes'. But I have a handful of them, and to see two of them (Ballard and Cronenberg) speaking at the same table is a rare treat. I miss the 90s. I miss Jim Ballard.
Finally! I have been waiting to see this for YEARS!!!!!! Thank you so much for the download! EDIT This was great! I saw no controversy or hatred thrown here. Questions were quite polite. Spader was like 'I'm too cool for this,' Cronenberg is quite literally the smartest person in the room and Ballard is blunt as hell! Elias sounds and acts like he hasn't quite shaken off the Vaughan character yet!
LOVE THIS. During this video it seemed like Elias Koteas was still inhabiting the Vaughn character (18:00) I kept waiting for him to paw all over Deborah Unger while he answered their questions.
@@thiscorrosion900 I wonder if something was going on between them. She was quite stunning back then and recent photos of her suggest she is still not bad looking for the age of 56. But she has never been married and there is not much out there about her private life. In 1997, the British edition of "Premiere" had her mentioning that when she was making the film, she tried to drive across from Canada into the US. The US border police checked her car and found the script, or part of it, of "Crash". They decided she was a porn actress and wouldn't let her into the USA.
So much talk about sex… Whilst missing the point about Crash entirely. Crash is about Trauma. Ballard wrote Crash from the trauma of losing his wife in a sudden short illness. Living alone suddenly with 3 children in the 1960s, how could he find a way to connect with the world again. Crash explores what happens when a traumatic event happens and how you can find others to connect with who have experienced the same thing. Disguised in the car crash. Ballard is telling you his pain behind the veil of something so controversial as to mask his true feelings. He wanted to write a book that would shock the audience and also somehow shock him into feeling something again.
There are multiple interviews by Ballard on RU-vid and you can listen to his thoughts. Also his Autobiography ‘Miracles of Life’ mentions this. Most of Ballards protagonists are based on him in some way. They often centre around a person coming to terms with the madness they find themselves in. Considering Ballard spent his formative years in a interment camp in Shanghai, 1 year at medical school cutting up cadavers to become a phycologist, There’s no wonder he writes about people coming to terms with the madness they see in the world.
Oh my. What a raucous and fantastic and sizzling press conference with everyone still warm from the frisson of the controversial screening. I would've loved to be there, for the screening and this conference and any after-parties.
James Spader looks SUAVE beyond belief ... and Holly Hunter accent is beyond sexy !! The guy who does the introduction is cringe beyond belief though...
Totally agree re the "clever clever" intros to everyone on stage. They must have all cringed inside (I saw eyes rolling). Who the HELL does he think he is???
It is tremendous to be allowed to learn more about this uncommon subject and this brilliant, if unsettling film. For the first time I understood that the people who found car crashes to be so erotic, if I can describe it this way, as people who did not necessarily choose their reactions to this unusual erotic stimuli, as, in fact, many people do not choose. They often have no choice at all. This is, obviously, one of the wonderful Cronenberg films intended for thinking people, and he has made so many that are stunning to watch and about serious subjects that are not addressed in many mainstream films. To everyone reading this, I urge you to see Crash again after hearing what these people had to say, and see all the films Cronenberg has made after Crash. They are invariably stunningly beautiful, (Cronenberg is a great painter of life), and they are intelligent food for your brain. You will be spending your time well.
I think it's nonsense though that the movie couldn't be done in a regular system, it was done and was distributed as with any other commercial film, or Cronenberg film. Honestly, what a load of bullshit! I saw it opening night at the Angelika Film Center in NYC. That was pretty mainstream.
Ok I watched it, and despite the good technical aspects like camera work, editing, sound mixing, that was a high-budget fetish film with zero plot. Nothing against being an individualistic, unapologetic director, but you can't just call it art because there's perversity in it.