David Cronenberg Will Have Vincent Cassel Looking at Decomposing Bodies in Thriller ‘The Shrouds’

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David Cronenberg, whose latest film hasn’t even hit Cannes yet (Crimes of the Future premieres at the Film Festival next week), has already lined up his next film.

And it sure sounds like the type of story the man behind The Fly, Scanners, A History of Violence, and Eastern Promises would gravitate to. The project is titled The Shrouds and will have Vincent Cassell playing a widower who likes to watch his decease wife decomposing. Yep.

Okay, so there’s a bit more to it. The plot, as described by Deadline, the outlet that broke the news:

Cassel will play Karsh, an innovative businessman and grieving widower, who builds a novel device to connect with the dead inside a burial shroud. This burial tool installed at his own state-of-the-art ““ though controversial ““ cemetery allows him and his clients to watch their specific departed loved one decompose in real time. Karsh’s revolutionary business is on the verge of breaking into the international mainstream when several graves within his cemetery are vandalized and nearly destroyed, including that of his wife. While he struggles to uncover a clear motive for the attack, the mystery of who wrought this havoc, and why, drive him to reevaluate his business, marriage and fidelity to his late wife’s memory, as well as push him to new beginnings.

The film will be a reunion for Cassel and Cronenberg; the two previously worked together on Eastern Promises and A Dangerous Method.

“We are thrilled to be going on a journey into the newest world from the distinctive imagination of David Cronenberg,” stated producer Saïd Ben Saïd, whose many credits include Paul Verhoeven’s recent erotic nun film Benedetta and Cronenberg’s 2014 film Maps to the Stars. “His ability to write smart and unconventional screenplays and then translate them into unique experiences on screen makes him a unique voice in film.”

FilmNation and CAA Media Finance will be taking The Shrouds to buyers at the Cannes Film Market. Cameras on the film are expected to begin rolling in March 2023, which may or may not mean that Cronenberg could shoot another film in the time he has before then.

Either way, before The Shrouds, we’ll see what Cronenberg has in store with body-horror thriller Crimes of the Future, starring Viggo Mortensen, Kristen Stewart, and Léa Seydoux. You can watch the red band trailer for that one RIGHT HERE.