Cosmopolis is a 2012 drama-thriller film written, produced, and directed by David Cronenberg and starring Robert Pattinson in the lead with Paul Giamatti, Samantha Morton, Sarah Gadon, Mathieu Amalric, Juliette Binoche, Jay Baruchel and Kevin Durand. It is based on the novel of the same name by Don DeLillo. On 25 May 2012, the film premiered in competition for the Palme d'Or at the 2012 Cannes Film Festival, drawing mixed early critical reactions. The film was released in Canada on 8 June 2012, and began a limited release in the United States on 17 August 2012 by eOne Films. It is Cronenberg's first foray into script writing since 1999's eXistenZ.
Cosmopolis | |
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Theatrical release poster | |
Directed by | David Cronenberg |
Produced by | David Cronenberg Paulo Branco Renee Tab Martin Katz |
Screenplay by | David Cronenberg |
Based on | Cosmopolis by Don DeLillo |
Starring | Robert Pattinson Paul Giamatti Samantha Morton Sarah Gadon Mathieu Amalric Juliette Binoche Jay Baruchel Kevin Durand |
Music by | Howard Shore Metric |
Cinematography | Peter Suschitzky |
Edited by | Ronald Sanders |
Production company | Canal+ France 2 Cinéma Téléfilm Canada Alfama Films Toronto Antenna Prospero Pictures |
Distributed by | eOne Films |
Release date |
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Running time | 109 minutes |
Country | Canada France Italy Portugal |
Language | English |
Budget | $20.5 million |
Box office | $6.1 million |
Screenplay
Twenty-eight-year-old billionaire currency speculator/asset manager Eric Packer rides slowly across Manhattan amid traffic jams, in his state-of-the-art luxury stretch limousine office, to his preferred barber. Various visitors discuss the meaning of life and inconsequential trivia. The traffic jams are caused by a visit of the President of the United States and the funeral of Eric's favorite musician, a rap artist whose music he plays in one of his two private elevators. Despite devastating currency speculation losses over the course of the day, Packer fantasizes about buying the Rothko Chapel.
He meets his wife, Elise, in her taxi, for coffee, in a bookstore, as well as outside a theater. She declines sex with him. Packer has sex with two other women. When after a day of poor trading he destroys a large part of his wealth, his wife takes this as a reason to dissolve their union.
Anti-capitalist activists demonstrate on the street. They wave rats and declare "A spectre is haunting the world: the spectre of capitalism". They spray-paint Packer's limo and later one subjects him to a pieing. Packer learns that an assassin is out to kill him, but seems curiously uninterested in who the person might be.
In his car, his doctor performs his daily medical checkup. Eric worries about the doctor's finding that he has an asymmetrical prostate. As the currency speculation wipes out most of his fortune, Eric's world begins to disintegrate. Eventually he kills his bodyguard. At the destination, the barber, who knew his father, cuts Eric's hair on one side. The barber and limo driver discuss their respective careers driving cabs. The barber gives Eric his gun because he had thrown away the bodyguard's gun.
Eric follows a path of further self-destruction, visiting his potential murderer, former employee Richard Sheets a.k.a. Benno Levin. Eric seems ready to commit suicide, but instead deliberately shoots himself in the hand. Sheets/Levin, who feels adrift in the capitalist system, explains that Eric's mistake in speculating was looking for perfect symmetry and patterns in the currency market: he should have looked for the lopsided—his body with its asymmetrical prostate was telling him this. The film ends with the potential murderer holding a gun to Eric's head threatening to kill him, but does not show a final shot. As Sheets points the gun to Eric's head, Eric seems to have overcome the fear of death and waiting for it.
- Robert Pattinson as Eric Packer
- Sarah Gadon as Elise Packer (née Shifrin), Eric's wife
- Paul Giamatti as Benno Levin
- Kevin Durand as Torval, Eric's Chief of Security
- Abdul Ayoola as Ibrahim Hamadou, Eric's driver
- Juliette Binoche as Didi Fancher, Eric's art consultant, with whom Eric has an affair
- Emily Hampshire as Jane Melman, Eric's Chief of Finance
- Bob Bainborough as Dr. Ingram, Eric's physician
- Samantha Morton as Vija Kinsky, Eric's Chief of Theory
- Zeljko Kecojevic as Danko, Eric's veteran bodyguard
- Jay Baruchel as Shiner, Eric's Head of Technology and Cyber Security and startup partner
- Philip Nozuka as Michael Chin, Eric's young Systems Analyst
- Mathieu Amalric as André Petrescu aka The Pastry Assassin
- Patricia McKenzie as Kendra Hays, Eric's new bodyguard, with whom Eric has an affair
- K'naan as Brutha Fez, a rap artist who's one of Eric's favorite musicians
News about a film adaptation of Cosmopolis first emerged on 10 February 2009 when Geoffrey Macnab, writing for Screendaily.com, reported that "In his most ambitious project to date, international producer Paulo Branco is plotting a $10m–12m film based on the novel Cosmopolis by legendary US writer Don DeLillo. Branco's Alfama Films is producing the film about a day in the life of a young billionaire financier who, over the course of a traumatic day, loses all his wealth. A director will be named shortly and DeLillo is on board to collaborate." On 26 July 2009, it was announced that Canadian director David Cronenberg had become involved in the project and would now bring the novel to the screen. The film was scheduled to begin filming in 2010, with Paulo Branco's Paris-based production house Alfama Films co-producing with Cronenberg's Toronto Antenna Ltd. On 3 September 2009, Paulo Branco officially confirmed to Screendaily.com that "Cronenberg has now finished his screenplay and is now looking to cast the film." On 13 January 2010, it was reported that Cronenberg was still committed to the film, although a cast and a starting date for production were yet to be announced. Cronenberg said that everyone was "happy with the script" and he was "very fond" of the project. Principal photography took place in Toronto and was completed in July 2011. Colin Farrell was initially cast in the main role but left due to scheduling difficulties with Total Recall. He was later replaced by Pattinson. Marion Cotillard was involved in the project but also left because of scheduling conflicts.
Cosmopolis : Original Motion Picture Soundtrack | ||||
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Soundtrack album by Howard Shore, Metric & Various Artists | ||||
Released | June 4, 2012 (U.S.) | |||
Recorded | Various times | |||
Genre | Pop rock, alternative rock, soundtrack | |||
Length | 40:22 | |||
Label | Howe Records | |||
Producer | Howard Shore & Metric | |||
Howard Shore chronology | ||||
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