Cast Interviews with Michael

http://www.bostonherald.com/track/celebrity/view/20110903david_cronenberg_cures_cast_in_freud-jung_drama/srvc=home&position=recent

David Cronenberg ‘cures’ cast in Freud-Jung drama
By Associated Press
Saturday, September 3, 2011 - Added 5 hours ago

VENICE, Italy— Director David Cronenberg claims to have had ulterior motives when he chose the cast for "A Dangerous Method," a period drama that examines the relationship between the founders of modern psychoanalysis Sigmund Freud and Carl Jung.

"I think my cast has great need of psychoanalysis, which is why I cast them actually, to introduce them gently to the idea that they needed help, a lot of help," Cronenberg joked during a packed news conference Friday before the world premiere of his latest film in competition at the Venice Film Festival.

Cronenberg motioned to Viggo Mortensen, who appears as Freud and Michael Fassbender, who plays Jung, Freud’s protege. Also present was Keira Knightley, who portrays Sabina Spielrein, the psychiatric patient-turned-analyst who came between the two men.

"And you can see they are much better people. Before they were messes. When I found them, they were neurotics, hopeless," Cronenberg said to great laughter.

Mortensen played along. "Now we dress ourselves," he retorted.

The movie focuses on Freud’s relationship with Jung, from their mutual enthusiasm at finding kindred spirits in the development of new methods of treating psychiatric patients, then building up to their ultimate split over differences over Freud’s adherence to theories about sex and Jung’s interest in mysticism as a path to self-realization.

While their professional differences were couched in mostly clinical terms, a clear catalyst for their alienation was Knightley’s Spielrein, an hysteric whose recovery under Jung’s treatment validates Freud’s sexual theories. The mentor-protege relationship goes awry when Jung — under the influence of a patient played by Vincent Cassel whose creed is to never repress anything — gives into Spielrein’s sexual advances.

While the two psychiatrists seek to intellectualize emotion, neither Freud nor Jung come off as poster children for psychoanalysis. Freud alienates Jung when he stubbornly declines to relate his dreams to preserve his authority. And Jung disappoints his mentor when he enters into an affair with Spielrein, then lies about it.

"I think one thing you see in the movie is that their intellectual positions weren’t so vastly different. It was really a question of pride. They behaved as childishly as the patients they were trying to help," Mortensen said.

Knightley’s Spielrein perhaps makes a stronger case for their methods. She not only recovers from her hysteria, she successfully becomes a doctor, is willing to explore her own emotional depths, boldly confronting Jung’s ambiguity about their relationship, and ultimately moves on with her life to marry a fellow Russian Jew.

In real life, Spielrein returned to her native Russia, where she became one of the most distinguished analysts of the new Soviet Union, according to the press notes. In 1941, she, by then widowed, and her two daughters were murdered by Nazi occupying forces.

The horror of the two World Wars that soon would ravage Europe were somehow foreshadowed in the film, which ends in 1913. At one point, Freud warns Spielrein not to put her trust in Aryans, that they would always be seen as Jews, and near the end when Jung recounts a dream he had of blood flooding over the Alps into Switzerland.

Screenwriter Christopher Hampton, who adapted Ian McEwan’s "Atonement," exhaustively researched the characters, delving into their vast correspondence.

"You have to realize, at this era in Vienna, there were maybe five to eight mail deliveries every day," Cronenberg said. "It was like the Internet before the Internet. So if you wrote a letter in the morning, you expected by the afternoon to get a replay. So there were tons of letters among all these characters, and in these letters the quoted each other."

The trove of source material makes the script "very, very accurate," Cronenberg said.

Knightley went deeper, reading biographies and Spielrein’s diaries, as well as speaking to analysts, to better understand her character. Fassbender said his main resource was the script.

"It was written in such a way that I felt it was like a piece of music," Fassbender said. "Only through lots of repetition did I start to uncover the rhythms of the piece. "

He did make one concession to outside research.

"I got a great book on Jung that was ’Jung for children.’ It was sort of an idiots’ handbook. And I think I found pretty much everything I needed to find in that book," he said.

Mortensen still hasn’t had enough. He appealed to the decedents of Jung to release even more of the Swiss psychiatrist’s letters.

"I just want to know if the Jung family would be so decent as to release the remainder of the letters that he wrote to Miss Spielrein," he said. "Because they are very good reading. It’s very entertaining material, and I’d like to see more of it."

The Venice Film Festival runs through Sept. 10, when the coveted Golden Lion will be awarded.

http://www.kingsroad.it/?p=2940

FILM FESTIVAL 2011 – “A Dangerous Method”, Freud and Jung in a joking conversation with Cronenberg, Mortensen and Fassbender
admin On settembre - 2 - 2011

Creating a movie on psychoanalysis must not have been easy for David Cronenberg, the top director of the third day of Venice Film Festival 2011.
In his “A Dangerous Method” (featuring Michael Fassbender, Viggo Mortensen, Keira Knightley and Vincent Cassel, based on Christopher Hampton’s script and with production by Jeremy Thomas), the Director explores Zurich and Wien as locations of an hot story about discovering minds, science, intellect and sexuality, recreating the relationship between the problematic and beauty Sabina Spielrein between the two headmasters of new-born psychoanalysis, the young Carl Jung and his guru Sigmund Freud.
Sex, ambition, power, deceptions seems to prepare to the moment of the trio’s meetings and separations, changing forever the flow of modern thoughts.
With Viggo-Michael-Vincent-Keira’s talent to frame a little piece of story in today’s cinema.



We’ve met Cronenberg, Mortensen and Fassbender for a short interview, with a strange combinations of puppets and history…

David Cronenberg: “First of all I want to spot a light an a strange thing: this is the 68th edition of the Venice Festival, and I’m 68, also born on March 15th, the ides of March, which is the title of the opening movie of this festival. Isn’t this curious? May I consider myself lucky? Seriously, the movie as you know is based on the relationship between Sabina, Jung and Freud. I felt in love with Christopher Hampton play for theatre, “The Taking Cure”, and I thought it’d be great to make a movie about.
Of course I had, and all my cast & crew too, to study a lot, from psychoanalysis to locations, trying to be the more precise I could from the look to the thoughts the protagonists should have at these times.
There is a huge epistolary story at the bases, because their post effectively worked (not like today’s one!) and Keira’s character was so interesting and not so known in Jung-Freud’s story”.

Viggo Mortensen: “I have to add that Christopher Hampton had a lot of stuff that had inspired himself in writing his play, so we’ve done an incredible dip into that story. David also wanted us not to be academic in acting, so being the more natural we could in working has been an important part of our work for the movie. They all were common people, and like today stars, mostly over-estimated by books and stories written after them. What they were, after work, was their real personality. For example I am a funny man, despite the roles Mr Cronenberg has always given to me. That’s why I’m playing with this strange puppet a fan has given to me” (playing with his movie-partner, Michael Fassbender, despite Cronenberg’s serious expression).

Michael Fassbender: “About me it has been a huge work. I was really terrorized by these two men, so clever and charming.”

DC: “My guys are always so funny, you see. I think this has been the perfect mixture for the creating of my movie: fun and work. Of course I’ve always been the serious one!
Back to reality, I can also say that this is a costume-drama, and not too many actors are able to transform themselves in that kind of cinema. Keira is an expert in that: from “Pride and Prejudice” to the brave new announced “Anna Karenina”, she’s so perfect in putting herself in another historic period’s mood, from movements to thoughts. Michael, Viggo and Vincent too, of course.
It’s been a challenge also because of it, in not thinking with technologic influences of today, but considering each of the story’s characters as they might have done in life.
I have also to confess that I’ve called my actors to make them conscious about psychoanalysis: you can see now how they’re mature and brave, more conscious about their own lives, able to wash their clothes and to do shopping…”
(pointing at his actors laughing and joking)

MF: “So, this is Mr Cronenberg attitude in working: philosophizing on everything! Lessons of life!”

by Ilaria Rebecchi

http://www.flicksandbits.com/2011/09/05/michael-fassbender-viggo-mortensen-keira-knightley-interview-for-a-dangerous-method/15491/

Michael Fassbender, Viggo Mortensen & Keira Knightley Interview For ‘A Dangerous Method’

a dangerous method movie poster Michael Fassbender, Viggo Mortensen & Keira Knightley Interview For A Dangerous Method

Drawn from true-life events, David Cronenberg’s ‘A Dangerous Method’ chronicles the turbulent relationships between fledgling psychiatrist Carl Jung (Michael Fassbender), his mentor Sigmund Freud (Viggo Mortensen) and Sabina Spielrein (Keira Knightley), the troubled but beautiful young woman who comes between them. Into the mix comes Otto Gross (Vincent Cassell), a debauched patient who is determined to push the boundaries. In this exploration of sensuality, ambition and deceit set the scene for the pivotal moment when Jung, Freud and Sabina come together and split apart, forever changing the face of modern thought. ‘A Dangerous Method’ is set for release November 23rd in the US, and Febuary 10th in the UK. Check out what Michael Fassbender, Viggo Mortensen and Keira Knighley had to say about the film in a quick interview below.

How did you shape playing Carl Jung? What research did you do?

Michael Fassbender: Basically for me, Christopher Hampton had written such a dense script. Your trying to sort of get a concentrated solution of these characters, which are obviously very infamous. Everybody knows who these people are, other than Keira Knightley’s character, Sabina Spielrein. So I really just concentrated on the script. My main thing was working around trying to get the rhythm of the script. It was written in such a way that I felt like it was a piece of music. So only through lots of repetion did I start to uncover the rhythms in the piece, try to respect the writing. Then any extra research I could do was a luxury. I got a really great book on Carl Jung, it was like a Jung for children (laughs) – a sort of idiot’s handbook. I think I found everything I needed to find in that little book (laughs).

How about you Keira? You seem to love acting in historical based films.

Keira Knightley: I had worked with Christopher Hampton before on ‘Atonement’, so when I knew I was going to do this part I phoned him up and said, ‘help?!’ He gave me a pile of books and just said, ‘read that.’ Jung biographies, including ‘Memories, Dreams, Reflections.’ Translations of Jung’s notes on Sabina, her diary entries, a lot of that. I spoke to some psychoanalysts as well to get that perspective on it.

I do a lot of costume dramas (laughs), I don’t know why, I really just enjoy them. I think it’s a taste thing, I just really enjoy them. I love reading history books so it’s a privilege that that’s part of my job.

Viggo, how did you find playing such an epic, legendary real life person?

Viggo Mortensen: Christopher Hampton had a wealth of material in the Jung’s letters to use for writing the story, first the play ‘The Talking Cure,’ which is what most of our movies based on. I think any time you play a character that is a historical figure, people that people think they know as well as they do, personalities like Freud and Jung, if you get too weighed down with the idea that you are doing something important, that you are playing someone of significance, your probably not gonna do a good job of it – you’re certainly not going to have much fun. I think the great benefit we had was that David Cronenberg knew a lot about the subject matter before hand. I think a lot of directors, even very fine directors would’ve been weighed down by the burden of making a movie about these characters, and that period.

I felt David felt comfortable with the material, so he could focus on what mattered, which was the relationships between these people, their insecurities, their flaws, their humour – sometimes not intentional, which resulted from their differences of opinion. In the end it’s not an academic exercise, it’s not a documentary movie. It’s a drama that is interesting, sometimes it’s funny, sometimes it’s tragic – that doesn’t deal with the academic issue so much, that’s there, and David Cronenberg knew that, he made us just feel comfortable playing people. Playing people who had differences of opinion, that on paper I don’t think made as much as they made of them, for reasons of pride….certainly the camps, say the Freudian camp has a lot to like and dislike I suppose when they watch this movie maybe, same with fans of Jung, fans of Spielrein. One thing you see in the movie, one thing you learn in the movie is that their intellectual positions weren’t so vastly different, at least that’s what I got from it. It was really a question of pride in many cases, there were other issues, they sometimes acted as childishly as the patients they were trying to help (laughs). It was fun, I enjoyed myself, it sounds strange saying you played Sigmund Freud in a movie from this period, dealing with all the conflicts involved in the story, it seems strange to say it was fun, but we did have a good time shooting it.

This entry was posted by admin on September 5, 2011 at 12:42 am

http://www.variety.com/article/VR1118044097

Posted: Sat., Oct. 8, 2011, 4:00am PT
'Method' acting
By Variety Staff
Moviegoers at the New York Film Festival filled Alice Tully Hall to capacity Oct. 5 for Sony Pictures Classics' "A Dangerous Method," with helmer David Cronenberg, screenwriter Christopher Hampton and star Michael Fassbender among the attendees.

The afterparty was at the Empire Hotel, where guests wandered the open-air rooftop restaurant sipping a novelty cocktail, appropriately called, given the movie they'd just seen, Bitter and Twisted (grapefruit/vodka/bitters).

Since the movie is all about Freud, Jung, and Jung's patient-mistress Sabina Spielrein, everyone involved with "A Dangerous Method" was more than willing to talk psychoanalysis.

Fassbender, thinking back to his previous movie assignment "X-Men," thought his Magneto wouldn't say anything on the couch. "He'd just start playing with those little metal ball assemblies that everyone has."

Regarding Jung, "I'd want to talk to him about his sex with Sabina," Cronenberg said.

As for Hampton, he said, "I've actually never been analyzed, and I'm frightened of being analyzed -- in case they fix me."

http://bronx.ny1.com/content/ny1_living/whipples_world/148488/love-triangle-spices-up-psychiatric-tale-in--a-dangerous-method-

10/06/2011 02:26 PM
Love Triangle Spices Up Psychiatric Tale In "A Dangerous Method"

By: George Whipple

The life of the mind is on full display in director David Cronenberg's new film "A Dangerous Method," which had its premiere Wednesday at the 49th annual New York Film Festival. NY1's George Whipple filed the following report.

"A Dangerous Method" premiered Wednesday night at the New York Film Festival. It is the story of a triangular relationship between pioneering psychiatrist Sigmund Freud, portrayed by Viggo Mortensen, their beautiful and deeply unbalanced patient, Sabina Spielrein, portrayed by Keira Knightly, and the Freud disciple and psychiatrist Carl Jung, who is played by Michael Fassbender.

George Whipple: Did you like your character?

Fassbender: Yes. I always like my characters in one way or another, or at least try and understand them. It's not my place to judge them. So if I did that, it would kind of give them a little bit of a stilted performance, I think.

The movie is directed by the ever-creative David Cronenberg.

"I realized that I have probably have always wanted to do a movie about Freud, about psychoanalysis, about Vienna at the turn of the [20th] century. All very rich stuff, but I never had a structure for it before," says Cronenberg. "And suddenly, here was this wonderful play. Sort of a triangle, a love story, introducing a character, Sabina Spielrein, who's played by Keira Knightly, who I had never heard of before."

Fassbender prepped to play the shrink Jung by harkening back to his training as an actor.

Whipple: How much did you know about Jung before you did the role?

Fassbender: I realized that the sort of training that we had in grammar school was fairly Jungian. It was all about sort of types of persona, and I realized that actually through sort of uncovering it all. But until then, it was sort of basic stuff that I knew."

So viewers who want to visit Vienna and see the birth of psychoanalysis should not fear "A Dangerous Method."