It's good to be a Michael fan. It's constantly Christmas around here.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/film/2009/dec/23/keira-knightley-david-cronenberg

Keira Knightley signs up for The Talking Cure

Star joins Inglourious Basterds' Michael Fassbender and Christoph Waltz in David Cronenberg's film of Christopher Hampton's psychoanalytical play

Keira Knightley is to take the lead in David Cronenberg's first film in three years, reports the Playlist blog.

The Talking Cure, based on the Christopher Hampton play of the same name, will star Knightley as Sabina Spielrein, a Russian-Jewish psychiatric patient, who is said to have inspired some of Carl Jung and Sigmund Freud's most remarkable discoveries. Christoph Waltz and Michael Fassbender – who both featured in Quentin Tarantino's Inglourious Basterds – are set to co-star, with Waltz as Freud, and Fassbender as Jung.

Hampton's play focuses on the relationship between Spielrein and Jung, when he was treating her at the Burghölzli mental hospital near Zurich in 1904. Jung used Freudian techniques to try and overcome Spielrein's association of paternal punishment with physical arousal.

The unconfirmed Playlist report was triggered by a Facebook update by Australian distributor Hopscotch Films, suggesting that it had picked up rights to the film.

Reviewing Hampton's play in 2003, the Guardian's Michael Billington wrote: "In part, the play is intended as a tribute to a neglected pioneer. Freud and Jung have entered the history books. But part of Hampton's point is that Spielrein, a patient turned healer, was a highly formative influence. It is she who provokes the rupture between Freud and Jung which enabled the latter to venture deeper into the unconscious." He also rather presciently said, "There is something about its emphasis on narrative over drama that suggests the work's place is on the screen."

http://theplaylist.blogspot.com/2009/12/david-cronenberg-recruits-keira.html

12/22/2009
David Cronenberg Recruits Keira Knightley, Christoph Waltz And Michael Fassbender For 'The Talking Cure'



David Cronenberg has evidently recruited the trio of Keira Knightley, Christoph Waltz and Michael Fassbender for his long-gestating adaptation of Christopher Hampton's "The Talking Cure," according to Australian distributor Hopscotch Films.

After his potential Tom Cruise-Denzel Washington-starrer "The Matarese Circle" died earlier this year when Cruise chose to star in James Mangold's "Knight & Day" instead, Cronenberg turned to an adaptation of Don DeLillo's "Cosmopolis" which was due to begin in 2010.

It's not known whether that project is still in the works but with rights to "The Talking Cure' already bought by the Australia distribution company, surely this project will be shooting first. The following synopsis was included in the acquisition announcement:

A beautiful young woman, driven mad by her past. An ambitious doctor on a mission to succeed. An esteemed mentor with a revolutionary cure. Let the mind games begin…

Hampton's play follows the founding fathers of psychoanalysis, Carl Jung and Sigmund Freud, and their complicated relationships with a brilliant and beautiful patient, Sabina Spielrein.

Cronenberg was first linked to the project in 2007, but word has been hush since the initial announcement two years ago, though /film did notice a hint in a Variety article last month that brought up the film in a piece about the financing and sales company behind it's production, Hanway Films.

Production was originally set to take place in Germany and, with Knightley, Waltz and Fassbender as the protagonising trio, a European shoot seems likely. Either way, it'll be fascinating to see what Cronenberg can conjur up after his last two films, the Viggo Mortensen led "A History Of Violence" and "Eastern Promises."

Posted by Simon Dang at 10:50 PM

http://www.ureader.org/entertainment/keira-knightley-christoph-waltz-michael-fassbender-in-cronenberg%E2%80%99s-%E2%80%9Ctalking-cure%E2%80%9D/



Christoph Waltz, Keira Knightley, Michael Fassbender

The Playlist detected that Australian movie association Hopscotch Films done an proclamation on the Facebook page that Knightley will star alongside Christoph Waltz and Michael Fassbender (”Inglourious Basterds”).

The drama, that is an instrumentation of Christopher Hampton’s theatre fool around of the same name, set in the early 20th century is about Carl Jung and Sigmund Freud, the founders of psychoanalysis.

In Hampton’s “The Talking Cure” from 2003 Ralph Fiennes played Jung on the London stage.

The story follows Jung and Freud and their attribute with a immature Russian lady Sabina Spielrein who was his initial patient.

“A pleasing immature woman, driven insane by her past. An desirous alloy on a goal to succeed. An venerable coach with a insubordinate cure. Let the mind games begin…”

So, it looks similar to Michael Fassbender will fool around Carl Jung, Christoph Waltz will fool around Sigmund Freud, and Keira Knightley will star as Sabina Spielrein.

http://blogs.tomhallam.co.uk/lindapine/2009/12/24/waltz-fassbender-and-knightley-join-cronenbergs-the-talking-cure/

Waltz, Fassbender And Knightley Join Cronenberg’s The Talking Cure

Written on December 24, 2009 – 11:55 pm | by lindapine

Source: Cinema Blend (Original Article)

When Tarantino first burst on to the scene, he quickly became renowned as a director who could reinvigorate a career. It began with John Travolta in Pulp Fiction, then there was Robert Forester in Jackie Brown, and, briefly, David Carradine in Kill Bill. Now following the release and incredible success of Inglourious Basterds, Tarantino isn’t exactly reinventing careers, but he’s giving them a hell of a boost.

By way of their Facebook account (kind of an esoteric place to post an announcement like this), Hopscotch Films has announced that they will be distributing David Cronenberg’s next film, The Talking Cure, and that it has lined up its three stars: Christoph Waltz, Michael Fassbender and Keira Knightley. Based on the play of the same name by Christopher Hampton, the story centers on the birth of psychoanalysis and the relationship between Carl Jung, Sigmund Freud and Jung’s young Russian patient whom he has fallen in love with.

I may pass out from all of the awesome that is contained in this article. I’m concerned that my bandwidth can’t contain incredibleness of this magnitude. Both Waltz and Fassbender were the male standouts of Tarantino’s war epic, and while I would have been happy seeing more of them in anything stateside (such as Waltz’s role in The Green Hornet), the idea that both will be working with Cronenberg is too perfect for words. Obviously this venture into the history of psychoanalysis will be far from what we are used to seeing from Cronenberg (unless someone gets a horrendous paper cut), but it should provide an excellent stage for the two actors to show off their incredible talents.

Oh, and Keira Knightley is good news too. Hooray.

http://ramascreen.com/knightley-fassbender-waltz-in-cronenbergs-the-talking-cure/

Knightley, Fassbender, Waltz In Cronenberg’s THE TALKING CURE
Posted by Rama On December - 23 - 2009

Keira Knightley, Michael Fassbender, Christoph Waltz, David Cronenberg

I’ve been reading Robert Ludlum’s The Matarese Circle, director David Cronenberg (Eastern Promises, A History Of Violence) was supposed to bring the adaptation to the big screen but that didn’t happen since Tom Cruise and Denzel Washington who were possible stars said farewell to the project. The fate of COSMOPOLIS is still unclear as well. So what’s Cronenberg up to next? The playlist came across the facebook page of Australian distributor Hopscotch films that says Cronenberg is adapting THE TALKING CURE and 3 familiar actors will be joining in…

It says that Keira Knightley and the Inglourious Basterds actors Michael Fassbender and Christoph Waltz will star in THE TALKING CURE based on the play by Christopher Hampton about Sigmund Freud, Carl Jung and their complicated relationship with a Russian patient named Sabina Spielrein.
Right not the assumption is Knightly would play Spielrein, Fassbedner would play Jung and Waltz would play Freud.

A beautiful young woman, driven mad by her past. An ambitious doctor on a mission to succeed. Anesteemed mentor with a revolutionary cure. Let the mind games begin…

You can get THE TALKING CURE on paperback at amazon, here’s the official synopsis..

“Overshadowed by portents of the coming wars, Zurich and Vienna are the setting for this tale of emotional vicissitude and intellectual debate. The Talking Cure is an intimate picture of the birth of psychoanalysis and of two intense and inextricably interwoven relationships. Carl Jung uses Sigmund Freud’s “talking cure” on Sabina, a young Russian hysteric with whom he will fall in love. Impressed with Jung’s results, Freud anoints him his successor, but when Jung develops his own theories they part ways. Sensitive and intelligent, The Talking Cure illuminates the origins of one of the twentieth century’s most influential schools of thought.
Overshadowed by portents of the coming wars, Zurich and Vienna are the setting for this tale of emotional vicissitude and intellectual debate. The Talking Cure is an intimate picture of the birth of psychoanalysis and of two intense and inextricably interwoven relationships. Carl Jung uses Sigmund Freud’s “talking cure” on Sabina, a young Russian hysteric with whom he will fall in love. Impressed with Jung’s results, Freud anoints him his successor, but when Jung develops his own theories they part ways. Sensitive and intelligent, The Talking Cure illuminates the origins of one of the twentieth century’s most influential schools of thought.”

http://www.slashfilm.com/2009/12/23/cronenberg-does-the-talking-cure-next-casts-keira-knightley-michael-fassbender-and-christoph-waltz/

Cronenberg Does The Talking Cure Next; Casts Keira Knightley, Michael Fassbender and Christoph Waltz

Posted on Wednesday, December 23rd, 2009 by Russ Fischer

talking_cure-cronenberg-cast

Stories like this make me want to bellow like the Kool-Aid Man. At the beginning of November there was a tiny mention in an otherwise unrelated Variety article that suggested David Cronenberg was still developing The Talking Cure, a film based on Christopher Hampton’s 2002 play about Sigmund Freud and Carl Jung. Announced in 2007, this had been quickly sidelined by films like The Matarese Circle and Cosmopolis. Or so we thought. Now it appears that the film is very much happening, and will be the next project for Cronenberg. And that cast? Oh, yeah!

Here’s what Australian distributor Hopscotch Films announced today, on Facebook of all places:

More LA buys… Hopscotch will release ‘The Talking Cure’ directed by Cronenberg, starring Keira Knightly, Michael Fassbender, Christoph Waltz. A beautiful young woman, driven mad by her past. An ambitious doctor on a mission to succeed. An esteemed mentor with a revolutionary cure. Let the mind games begin…

The irony here is that the Variety article that mentioned the film last month was about new projects for Fassbender, but there was no implication that he’d show up in this. Having a little Inglourious Basterds reunion (even if he at Waltz didn’t have a scene together in that film) should help this one with some audiences. And for those who thought Waltz was taking the Hollywood crack pipe too soon for his role in The Green Hornet, this should be ample antidote.

I know that someone is going to complain about Keira Knightley, but I’m dying to see what Cronenberg can do with her. This could be exactly what she needs. And she’ll probably be able to wear a corset if she really wants to, just to stay comfortable.

(Going back to the last article I wrote about this film, I see that three weeks ago ’sonseses’ left a comment saying that, yes, the film is moving forward and is scheduled for April 2010. I don’t get email notes when comments are posted, so if something goes up way after an article runs I’ll almost never see it, just FYI.)

Finally, for some of you the best part about this is that a possible new version of The Fly is now a bit further off. I still don’t think we’ll ever actually see that happen, and having Cronenberg making other movies is the best way to ensure that it doesn’t.

http://www.firstshowing.net/2009/12/23/knightley-fassbender-waltz-in-cronenbergs-the-talking-cure/

Knightley, Fassbender, Waltz in Cronenberg's The Talking Cure?

December 23, 2009
Source: The Playlist
by Alex Billington
Keira Knightley, Michael Fassbender, Christoph Waltz

Where did this come from? Last we heard, David Cronenberg was supposed to be directing The Matarese Circle with Denzel Washington or the billionaire limo project Cosmopolis next, not some other project called The Talking Cure. Our friends at The Playlist found an odd mention of a project on the Facebook page for Australian distribution company Hopscotch Films today. There it's mentioned that they just bought a film called The Talking Cure that's being directed by David Cronenberg and will star Keira Knightley, Michael Fassbender, and Christoph Waltz. And we've never heard of this once before until today? That's kind of odd.

I did a quick search and found an old Cinematical article from 2007 stating that The Talking Cure was going to be Cronenberg's "next project." They also say it's an adaptation of Christopher Hampton's stage play of the same name, set in the early 20th century, about the famous psychoanalyst Carl Jung. The story follows Jung's relationship with a young Russian woman who was his first patient. "The Talking Cure" is the term often used to describe the fundamental work of psychoanalysis. Jung was an associate of the other famous psychologist Sigmund Freud. Now it all makes sense. Here's the way Hopscotch describes The Talking Cure:

A beautiful young woman, driven mad by her past. An ambitious doctor on a mission to succeed. An esteemed mentor with a revolutionary cure. Let the mind games begin…

So essentially it looks like Michael Fassbender is playing Carl Jung, Christoph Waltz is playing Sigmund Freud, and Keira Knightley is playing the young Russian girl who was Jung's first patient. Sound good?

According to the old Cinematical article, The Talking Cure is being produced by Jeremy Thomas, who previously produced Cronenberg's Crash and Naked Lunch. If Knightley, Fassbender, and Waltz are all cast in this, then those are some high profile names for a David Cronenberg project, especially one that has the potential to become weird. I just think Cronenberg could take this idea to some crazy places, playing with psychoanalysis and so on. That's certainly not a bad thing either. Considering that we reported in July that Cronenberg was leaving Matarese Circle, I have a feeling that he may have left Cosmopolis for this as well.

Read more: http://www.firstshowing.net/2009/12/23/knightley-fassbender-waltz-in-cronenbergs-the-talking-cure/#ixzz0b2O82oBG

http://www.obsessedwithfilm.com/movie-news/cronenberg-takes-knightley-two-basterds-for-the-talking-cure.php

Cronenberg takes Knightley & two BASTERDS for THE TALKING CURE!
Posted by Matt Holmes on December 24, 2009 – 6:40 pm |

David Cronenberg has committed to his next project and it’ll be The Talking Cure, an adaptation of Christopher Hampton’s 2002 dialogue heavy play about close friends Sigmund Freud and Carl Jung, the founding fathers of psychoanalysis.

The play revolves around the gorgeous woman that inspired both men’s greatest discoveries but also tore their relationship apart.

Word comes word via Australian distributor Hopscotch Films, who have just agreed to distribute the film, that Keira Knightley will star as said woman, a Russian-Jewish patient by the name of Sabina Spilerein. She will receive top billing.

It’s a fascinating piece of casting. Cronenberg is the undisputed king of getting career best performances out of actors, his whole filmography is a thesp’s showcase. Knightley, who is still maturing and getting better with each passing year will be tested like never before here. A Cronenberg picture is grueling, it’s ruthless and you have to be on top of your game because Cronenberg so often relies on the person in front of the camera to tell the story.

Inglourious Basterds co-stars Michael Fassbender and Christoph Waltz will star as the two great thinkers. They never shared a scene together in Tarantino’s film, the movie that has springboarded both to the next level of fame on the Hollywood casting list, and they are reaping their rewards now with the kind of roles they are securing.

Fassbender will play Jung.

Waltz will play Freud.

/film have heard the movie is a go and may even have an April 2010 shoot scheduled.



Sigmund Freud (left), Carl Jung (right).

A 2003 review of the play in The Guardian said;

Hampton focuses on the young Jung’s involvement with Sabina, a Russian-Jewish patient, that starts at Zurich’s Burgholzi clinic in 1904. Deploying Freud’s psychoanalytic techniques, Jung gets to the root of Sabina’s problem: her childhood association of paternal punishment with physical arousal. Their relationship, however, transcends that of doctor and patient; and their sexual and emotional closeness – and Jung’s refusal to tell the truth about it – has huge consequences. It leads to a breach between Jung and his mentor.

Wow, what a project to be announced so close to Christmas.

It’s not entirely, entirely, entirely new ground for Cronenberg to cover. In 1988, some twenty one years ago, he made a great movie with Jeremy Irons by the name of Dead Ringers, which I’m pretty certain was influenced by this true account of a relationship that went sour between two great friends, with two great minds.

That movie is a sheer masterpiece of character performance art. If Cronenberg delivers this again, then he could be onto something special this time next year, or early 2010…

http://www.thefirstpost.co.uk/57856,news-comment,entertainment,keira-knightley-signs-up-for-new-cronenberg-film-the-talking-cure

Knightley will play Sabina Spielrein, who inspired Sigmund Freud and Carl Jung
By Rachel Helyer Donaldson
LAST UPDATED 10:43 AM, DECEMBER 24, 2009
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Actress Keira Knightley, currently starring in the West End production of The Misanthrope, has reportedly signed up for the lead in director David Cronenberg's first film in three years.

In The Talking Cure, Knightley will play Sabina Spielrein, a brilliant and beautiful young woman who is said to have inspired some of Carl Jung and Sigmund Freud's most remarkable discoveries.

Cronenberg has also cast Christoph Waltz and Michael Fassbender, who starred together in Quentin Tarantino's Inglourious Basterds. Waltz will play Freud with Fassbender as Jung.

Spielrein, a Russian Jew born in 1885, was one of the first female psychoanalysts. She studied medicine after spending several years as a psychiatric patient of first Jung and then Freud. In 1942 Spielrein and her two daughters were executed by the German SS paramilitary group Einsatzgruppe D.

The Talking Cure is based on Christopher Hampton's 2003 play of the same name. Hampton's play focuses on the relationship between Spielrein and Jung when she became Jung's first patient at the Burghölzli mental hospital near Zurich in 1904.

It is the third project in three years which Cronenberg, director of The Fly, Crash and A History of Violence, has tried to get off the ground. One film, The Matarese Circle, collapsed earlier this year when one of its leads, Tom Cruise, chose to star in James Mangold's Knight & Day instead. Cronenberg then turned to an adaptation of Don DeLillo's Cosmopolis which was due to begin in 2010.

News of Cronenberg's latest film was reported on the Playlist film blog after an Australian distributor, Hopscotch Films, claimed on Facebook that it had bought the rights to the film.

http://www.adanx.com/movienews/david-cronenberg-revives-the-talking-cure-with-keira-knightley/

David Cronenberg Revives “The Talking Cure” With Keira Knightley

While the production of the “Circle Matareze” is kept in deep anabiosis, David Cronenberg has decided to take up the screen version of Christopher Hampton’s play “The Talking Cure”. The project was announced back in 2007, but now has come an opportune moment to launch it into the production. After consultations and negotiations for the main roles in the film have signed Keira Knightley and stars of “Inglourious Basterds” Christoph Waltz and Michael Fassbender.

Hampton’s play tells us about the difficult relationship between Sigmund Freud (Waltz), Carl Gustav Jung (Fassbender) and their patient – a young native Russian woman – Sabina Spielrein (Knightley). She was a patient of Jung, and he has successfully tested methods of Freud on her. As a result of the received psycho trauma in childhood, Sabina found the cure in the psycho therapy, and even entered the Medical Faculty of the University of Zurich, in which she began to study psychoanalysis. However, the situation was complicated by the fact that between the patient and the doctor broke romance. A few months later, Carl Gustav, feeling guilty for the violation of professional ethics, broke relations with Sabina and some time later she wrote a long letter to Freud, in which she told her experiences of love and asked him to analyze. Freud proposed Sabina Spielrein psychotherapeutic assistance.

Filming will begin early next year and will be held in Germany.

http://www.chud.com/articles/articles/21959/1/CRONENBERG-AND-HANS-LANDA-HELL-YEAH/Page1.html

CRONENBERG AND HANS LANDA? HELL YEAH

* By Devin Faraci
* Published 12/23/2009

Keira Knightly. Christoph Waltz. Michael Fassbender. Together in a movie directed by David Cronenberg.

How have you not already pre-ordered your ticket? This is a line-up that astounds, and it's all in the service of a movie called The Talking Cure, based on a play by Christopher Hampton. The Talking Cure is about the earliest days of psychiatry, when Jung and Freud were still buddies, and how their eventual split happened. It was, of course, over a woman - a beautiful young woman named Sabine, who Jung ended up sleeping with.

I'm assuming that Waltz is Freud, Knightly is Sabine and the excellent Fassbender is Jung, who was jung at the time himself, and a protege of Freud.

Cronenberg has been working on the film since 2007; Ralph Fiennes played Jung in the original English stage version, but I like the casting Cronenberg has assembled. There's no telling when the film will shoot; all the info comes from the MySpace page of Australian film distrib Hopscotch, who says they've bought the Down Under rights.

Thanks to Brian for the heads up!

http://www.indiemoviesonline.com/news/new-year-movie-news-040110

Bell's fellow young British hopefuls Keira Knightley and Michael Fassbender are apparently all set to play opposite one another, with The Playlist reporting that they will both star in The Talking Cure - David Cronenberg's adaptation of the play of the same name by Dangerous Liaisons writer Christopher Hampton. According to The Playlist, 'Hampton's play follows the founding fathers of psychoanalysis, Carl Jung and Sigmund Freud, and their complicated relationships with a brilliant and beautiful patient, Sabina Spielrein.' Sounds like it's gonna be couches at dawn when those two wacky shrinks go toe-to-toe! Fassbender's Inglourious Basterds cohort Christoph Waltz rounds out the cast.

From an interview at the Oscar's red carpet, Waltz is to have said that he will probably not be in the movie.

I'm bummed if that's true.

He would have been perfect and it would have had Waltz going head to head with Michael, finally showing how those two measure up.

It's also rumored that Viggo will be taking their place.

I would have preferred Waltz. I think Viggo is too close to Michael's age and will distort the story.

http://awardsdailyforums.com/showthread.php?t=20985

This was posted in the print form of Baz's column on March 5... (it's not online)

"KEIRA WILL SEE THE SHRINK AFTER ALL...

WHEN Oscar nominee Christophe Waltz dropped out of portraying Sigmund Freud, the grandaddy of psychoanalysts, in a film with Keira Knightley and Michael Fassbender (as Carl Jung), there were concerns the movie might not continue because of possible scheduling problems.

But everyone held their nerve while director David Cronenberg asked his old friend Viggo Mortensen if he would play Freud. Mortensen, who made A History Of Violence and Eastern Promises for Cronenberg, agreed and filming will start once Keira has finished her run in The Misanthrope at the Comedy Theatre.

The film's based on a play by Christopher Hampton about the relationship between the two men, and how they treat a young woman who may have been abused by her father.

So it looks like Keira's bound for the couch after all."

Bad move for Waltz, IMO. He opted to do the Elephants film instead I guess.

http://welcometoclubsilencio.blogspot.com/2010/03/mass-for-cinephile-shut-ins-part-four.html

Bite your tongue.
Then bite mine.

The Talking Cure
directed by: David Cronenberg
written by: Christopher Hampton (play)
starring: Viggo Mortensen, Michael Fassbender, Keira Knightley

Basically: Carl Jung finds therapeutic and romantic success while using Sigmund Freud's "talking cure" approach on a disturbed female patient. Freud names Jung his successor only to find discord and a division of thought.

And We Should Care Because: All that male goodness under the guidance of mastermind David Cronenberg? My mind is officially blown Scanners-style. The collaborations between Mortensen and Cronenberg have already yielded two jaw dropping performances in two knockout films. The inclusion of Club Silencio favorite, the equally jaw dropping Michael Fassbender, could only be topped if Cronenberg were to make a sequel to the bathhouse scene in Eastern Promises. What can I say, I'm Rabid with a case of sexually parasitic Shivers. The mental minefield premise seems right up Cronenberg's alley. He's never one to disappoint when it comes the psychological, sexual, and everything dark and delicious in the Interzone.

Status: Can't Miss