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For a long time, Caitlin Cronenberg sidestepped her familys calling.
But seasons change, and so have her creative interests.
Its a thriller about kinfolk melting down amid a global ecological depression.
Whats changed?Literally every single thing in my entire life.
I got married, I had two kids.
That feeling of directing was enticing.
I started doing some commercial work and music videos, and I realized I loved it.
In your 20s, you love going from one job to the next.
And I was like, I dont think that I do.
Do you mean actual pornography, or are you using the term food porn colloquially?Actual pornography.
Not hard-core pornography, but a highly sexual movie about cooking.
Then I was sent a lot more interesting scripts of all kinds of genres.
People definitely send me body horror thinking thats going to be my wheelhouse.
I think that thats why I likedHumane, because it wasnt trying to bejusta thriller.
Humaneisnt conventional horror or science fiction, although it flirts with both of those genres.
I mean, Im conscious of everything, but its really about gut feelings.
Its hard to find an excellent script in that genre.
This is fundamentally the story of a family unraveling, which is sort of its own genre.
When Michael first wrote it, it was pre-Succession, or at leastSuccessionhadnt become the thing that it is.
Then I remember having a conversation and being like, Well, we cant cast him because hes inSuccession.
[Laughs conspiratorially]Nobody.
I mean, not that those people were being offered to us anyway.
But we were certainly aware ofSuccessionbeing the master class in family drama at a high level of intellect.
I hope they would make the same choice.
I guess if one of them took a swing at me I would consider other options.
That was part of discussing the way the violence would play out.
These characters have not had combat experience.
Heres the most important question Im going to ask you about Humane.
One of them is with Beyonce, and its a photo from theAustin Powers in Goldmemberpremiere.
Frankly, it was also an affordable syndicated photograph.
Its actually Michael Caine.
It was the two of them shaking hands, and we stuck Peter Gallagher over him.
That is definitely something that Michael was inspired by.
What was your cultural diet like growing up?
Did David Cronenberg host movie nights for his children?No.
I watchedSister Act 2every day of my life for like two years.
The second one?Yeah.
I mean, I was a very fearful child.
I was very scared of gore and blood and violence.
I didnt watch movies like that until I was well into my teens.
I was very sensitive.
Im still sensitive, but I have a little bit of a thicker skin.
Except that I did seeM.
Butterflywhen I was 7.
It probably fucked me up.
I was also at a screening ofRobin Hood: Prince of Thieveswhen I was really little.
Thats fun.I had a panic attack and my mom had to take me out.
Okay, not as fun.Now Im pretty good.
I can handle things, but I think I had a healthy dose of rom-coms and teen dramas.
and my mom wanted us to all be together as much as we could.
I waited until I was 25.
You also say in the press notes that you had to include some blood inHumanebecause your family loves blood.
My mom was like, This is moviemaking, get over yourself.
If youre going to go for it, youve got to really go for it.
I always think of Tom Hanks knocking his teeth out inCast Away.Yeah!
I just want to watch more and more of it.
I dont like cadavers, though.
Thats where I draw the line.
I think caring for them and having to re-pierce ears that had closed up was where that started.
This is like a therapy session because I hadnt even thought about that.
I had the top of my buttcrack pierced at one point, which was a really unusual one.
As it started to migrate, I had to give it a lot of attention.
I showed it to Ryan Gosling once when I was assisting on a shoot at the Toronto Film Festival.
And what did he have to say about it?He thought it was pretty interesting.
I wonder if he would remember this because I dont think anyone ever saw a piercing like that before.
What prompted you to show it to him?A great question.
I think it might have been just in conversation.
It wasnt a flirtation.
I was just matter-of-factly like, Im going to share this with you.
You do weird things when youre, like, 20.
