David Cronenberg thinks Netflix is "very conservative" in the films they make
Netflix wasn't willing to work with the Crimes Of The Future director
On the eve of the Cannes Film Festival, director David Cronenberg sat down with Variety to discuss his latest film, Crimes Of The Future, and the difficulty of financing independent cinema in the modern age.
When Cronenberg was kickstarting his career in the mid-70s, the Canadian government was helping to fund his films during what’s known as the country’s “tax shelter era.” Shivers, Rabid, The Brood, and Scanners were all financed through the 100-percent Capital Cost Allowance tax shield. This meant that any investors could deduct 100% of the amount they sunk into feature films from their income tax, as long as the films were 75 minutes long, two-thirds of the production team was Canadian, and seventy-five percent of the production occurred in Canada. It was a golden era for Canadian filmmakers who were attempting to compete with American productions, and these days it appears to be harder for even a big name like Cronenberg to get financial backing. It took three years for the director to get financing for Crimes Of The Future.