Toronto: Macabre-meister David Cronenberg has just begun prepro on the drama A History of Violence, by far his biggest production to date. The Toronto filmmaker will be helming Viggo Mortensen (Hidalgo, the Lord of the Rings trilogy) in the feature financed by New Line Cinema. Cronenberg will be shooting entirely in Toronto and Millbrook, ON – no studio spaces confirmed – and working with his usual collaborators, including ace director of photography Peter Suschitzky, production designer Carol Spier and editor Ron Sanders. The budget is US$32 million, four times what the helmer had for Spider, but he says that changes very little.

‘I don’t know how much money you have to have to feel like you have too much, but I’ve never been in that position, and I’m not there yet,’ Cronenberg says. ‘Given what we’re doing and what everybody’s being paid, by Hollywood standards this is a very moderately budgeted film. But obviously I’m not complaining – it’s a very good budget and, more to the point, a good shooting schedule.’

The film goes to camera Sept. 7 for 55 days. It is based on a graphic novel by Vince Locke, although Cronenberg says Josh Olson’s script bears only slight resemblance to the source material. The story concerns the owner of a diner who becomes involved in a violent incident that makes him somewhat of a celebrity. Some shady characters emerge as a result, believing they know the man from the past, although he insists they’ve got the wrong guy. ‘It’s kind of the Hitchcock structure,’ the director says.

For those hoping for the Cronenberg vs. Egoyan Genies matchup denied us last year – considering Egoyan is simultaneously ramping up his film Somebody Loves You – it probably won’t happen here, as A History of Violence will likely be categorized as a U.S. production, as were Cronenberg’s The Dead Zone and M. Butterfly.