About one month before A History of Violence played the Toronto International Film Festival, veteran Toronto director David Cronenberg, with tongue firmly in cheek, told Playback that he expected his new film would be an ‘unqualified hit.’ But that proved right, and 2005 will be remembered as a year in which Canada’s 62-year-old Baron of Blood made a dramatic return to the spotlight of popular culture.

With the backing of Hollywood distributor New Line Cinema and a US$32-million budget – four times the cost of his previous film, 2002’s Spider – History could end up as Cronenberg’s most commercially successful film, having taken in nearly US$31 million at the North American box office and more than US$46 million worldwide as of Nov. 21.

Cronenberg had said that New Line would have been happy if the film covered its costs domestically, and it will certainly do that and more by the time its domestic run ends.

The cerebral filmmaker admits now that he wasn’t sure how the film would play.

‘When you’re doing an original script, you have no idea,’ says Cronenberg, who did an uncredited rewrite of the script by Josh Olson, based loosely on a graphic novel by John Wagner and Vince Locke. ‘I wouldn’t presume to think I had any idea how well it would do.’

The suspenseful History tells the story of Tom (Viggo Mortensen), the owner of a small-town diner who is pushed to violently retaliate against a pair of psychopathic thieves, only to gain unwanted celebrity in the process. The cast is rounded out by Maria Bello as Tom’s wife Edie, and Ed Harris and William Hurt as gangsters with mysterious ties to Tom.

The film plays like an updated western thriller and is far more accessible than the kind of fantastical and gory films with which Cronenberg is usually associated, such as eXistenZ and Naked Lunch.

But History raises disturbing questions of its own, particularly in terms of the relationship between Tom and Edie, and the director’s point of view and stylistic flourishes abound, especially in terms of the repercussions of violence.

The film was shot in and around Toronto, featuring many Canadian crew members and supporting players, and is distributed domestically through Alliance Atlantis.

It has certainly been a hit with critics as well as audiences, and a first-ever Oscar nomination for the director does not seem out of the question.

‘It’s gotten such great reviews everywhere in the world,’ says Cronenberg, adding that History topped the box office in London, Paris and Copenhagen. ‘I think expectations got high because of the reviews we received. And it did strongly, but it didn’t go through the roof. I think that’s a fair assessment.’

History’s strong showing at Cannes, where it premiered, created an immediate buzz that was only amplified in the director’s hometown at a TIFF gala. By the time it hit theaters, Canada was ready to once again embrace its most macabre filmmaking son (his last film making a significant box-office dent being 1988’s Dead Ringers, which made US$8 million in North America). Opening on six Canadian screens in limited release, History brought in $230,000 for a staggering per-screen average of $37,600 over the Sept. 23 weekend. When it opened wider on Sept. 30, the film garnered $1.1 million in 160 theaters, touting an 18A rating in most of Canada. Only the PG thriller Flightplan, starring Jodie Foster, did better. Meanwhile, in the U.S., History brought in more than US$8 million that same weekend.

The film has already earned close to the international box office of The Fly, Cronenberg’s highest-grossing film, which took in more than US$40 million in North America in 1986. At press time, History was still playing on 167 screens in the U.S. and Canada, ranking in the top 40 of the North American box-office chart after nearly two months in release.

Although it is difficult to imagine that one film could open new doors for a filmmaker who this year celebrated his 30th year making commercial features, that is exactly what History is doing. Cronenberg himself is surprised by the feedback he has received from Hollywood movie executives and fellow directors – the most attention he has received since The Fly.

‘I always had strong credibility in terms of independent filmmaking internationally… but I certainly didn’t have a sterling rep among studio people, because they’d look at Spider and they’d be afraid – they’d be very afraid,’ he says. ‘It means for 10 minutes I have studio credibility again. Whether that will be squandered when I do my next movie, who knows?’

2006 is shaping up to be another busy one for the director. HBO is developing a new series based on his medical creeper Dead Ringers, with Cronenberg reported to helm the pilot, although his involvement beyond executive producing is not etched in stone. He says whether he directs the pilot depends on factors including timing and the quality of the script.

His next feature could also take shape next year. It could be London Fields, based on the 1991 Martin Amis novel about a psychic who sees what she believes is the end of her life, and wonders which of the two men she gets involved with at a London bar will be her killer. According to Cronenberg, copro deals are still being firmed up, with reports surfacing of a partner from France coming on board.

The other possibility is Maps to the Stars, written by his friend Bruce Wagner, a novelist out of L.A., which would be produced by Robert Lantos.

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