eXistenZ (1999)

Countries of Origin: Canada/France/UK
Year of Production: 1999
Running Times: 93m/96m (France)/97m (Germany; Japan; USA)/98m (Finland)
Length:
Format: 35mm
Colour Format: colour
Ratio: 1.85:1
Sound: Dolby Digital

PRODUCTION
Production Companies: Alliance Atlantis and Serendipity Point Films present in association with Natural Nylon  A Robert Lantos production  A David Cronenberg film
Produced with the participation of Téléfilm Canada, Canadian Television Fund created by the Canadian Government and the Canadian cable industry CTF: Licence Fee Programme, The Canadian Film or Video Production Tax Credit, TMN The Mobie Network, The Harold Greenberg Fund/Les fonds Harold Greenberg
Head Of Production (Alliance Atlantis): Lacia Kornylo
Head Of Production (Natural Nylon): Tracey Seward
Produced by: Robert Lantos, Andras Hamori, David Cronenberg
Co-producers: Michael MacDonald, Damon Bryant, Bradley Adams
Associate Producer: Sandra Tucker
Production Manager: Michael MacDonald
Assistant Production Manager: Tammy Quinn
Production Co-Ordinator: Elizabeth Senyi-Potechin
Production Co-Ordinator (Natural Nylon): Kitty Stanbrook
Assistant Production Co-Ordinator: Andrea Franks

SCRIPT
Written by: David Cronenberg

DIRECTION
Directed by: David Cronenberg
1st Assistant Director: Walter Gasparovic
2nd Assistant Director: Penny Charter
3rd Assistant Directors: Kirsteen McLean, Cassandra Cronenberg
Trainee Assistant Director: Leo Scherman

PHOTOGRAPHY
Director of Photography/Camera Operator: Peter Suschitzky
1st Assistant Camera: Michael Hall
2nd Assistant Camera: Vanessa Ireson
Camera Trainee: Chris Kalbfleisch
Key Grip: Christopher Dean
Grips: Adam Pill, Dianne Haggarty, Martin Lake, Philip 'Buck' Lanthier
Dolly Grip: Jonathan Billings
Rigging Grip: Frank Teunissen
Best Boy Grip: Jeff Heintzman
Best Boy: Robert Hicks
Cable Operator: Greg Clayton
Colour Timer: Ricardo Olivero
Electricians: Delroy Jarrett, Don Cochrane, James Maccammon
Gaffer: David Moxness
Rigging Gaffer: Steve Morrisson
Generator Operator: Michael Plant
Stills: Ava Gerlitz
Video Playback Operator: Andrew Peart
Cameras: Panavision Cameras and Lenses
Colour: DeLuxe

EDITING AND POST-PRODUCTION
Post-Production Supervisor: Lori Waters
Editor: Ronald Sanders
1st Assistant Editors: Christopher Donaldson, Peter Watson, Gary Fluxgold
Assistant Editor (UK): Andrew Macritchie
1st Assistant Editor (Avid): Tad Seaborn
Trainee Assistant Editor: Aaron Marshall
Technical Advisor (Avid): Jeffrey Krebs
Negative Cutter: Catherine Rankin
Post-Production Assistant: Sean Moriarity

MUSIC
Music/Orchestrator/Conductor: Howard Shore
Copyists: Ryan Shore, Kevin Mahonchak
Music Contractor: Isobel Griffiths
Music Performed By: Lidia Kavina (Theremin)
Score Mixer: Robert Cotnoir (uncredited)
Synclavier Programmer: Robert Cotnoir

COSTUMES AND MAKE-UP
Costume Designer: Denise Cronenberg
Assistant Costume Designer: Chris Hargadon
Seamstress: Lisette Lefevre
Wardrobe Assistant: Angie Vastagh
Assistant Make Up Artists: Carol Davidson
Costume Supervisor: Brenda Gilles
Assistant Costume Supervisor: Christina Cattle

SPECIAL MAKE-UP EFFECTS
Special Make-up and Creature Designer: Stephan Dupuis
Creature Effects Supervisor: Kelly Lepkowsky
Special Effects and Creature Effects Technicians: Dennis Pawlik, Sean Sansom, Ryan Nicholson
Shop Foreman: Bob Hall
Office Manager: Ben Tucker
Purchasing Agent: Tomas Hartl

VISUAL EFFECTS
Visual and Special Effects Supervisor: Jim Isaac

Digital Visual Effects: Toybox
Executive Producer (Opening Titles): Adam Shaheen
Producer (Opening Titles): Marlene Schmidt
Rear Projection Supervisor: Ray Mcmillan (uncredited)
Shop Foreman: Bob Hall

DESIGN AND SET CONSTRUCTION
Production Designer: Carol Spier
Art Director: Tamara Deverell
1st Assistant Art Director: Arvinder Grewal, Michael Madden
2nd Assistant Art Dorector: Rupert Lazarus
Art Department Coordinator: Dusty Reeves
Art Department Trainee: Jason Graham
Opening Titles Designer: Rob Pilichowski
Assistant Opening Titles Designer: Margaret Lee
On-Set Dresser: Kevin Haeberlin
Buyer: Peter P. Nicolakakos

OTHER CREW
Script Supervisor: Dug Rotstein
Animal Wrangler: Jane Conway
Finance: Jeff Kulbak
Production Accountant: Mark Bukator
Assistant Production Accountant: Tony Desmond
Post-Production Accountant: Vay Trong
Payroll Clerk: Luz Magcawas
Executive Assistant To Robert Lantos: Cherri Campbell
Assistants To Hamori: Deanna Bolton, Linda Kang
Production Assistant (Alliance Atlantis): Andrew Rosen
Location Production Assistant: James Steven
Auricle Operator: Chris Cozens
Business And Legal Affairs (Alliance Atlantis): Andrea Wood
Legal Services (Natural Nylon, UK): Simon Goldberg
Production Legal Affairs: Teresa Rogers
Dialect Coach: John Nelles
Transportation Captain: Bill Hagan
Transportation Co-Ordinator: Don Retzer
Head Driver: Bill Leeking
Drivers: Don Morley, Joe Norris, Matthew Garland, Richard Higgins, Brad Winans, Dean Wittaum
Construction Driver: Dave Puddister
Gun Wrangler: John 'Frenchie' Berger
Labourers: Dan Christov, Kerry Bullis, Sam Santoro
Librarian: Vic Fraser
Studio Manager: Cathy Moore
Office Manager: Ben Tucker
Office Assistants: Anthony Grani, David Garnett
Purchasing Agent: Tomas Hartl
Technical Advisor: Bruce Buchanan
Unit Publicist: Prudence Emery

LOCATIONS
Locations: Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Location Manager: Debra Beers
Assistant Location Manager: Beverley Kolbe
Location Scout: Mark Logan

STUNTS
Stunts: Alison Reid, Peter Cox, Jamie Jones

CASTING
Casting: Deidre Bowen
Extras Casting: Eleanor Lavender
Casting Assistant: Elizabeth Gray

CAST
Jennifer Jason Leigh (Allegra Gellar)
Jude Law (Ted Pikul)
Ian Holm (Kiri Vinokur)
Don McKellar (Yevgeny Nourish)
Callum Keith Rennie (Hugo Carlaw)
Sarah Polley (Merle)
Robert A. Silverman (D'Arcy Nader)

with
Christopher Eccleston (Levi)

and
Willem Dafoe as Gas

Oscar Hsu (Chinese waiter)
Kris Lemche (Noel Dichter)
Vik Sahay (male assistant)
Kirsten Johnson (female assistant)
James Kirchner (Landry)
Balázs Koós (male volunteer)
Stephanie Belding (female volunteer)
Gerry Quigley (trout farm worker)

STAND-INS
Tammy Fitzgerald (for Jennifer Jason Leigh)
Rafal Mickiewicz (for Jude Law)

PLOT SUMMARY

Allegra Geller, a superstar of the games design world, has developed a new virtual reality game, eXistenZ, and has hired a focus group to help her test it. But a maniac with a bizarre organic gun attacks the test, trying to kill her. She escapes with marketing trainee, Ted Pikul, who reluctantly becomes her bodyguard. Her game pod, containing the only copy of eXistenZ, has been damaged and Geller needs to enter the game to check it out. She pursuades Pikul to have a gameport implanted in his back and together they enter the game - but will they be able to get out again and if they do, will they be able to recognise the real world when they see it again?

A return to the territory first mapped by Cronenberg in Videodrome (1983) and something of a minor triumph. The bewildering levels of reality explored in the film alienated many, though fans of SF author Philip K. Dick (whose work is explicitly referenced in the film) will lap it up.

Canada
Theatrical Distributor: Alliance Atlantis Communications

Finland
Theatrical Distributor: Columbia TriStar Egmont Film Distributors

France
Theatrical Distributor: UGC-Fox Distribution

Germany
Theatrical Distributor: Kinowelt Filmverleih

Japan
Theatrical Distributor: GAGA Communications

Latin America
Theatrical Distributor: Miramax Films

Portugal
Theatrical Distributor: Vitoria Filme

Switzerland
Theatrical Distributor: Ascot Elite Entertainment Group

UK
Theatrical Distributor: Alliance Communications Corporation

USA
Theatrical Distributor: Dimension Films/Serendipity

CENSORSHIP HISTORY

Australia
Rating: M

Belgium
Rating: KNT

Finland
Rating: K-16

France
Rating: -12

Germany
Rating: 16

Hong Kong
Rating: IIB

Netherlands
Rating: 16

New Zealand
Rating: M

Norway
Rating: 15

Portugal
Rating: M/16

Singapore
Rating: PG

Sweden
Rating: 15

Switzerland
Rating: 16

UK
Rating: 15

USA
Rating: R

1999
Berlin International Film Festival, Germany
Silver Berlin Bear: Outstanding Artistic Achievement (David Cronenberg) - winner
Golden Berlin Bear (David Cronenberg) - nominated

Catalonian International Film Festival, Sitges, Spain
Best Film - nominated

2000
Academy of Science Fiction, Horror and Fantasy Films, USA
Saturn Award: Best Science Fiction Film - nominated

Genie Awards
Best Achievement in Editing (Ronald Sanders) - winner
Best Achievement in Art Direction/Production Design (Carol Spier) - nominated
Best Motion Picture (David Cronenberg, Andras Hamori, Robert Lantos) - nominated

Motion Picture Sound Editors, USA
Golden Reel Award: Best Sound Editing - Foreign Feature (Tom Bjelic (sound effects editor); David Evans (supervising sound editor); Mark Gingras (adr/dialogue editor); Wayne Griffin (supervising dialogue editor); John Laing (dialogue editor); Paul Shikata (sound effects editor)) - nominated

1999
February
16: Germany - shown at the Berlin Film Festival

April
14: France - theatrical release
19: USA - premiere
23: Canada - theatrical release
23: USA - theatrical release
30: UK - theatrical release

May
6: Iceland - theatrical release
7: Portugal - theatrical release
19: Belgium - theatrical release

June
24: Netherlands - theatrical release

July
16: New Zealand - shown at the Auckland Film Festival
29: Singapore - theatrical release

August
7: South Korea - theatrical release
25: Malta - theatrical release
27: Sweden - theatrical release

September
23: New Zealand - theatrical release
23: Switzerland - theatrical release (German speaking region)

October
10: Hungary - shown at the Titanic International Filmpresence Festival
14: Israel - theatrical release
27: Kuwait - theatrical release

November
11: Australia - theatrical release
18: Germany - theatrical release
26: Norway - theatrical release

2000
January
5: Italy - theatrical release

February
12: Russia - theatrical release

April
13: Hong Kong - shown at the Hong Kong International Film Festival
29: Japan - theatrical release

May
4: Hungary - video release

July
11: Czech Republic - shown at the Karlovy Vary Film Festival
18: Argentina - video release

November
2: Hong Kong - theatrical release

Play Or Be Played.

Connect Compete Collide

Play it. Live it. Kill for it.

Crimes of the Future - working title

SEE ALSO
Alien (1979)
Blade Runner (1982)
Red Dwarf: Better Than Life (1988)
Red Dwarf: Back to Reality (1992)
Crusader: No Remorse (1995)
Crash (1996)
Dungeon Keeper 1 (1997)
Gattaca (1997)

PERIODICALS

Arbetet Nyheterna 27 August 1999 (Sweden)
review (''Sätta livet på spel'' by Sven E. Olsson)

Entertainment Weekly no.483 (30 April 1999) p.66
review (Wicked Game by Lisa Schwarzbaum)

Premiere vol.12 no.10 (June 1999) p.22
review (by Glenn Kenny)

Variety no.374 (22 February 1999) p.56
review (by David Stratton)

NEWSPAPERS

A Capital, Guia TV 7 May 1999
review (by Francisco Perestrello)

Correio da Manhã 7 May 1999
review (by Vitoriano Rosa)

Diário de Notícias 17 February 1999 p.34
review (by Abel Coelho De Morais)

Diário de Notícias 7 May 1999
review (by Eurico De Barros)

Göteborgs-Posten 27 August 1999 p.51
review (Blodigt våld - men inte på allvar by Monika Tunbäck-Hanson)

Svenska Dagbladet 27 August 1999
review (Spel i spelet i spelet by Ludvig Hertzberg)

BOOKS

Pocket Essentials: David Cronenberg by John Costello pp.82-87

KEYWORDS

assassins, bounty hunters, computer games, computers, cyberpunk, dissections, gas stations, mutations, parallel dimensions, recursion, the future, virtual reality

Last Updated: 1 January, 2009