ITALY: Keira Knightley, Viggo Mortensen and Michael Fassbender star in Canadian director David Cronenberg's latest movie "A Dangerous Method"

Record ID: 578924

  • Title: ITALY: Keira Knightley, Viggo Mortensen and Michael Fassbender star in Canadian director David Cronenberg's latest movie "A Dangerous Method"
  • Date: 5th September 2011
  • Summary: VENICE LIDO, ITALY (SEPTEMBER 03, 2011) (REUTERS) (SOUNDBITE) (English) ACTOR MICHAEL FASSBENDER "It was kind of scary because I was afraid I was going to hit her you know because I was really going for it with that belt so I was just concentrating that I hit the mark with the belt, not her. So, yeah, that was my main concern, that I didn't, you know, leave a mark that's going to mark, you know, on Keira Knightley's ass. Actually, as a sort of parting gift at the end of the film she gave me a sort of spanking thing and she said 'wouldn't have been spanked by anybody better, lots of love, Keira' so she is a good sport."
  • Embargoed: 20th September 2011 13:00
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  • Location: Italy, Italy
  • Country: Italy
  • Reuters ID: LVA7ZTQOTEO99LEHAYQRICKRH197
  • Story Text: Canadian director David Cronenberg's latest movie "A Dangerous Method" explores the role a little-known Russian woman played in the birth of psychoanalysis at the turn of the 20th century.
    Between the recognised titans of the discipline Sigmund Freud and Carl Jung, played respectively by Viggo Mortensen and Michael Fassbender, came Sabina Spielrein, portrayed by Keira Knightley.
    The psychologically troubled, fiercely intelligent young woman was a real-life patient first of Jung and later Freud.
    Some historians also believe she had an affair with Jung.
    In the film Jung sets out on a path of sexual liberation and obsession with his charge prompted by the debauched and dangerous Otto Gross.
    Irish-German actor Fassbender said he had approached the role of the historically important character with apprehension.
    "With fear. You know, it is daunting, yes, for sure and that's sort of part of the excitement and the challenge of it. I managed to watch some footage of Jung in his later years, that was something I managed to sort of get hold of on the Internet and then I read some material and then I just really concentrated on the script, first and foremost, that's where I did most of my work. A lot of repetition of the script until eventually it's almost like sort of putting on another layer of skin," he said.
    For Mortensen, who also starred in Cronenberg's "A History of Violence" and "Eastern Promises", playing such a well-known figure as Freud was a challenge, but not because he was concerned about getting the details right.
    "I don't usually play characters that have as much to say, verbally. Or they'd say as much, I play characters who have a lot to say but they don't say it or they choose not to express them, they express themselves with physical gestures rather than through language. In this case, Doctor Freud is a man who doesn't stop talking and he uses words instead of gestures as a way of defending himself or protecting himself or attacking or avoiding or lying, hiding things, manipulating, controlling situations. He does it with language, he can do it sitting quite still, you know, which is an interesting challenge," he said.
    For Knightley, a role involving scenes of hysteria and sexual spanking was a departure from the demure, restrained characters for which she is best known.
    She said she had approached two therapists in her research for her part, which helped her expand her horizons.
    "Well, I saw two for this movie, you know, I did, and it was totally extraordinary. You know, I've got the utmost respect for anyone who recognises in themselves that they need help and asks for it. And I think just given this story, you have a woman who was completely lost within herself and they managed to pull her out and to get her functioning and to get her to achieve really amazing things, she wrote papers that inspired both Freud and Jung. This is an extraordinary person and I think without that help there is no way she could've achieved what she did," said Knightley.
    Spielrein went on to become a respected psychoanalyst in her own right, and in the film her ideas challenge both Freud and Jung to rethink their own approach.
    Knightley and Fassbender said they had sought to use humour to offset the film's tense scenes, including various takes in which Jung spanks Spielrein with a belt.
    "It was kind of scary because I was afraid I was going to hit her you know because I was really going for it with that belt so I was just concentrating that I hit the mark with the belt, not her. So, yeah, that was my main concern, that I didn't, you know, leave a mark that's going to mark, you know, on Keira Knightley's ass. Actually, as a sort of parting gift at the end of the film she gave me a sort of spanking thing and she said 'wouldn't have been spanked by anybody better, lots of love, Keira' so she is a good sport," said Fassbender, adding that Mortensen had kept a collection of ceramic penises on his desk and moved them around during dialogue-heavy office scenes.
    Director Cronenberg said he had wanted to make a movie about Freud for a long time but had needed a dramatic structure to talk about his life and the birth of psychoanalysis.
    He said Freud's ideas were considered dangerous at a time when many people believed man was on a one-way path to enlightenment and progress.
    Oscar-winning writer Christopher Hampton penned the script, which is based on his own play "The Talking Cure".
    Cronenberg said his cerebral costume drama about what he called an "intellectual menage a trois" was "very accurate."
    "When you make a movie like this you want to resurrect everybody, you know, it's resurrection, you want to bring them back to life literally because you would like to meet Freud, you would like to hear him speak, you would like to see him in his office, working. And so that impulse is also very strong when you make a so-called bio-pic, you know, you want to bring these people back to life," said the 68-year-old director of hits like "The Fly" and "A History of Violence".
    "A Dangerous Method", which also stars French actor Vincent Cassel, is one of 22 movies in the main competition at this year's Venice film festival, and is due to hit U.S. theatres in November.
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