Viggo Mortensen replaces Christoph Waltz in THE TALKING CURE

By Matt Holmes / June 25, 2011

The only niggle I have with David Cronenberg's adaptation of Chris Hampton's (Atonement) psychoanalytical play which deconstructs the relationship between Sigmund Freud and his pupil Karl Jung is the title itself; "The Talking Cure". The drama begins shooting May 17th for 10 weeks in Germany. For me, the title just isn't evocative enough and I doubt it'll attract any curiosity outside of the most elitist of cinema-going circles. Any movie with the word "Talking" appearing anywhere in it's title and that's not a family orientated high-concept picture (i.e. "The Talking Lizard") - just sounds like a stuffy, dialogue heavy bore-fest. Of course Cronenberg outside of A History of Violence, has never been a mass audience crowd-pleaser, and the tale of Freud/Jung doesn't lend itself to this thinking - but with Keira Knightley likely to receive top billing in a cast that includes Viggo Mortensen and Michael Fassbender, I can't help but feel they are selling themselves short with a weak title. Fassbender (Jung), Morstensen (Freud) play the two prof's with Knightley as the beautiful, smart and seductive patient, Sabina Spielrein, who inspired both but eventually tore the close friends apart. Mortensen from Cronenberg's Eastern Promises and A History of Violence replaced Waltz today in haste according to Deadline, as the latter decided to take another villain role in three notches down helmer Francis Lawrence and his Water for Elephants instead. Turn down Cronenberg for Lawrence? Bad career move, I'd say. Tonight I was in the process of putting together my most anticipated performances of the year and Waltz as Freud in a Cronenberg movie was right up there but Mortensen is incomparable really, and my anticipation for the movie hasn't soured one bit. Vincent Cassel is also on board according to French distributor's Mars Films' Facebook but no word on what role yet.