"It's a kind of philosophical illustration of existentialist principle, very philosophical, but not heavy or depressing," says Davis Cronenberg of eXistenZ. Shlomo Schwartzberg takes notes. 

Though David Cronenberg's Crash, which won a prize for "audacity" at Cannes in 1996, is the only film of his to be featured in competition at the festival, many of his movies have been unveiled in the market.  
 

If Cronenberg's latest sounds like it's tilling some of the same soil as the  
director's 1983 Videodrome, he doesn't disagree. "I wouldn't say it's a follow up but it reminds me of Videodrome or Naked Lunch more than any of my other films," he says, over the phone from the suburban location where the $18.6 million movie, which he  
co-produced, is shooting.  

With its unique concepts and specially created terminology – such as UmbyJack and stud-finder – eXistenZ continues the trend of Cronenberg's recent films, becoming more elaborate and complex than his earlier work. "I tend to want to create enclosed, little worlds," says Cronenberg. "You gradually dream up what excites you, when it takes so much energy to make a film, it becomes actively what attracts you." eXistenZ, he goes on, is "kind of hard to describe. It has elements of SF, of course, as well as spy drama and mystery. It's a kind of philosophical illustration of existentialist principle, very philosophical, but not heavy or depressing."  

His own involvement in computer games is limited. "I'm interested, but it bores me very quickly. I look over my children's shoulders while they're playing. They show me the good parts." eXistenZ is also the first film of Cronenberg's since Videodrome to be based on an original idea. "The script is completely original, not based on a book. You won't have people saying the film didn't remind them of the book."  

Ironically, the science fictional, artificial eXistenZ was easier for him to get off the ground than his planned post-Crash project, the reality-based Red Cars, the true story of sixties Formula One racer Phil Hill. "It was also an enclosed little world and I wrote the script. It's a very difficult film to get made, a period piece, a strange little piece. It's not a traditional sports movie, Hill was not a traditional sports hero, either. He was a very complex, textured man. Red Cars is relatively expensive to do properly, it might never get made."  

With an eclectic cast, which includes Leigh, Law, Ian Holm and Sarah Polley (The Sweet Hereafter), Don McKellar (director of Last Night) and Willem Dafoe, eXistenz continues Cronenberg's fascination with character actors, as opposed to Hollywood stars. "I've never worked with Mel Gibson, Tom Cruise, Brad Pitt, Demi Moore. I'm not into the mega star, major Hollywood trip. It's not to say I never would work with stars but the actors in my films tend to, like Jennifer Jason Leigh, James Wood, Christopher Walken, Jeremy Irons, even Peter Weller, be sort of the alternative stars.  
They tend to be more edgy, less mainstream. Stars get quite conservative, they don't want to alienate fans, they're more star than actor. My casts are are actors first, stars second."  

"The production people, the costume people, on every level of production have inventive ideas. We are making a film people have never seen before, that has ideas that have never been used before, creatures, objects and new technology." That type of creativity is not new for Cronenberg, who points out "that I invented the talking insect typewriters [in Naked Lunch]."  

How does eXistenZ compare to Crash, which twisted and refracted the real world through its unique prism of car crash junkies? "eXistenZ is different than Crash," says Cronenberg. It's a complicated shoot, but energy complicated, cerebral complicated, not a physical one. It's been as much fun for everybody as I hoped it would be, particularly for Jennifer and Jude, who are in every scene. It's a more communal experience, a delight."  

And while eXistenZ's vision is wholly Cronenberg's own, at least one giant of science fiction, is acknowledged in the film. The presence of the late author Philip K Dick, whose novel Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? is the basis of the classic Blade Runner, is evident throughout eXistenZ, says Cronenberg. "There are references to him, it's my homage to him. Too bad he's not around to see it."