Naked Lunch (1991)

After developing an addiction to the substance he uses to kill bugs, an exterminator accidentally kills his wife, and becomes involved in a secret government plot being orchestrated by giant bugs in a port town in North Africa.

Director:

David Cronenberg

Writers:

William S. Burroughs (novel), David Cronenberg

Stars:

Peter Weller, Judy Davis, Ian Holm

13 wins & 13 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Peter Weller	...	Bill Lee
Judy Davis	...	Joan Frost / Joan Lee
Ian Holm	...	Tom Frost
Julian Sands	...	Yves Cloquet
Roy Scheider	...	Dr. Benway
Monique Mercure	...	Fadela
Nicholas Campbell	...	Hank
Michael Zelniker	...	Martin
Robert A. Silverman	...	Hans
Joseph Scoren	...	Kiki (as Joseph Scorsiani)
Peter Boretski	...	Creature Voices / Exterminator #2
Yuval Daniel	...	Hafid
John Friesen	...	Hauser
Sean McCann	...	O'Brien
Howard Jerome	...	A.J. Cohen

Storyline

Not an adaptation of beat writer William S. Burrough's novel but a mix of biography and an interpretation of his drug- induced writing processes combined with elements of his work in this paranoid fantasy about Bill Lee, a writer who accidentally shoots his wife, whose typewriter transforms into a cockroach and who becomes involved in a mysterious plot in North African port called Interzone. Wonderfully bizarre, not unlike Burrough's books.

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Plot Keywords:

secret agent | lynchian | psychological disintegration | reality vs fantasy | repressed homosexual | 

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Taglines:

The book was banned. The film should never have been made. Too late.

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Genres:

Drama

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated R for heavy drug content, bizarre eroticism, and language

Details

Country:

Canada UK Japan

Language:

English Arabic

Release Date:

24 April 1992 (UK)

Also Known As:

David Cronenberg's Naked Lunch

Filming Locations:

Toronto, Ontario, Canada

Box Office

Budget:

$16,000,000 (estimated)

Gross USA:

$2,541,541

Company Credits

Production Co:

Recorded Picture Company (RPC), Téléfilm Canada, Ontario Film Development Corporation

Technical Specs

Runtime:

115 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby Stereo

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

This movie takes place in 1953.

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Goofs

The glass shot off Judy Davis' head changes to a plastic glass. First instance as the glass is falling off her head after the shot and then at end of film it is a plastic glass Ms Davis balances on her head. It remains plastic until it falls to floor and changes back into glass.

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Quotes

[first lines]
Bill Lee: Exterminator.

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Connections

References Stalker (1979)

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Soundtracks

Mysterioso
Composed by Thelonious Monk
Published by Bocca Music Ltd.

User Reviews

Filming the Unfilmable... why not?

This film of 'Naked Lunch' is the first of Cronenberg's Trilogy

of filming three of the most challenging literary works of the

20th Century, and arguably the most difficult... as anyone who's

read Burroughs' 1959 novel can attest, in conventional terms it

is a book without a cohesive plot or even structure, largely

assembled from the paranoid rambling letters of the world's most

notorious drug addict. Cronenberg's approach to the material is

ingenious in that he attempts to fictionalize the circumstances

under which the book was written rather than trying to weave a

storyline from the mass of twisted plot threads which comprise

the text. The cast is impeccable, particularly Peter Weller and Judy Davis

as the leads, Ian holm as a psuedo-Paul Bowles, and Cronenberg

regulars Robert A. Silverman as Hans and Nicholas Campbell as

Kerouac-ish Hank. Julian Sands and Roy Scheider don't quite

infuse their roles with the ridiculousness of their counterparts

from the novel, but their cameos are brief and don't detract

from the overall effect. The overall effect being a hypnotic, schizophrenic blend of

biography and folklore, equal parts Cronenberg and Burroughs, a

self-tortured portrait of the creative process. To the

director's credit, he relies on the script (his own) and the

performances over visual trickery or stock travelogue scenery to

set the mood and propel the action. The astonishing soundtrack,

by the superb Howard Shore, underscores the drug-filled malaise

of this Tangerine dream perfectly... it lacks any musical sense

of time and therefore hangs over the proceedings like a

mysterious haze. Haunting, powerful cinema... but most

definitely not for everyone. Wise up the marks before laying

this on them.