David Cronenberg expects walkouts in 'first 5 minutes' at premiere of Crimes of the Future with Kristen Stewart

The recent trailer for David Cronenberg's upcoming film Crimes of the Future strongly suggested that the project will find the director returning to the full-on body horror of his early career. Now, in a new interview with Deadline, the filmmaker confirms that his first movie in eight years will likely make some viewers queasy.

"There are some very strong scenes," the Canadian tells journalist Damon Wise. "I mean, I'm sure that we will have walkouts within the first five minutes of the movie. I'm sure of that. Some people who have seen the film have said that they think the last 20 minutes will be very hard on people, and that there'll be a lot of walkouts. Some guy said that he almost had a panic attack. And I say, 'Well, that would be OK.' But I'm not convinced that that will be a general reaction."

NEON Kristen Stewart on the set of David Cronenberg's 'Crimes of the Future'

Crimes of the Future is set in a world where humans are adapting to a synthetic environment and bodies are undergoing new transformations and mutations. Viggo Mortensen plays a celebrity performance artist named Saul Tenser who, working with his partner Caprice (Léa Seydoux), publicly showcases the metamorphosis of his organs in avant-garde performances. Timlin (Kristen Stewart), an investigator from the National Organ Registry, obsessively tracks their movements and soon discovers a mysterious group. Their mission: to use Saul's notoriety to shed light on the next phase of human evolution. Scott Speedman and Don McKellar round out the cast.

Nikos Nikolopoulos/Neon Léa Seydoux, Viggo Mortensen, and Kristen Stewart in 'Crimes of the Future.'

Crimes of the Future will receive its world premiere at this year's Cannes Film Festival, where Cronenberg previously launched his controversial movie Crash back in 1996.

"I do expect walkouts in Cannes, and that's a very special thing," Cronenberg says in the Deadline interview. "People always walk out, and the seats notoriously clack as you get up, because the seats fold back and hit the back of the seat. So, you hear clack, clack, clack. Whether they'll be outraged the way they were with Crash, I somehow don't think so. They might be revulsed to the point that they want to leave, but that's not the same as being outraged. However, I have no idea really what's going to happen."

Marilla Sicilia/Mondadori Portfolio via Getty Images Director David Cronenberg expects walkouts of his new film 'Crimes of the Future' due to strong scenes

Cronenberg directed a movie called Crimes of the Future at the start of his career, more than 50 years ago, but the filmmaker recently told EW that this new project has no connection to the earlier release beyond its title.

"It really doesn't relate at all," he said. "That was very much an art film and certainly not meant to be a commercial movie at all, very experimental. Really, I've only taken the title because it was an accurate title for that movie and it's an accurate title for the new movie."

Crimes of the Future will be released in June. Watch the film's trailer below.

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