Editing David Cronenberg (section)

=== 1991–2002: Career fluctuations ===
[[File:David Cronenberg(CannesPhotoCall)-.jpg|thumb|left|170px|Cronenberg at the [[Cannes Film Festival]] in 2002]]
Perhaps the best example of a film that straddles the line between Cronenberg's works of personal chaos and psychological confusion is his 1991 "adaptation" of ''[[Naked Lunch]]'' (1959), his literary hero [[William S. Burroughs]]' most controversial book. The novel was considered "[[unfilmable]]", and Cronenberg acknowledged that a straight translation into film would "cost 400 million dollars and be banned in every country in the world". Instead—much like in his earlier film, ''Videodrome''—he consistently blurred the lines between what appeared to be reality and what appeared to be [[hallucinations]] brought on by the main character's drug addiction. Some of the book's "moments" (as well as incidents loosely based upon Burroughs' life) are presented in this manner within the film. Cronenberg stated that while writing the screenplay for ''[[Naked Lunch (film)|Naked Lunch]]'' (1991), he felt a moment of [[synergy]] with Burroughs' writing style. He felt the connection between his screenwriting style and Burroughs' prose style was so strong, that he jokingly remarked that should Burroughs pass on, he might write his next novel.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Self |first=Will |date=2015-06-17 |title=Man-Eating Philosophers |url=https://www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v37/n12/will-self/man-eating-philosophers |access-date=2024-06-12 |work=London Review of Books |language=en |volume=37 |issue=12 |issn=0260-9592}}</ref>

Cronenberg has also appeared as an actor in other directors' films. Most of his roles are [[cameo appearance]]s, as in the films ''[[Into the Night (1985 film)|Into the Night]]'' (1985), ''[[Blood and Donuts]]'' (1995), ''[[To Die For]]'' (1995), and ''[[Jason X]]'' (2002) and the television series ''[[Alias (TV series)|Alias]]'', but on occasion he has played major roles, as in ''[[Nightbreed]]'' (1990) and ''[[Last Night (1998 film)|Last Night]]'' (1998). He has not had major roles in any of his own films, but he did put in a brief appearance as a gynecologist in ''The Fly''; he can also be glimpsed among the sex-crazed hordes in ''Shivers''; he can be heard as an unseen car-pound attendant in ''Crash''; his hands can be glimpsed in ''[[eXistenZ]]'' (1999); and he appeared as a stand-in for [[James Woods]] in ''Videodrome''.

Cronenberg has said that his films should be seen "from the point of view of the disease", and that in ''Shivers'', for example, he identifies with the characters ''after'' they become infected with the anarchic parasites. Disease and disaster, in Cronenberg's work, are less problems to be overcome than agents of [[Morphological freedom|personal transformation]]. Of his characters' transformations, Cronenberg said, "But because of our necessity to impose our own structure of perception on things we look on ourselves as being relatively stable. But, in fact, when I look at a person I see this maelstrom of organic, chemical and electron chaos; volatility and instability, shimmering; and the ability to change and transform and transmute."<ref>{{cite news|author=Gordon, Bette|url=https://bombmagazine.org/articles/david-cronenberg/ |title=David Cronenberg|work=[[BOMB Magazine]]|date= Winter 1989|access-date= January 18, 2022}}</ref> Similarly, in ''[[Crash (1996 film)|Crash]]'' (1996), people who have been injured in car crashes attempt to view their ordeal as "a fertilizing rather than a destructive event". In 2005, Cronenberg publicly disagreed with [[Paul Haggis]]' choice of the same name for the latter's [[Academy Awards|Oscar]]-winning film ''[[Crash (2004 film)|Crash]]'' (2004), arguing that it was "very disrespectful" to the "important and seminal" [[Crash (J. G. Ballard novel)|J. G. Ballard novel]] on which Cronenberg's film was based.<ref>{{cite news |title=Double Trouble |work=Slate |url=http://www.slate.com/id/2118602/fr/nl/ |date=May 12, 2005 |access-date=December 13, 2009 |archive-date=May 14, 2005 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20050514233203/http://www.slate.com/id/2118602/fr/nl/ |url-status=dead }}</ref>