EVERYONE HAS SOMETHING TO HIDE.
After killing two criminals, Tom Stall (Viggo Mortensen), the supposedly peaceful owner of a diner, lands in the news spotlight; soon, a disfigured man (Ed Harris) walks into his diner and insists on calling Tom Joey… More conventional than many other David Cronenberg films, but still recognizable to aficionados. The director is obviously interested in the way the lead character can walk in and out of his two identities; how they are not really compatible, but still exist in one body. A good story with or without the blood-spurting, surprisingly adult and intelligent. Mortensen is excellent in a low-key performance and William Hurt is very amusing as a psychopathic mob boss.
2005-U.S.-Canada. 95 min. Color. Produced by Chris Bender, J.C. Spink. Directed by David Cronenberg. Screenplay: Josh Olson. Graphic Novel: John Wagner, Vince Locke. Cast: Viggo Mortensen (Tom Stall), Maria Bello (Edie Stall), William Hurt (Richie Cusack), Ed Harris, Ashton Holmes, Stephen McHattie.
Trivia: Harrison Ford was allegedly considered for the part of Tom.
Last word: “My investment was in Josh’s script. We had developed it to a certain point that it was going in a very interesting direction and we were both very comfortable with it, and that’s when I heard that there was a graphic novel. And I said, Well, what graphic novel? And they said, Oh you didn’t know? So then I looked at it and I saw that although the basic premise was obviously the same, it then took some turns and went in a very different direction from what we were doing. And with Josh, I guess it was conscience to go in a different direction. But for me it wasn’t. I was just following him and then developing it with him. So it had no effect on me, reading it.” (Cronenberg, About.com)
