Naked Making Lunch

An excellent look behind the scenes at Cronenberg's "Naked Lunch".

Any capture of William Burroughs on film is a good thing, as we now have nothing left of him but his work. Some future documentarian will be able to construct an impressive life story from the bits he left behind. And seeing Cronenberg and Burroughs, two of the world's great artists, side by side is a real kick.

Burroughs also goes on record about his use of drugs, which is interesting even outside of his writing. He talks of what he likes and what he does not, and his political views on how Congress created criminals by making drugs illegal.

There is the subtle irony that a book can be obscene but once put on film it is art. Of course, there are big differences in the two forms. Although, of course, it is no literal interpretation and Cronenberg says if it was "there is no culture that could withstand that film".

We learn that Judy Davis was surprised that she was sought out by Cronenberg, as the script rather horrified her.

One interesting tidbit is that the script of this film was written on the plane while Cronenberg was acting in "Nightbreed". In some strange way, these two films are now forever interconnected.

Heck, we even get to learn a bit about artist Brion Gysin's influence on Burroughs and the connection between painting, writing and film. In a round about way, Gysin influenced performance artist Genesis P-Orridge, and from there industrial music was born... something so far removed from the Beat Generation.