"I guess my understanding of film is very different then, because those things never occurred to me," says Cronenberg on the claim of 'unfilmable' books. "I mean, the normal Hollywood concept of the book that you can turn into a movie is one that has very strong characters in the normal sense and has a very strong plot. Those are the two things that Hollywood has used to dominate world film making forever. From that point of view, why even bother with those books, then? But my understanding of film making is probably more European and I often think that being in Toronto is halfway between being in Europe and Hollywood. I was influences very strongly by both while growing up and in my film making. And it was very clear at the Cannes Film Festival, which really kind of defines itself against the Academy Awards. Not in a hostile way, just saying that there's alternative film making that isn't rock music or something. It's feature films that are not Hollywood movies and it's still alive."

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