Cronenberg's The Fly to transform into an opera

Last Updated: Saturday, February 17, 2007 | 12:10 PM ET

CBC Arts

Canadian director David Cronenberg has teamed up with tenor Placido Domingo and Oscar-winning composer Howard Shore to create an opera based on Cronenberg's 1986 movie, The Fly.

The unlikely trio made an official announcement Friday in Paris saying the co-production between Theatre du Chatelet in Paris and the Los Angeles Opera would open in Paris July 1, 2008, and then move to Los Angeles in September.

Canadian Director David Cronenberg, seen here in a file photo, will be collaborating with tenor Placido Domingo to create an opera based on his 1986 movie The Fly.
(CP Photo)

"It's a magical reliving of a part of my life, this time playing a completely different role in the creation of a very different animal," Cronenberg said.

The 1986 movie, starring Jeff Goldblum as a scientist who slowly transforms into a fly, was based on a 1957 short story by George Langelaan. Cronenberg's other movies include the award-winning A History of Violence, Spider, eXistenZ and Dead Ringers.

The two-act opera was conceived by Shore, who called the plot an "intimate story" of love and death. Shore worked on the Lord of the Rings movie trilogy.

"I thought it was a very good opera subject for staging and I wanted to work with something I knew," said Shore at the press conference. He added that Cronenberg's movie provided a "canvas to work on to create something new."

The work will feature three main characters — a lead baritone, a tenor and a mezzo-soprano — along with a chorus and a 75-piece orchestra.

Domingo, who called it a "magical collaboration," will act as the opera's musical director.

"It has long been my dream to unite the worlds of film with those of opera," said the tenor in a statement.

Others working on the production include playwright David Henry Hwang, who previously worked with the 63-year-old director on the 1993 film M. Butterfly. Hwang will pen the opera's libretto while Denise Cronenberg, the director's sister, is the costume designer.

A report in Saturday's Globe and Mail newspaper said the Canadian Opera Company was first approached to mount the production. The COC is located in Cronenberg's hometown, Toronto.

COC general director Richard Bradshaw said the fees involved were too much for the company. He indicated, though, that the opera could still make its way to Toronto, perhaps in the summer of 2009.