TotalFilm reports that actor Christoph Waltz has given up the role of Sigmund Freud in David Cronenberg’s next movie. Waltz just won a Best Supporting Actor Oscar for his role in Quentin Tarantino’s Inglourious Basterds.
The in-demand actor had also signed on to do Water for Elephants. That film is shooting at the same time so he had to make a choice.
Viggo Mortensen, a familiar face in Cronenberg films, will jump into the role of Freud. This will be a third collaboration for the two men after A History of Violence and Eastern Promises.
The Talking Cure also stars Michael Fassbender as Carl Jung and Keira Knightley as Sabina Spielrein, a brilliant and troubled woman who asks Jung for help.
The film is based on the play by Christopher Hampton and is about the conflict between Freud and his pupil Jung.
The ten-week film shoot begins in May.