LONDON, UK – Canadian director David Cronenberg is set to shoot his next film in Greece, Neon and Serendipity Point Films announced on April 29, Screen Daily (SD) reported. Crimes of the Future will stars Viggo Mortensen, Léa Seydoux, and Kristen Stewart and “is based on Cronenberg’s first original screenplay since eXistenZ in 1999 and sees the Canadian auteur return to his familiar sci-fi stomping ground,” SD reported.

“I have unfinished business with the future,” Cronenberg said, SD reported.

“Principal photography is scheduled to commence in August in Athens, Greece, on the Serendipity Point Films and Argonauts co-production,” SD reported, adding that “the Canada-Greece co-production is produced in association with Ingenious Media, Coficine, and Telefilm Canada, with the support of EKOME.”

“Crimes of the Future takes place in a near-future where humans are learning to adapt to synthetic surroundings and are evolving,” SD reported, noting that “while some embrace the limitless potential of transhumanism, others attempt to police it.”

“Saul Tenser is a performance artist who has embraced ‘Accelerated Evolution Syndrome,’ sprouting new and unexpected organs in his body,” the description continues. “Along with his partner Caprice, Tenser has turned the removal of these organs into a spectacle for his loyal followers to enjoy in real time theatre,” SD reported, adding that “as the government and a strange subculture takes note, Tenser must consider what would be his most shocking performance of all.”

Actors Scott Speedman (Barney’s Version, Adoration), Welket Bungué (Berlin Alexanderplatz), Don McKellar (Blindness, Existenz), and Lihi Kornowski (Losing Alice) are also set to appear in the film, SD reported.

This will be the third project for Mortensen with Cronenberg. He previously starred in two other Cronenberg films, Eastern Promises and A History of Violence. Cronenberg “reunites for the fourth time with producer Robert Lantos of Serendipity Point after Eastern Promises, Existenz, and Crash,” SD reported.

“To work with David Cronenberg is to embark on a journey exploring terrain where no-one has gone before,” said Lantos, SD reported. “Each of our collaborations has been an exhilarating adventure and David’s unwavering vision is what real cinema is all about.”

“Steve Solomos (Possessor) is co-producer, and Panos Papahadzis (Knifer, Stratus) is co-producer for Athens-based Argonauts Productions,” SD reported.

Lantos told SD’s sister publications KFTV and World of Locations, IndieWire reported, “I am looking forward to returning to Greece to shoot another film with Argonauts. It has been 14 years since we shot ‘Fugitive Pieces’  in Athens, Hydra and Mitilini, an experience of which I have fond and positive souvenirs. Athens is the perfect setting for ‘Crimes of the Future’ as it is bespoke tailoring for David Cronenberg’s unique vision of a future which intermingles with the past.”

“It’s something he wrote a long time ago, and he never got it made,” Mortensen told GQ magazine earlier this year about the project, IndieWire reported. “Now he’s refined it, and he wants to shoot it. Hopefully, it’ll be this summer we’ll be filming. I would say, without giving the story away, he’s going maybe a little bit back to his origins.”

Cronenberg’s Crimes of the Future is the latest of “several high profile new productions setting up shop in Greece,” according to Screen Rant, IndieWire reported, adding that “Rian Johnson is also filming his Knives Out sequel in the country.”