Famous director David Cronenberg is currently shooting his new movie with stars like Keira Knightley and Viggo Mortensen at Upper Swabia and around Lake Constance. Last Wednesday, work on A Dangerous Method began at Überlingen.

Two men, in between them a woman - a classical combination. In A Dangerous Method (there is not yet an official German title), the protagonists are famous: Sigmund Freud and C. G. Jung, fathers of psychoanalysis. Between them young Russian hysteric Sabina Spielrein - this is the starting point of the new movie of director David Cronenberg. Shooting partly takes place at Lake Constance and in Upper Swabia.

They started at Überlingen - in optimal weather conditions -, next week they will move to the monastery of Inzigkofen, and Konstanz is on the schedule near the end of this month. Other locations are studios at Berlin-Babelsberg, Zurich, Vienna and in Hürth near Cologne, where filming started during June.

Mortensen replaces Waltz

There are simple financial reasons for the fact, that a Canadian director with an international cast is filming mostly in Germany: Cronenberg and his production company receive a considerable amount of German subsidies; the state of Baden-Württemberg participates by way of its media and film company MFG with 500.000 Euros alone. The total budget is supposed to amount to 15 Million Euros.

The cast of the movie is star studded. Freud is played by Viggo Mortensen, who filmed with Cronenberg already in his last two projects A History of Violence (2005) and Eastern Promises (2007). Originally though, this part had been cast with Austrian Oscar-winner Christoph Waltz, who cancelled at short notice due to another project. Viggo Mortensen is mainly known for his interpretation of Aragorn in the trilogy of Lord of the Rings; his latest movie The Road will be in cinemas in Germany this fall.

At his side: young Englishwoman Keira Knightley, successfully oscillating for years between blockbusters like the trilogy of Pirates of the Caribbean and demanding movies like Atonement or Pride and Prejudice; her breakthrough came in 2002 with the movie Bend it like Beckham. As Freud's pupil C. G. Jung is German-Irish actor Michael Fassbender, known last but not least for his role in Quentin Tarantino's Inglorious Basterds. Part of the crew are, besides script-writer Christopher Hampton (Dangerous Liaisons), Cronenberg's long-term staff members, director of photography Peter Suschitzky and score composer Howard Shore.

Shooting takes place under high secrecy, not to attract paparazzi or sightseers, who could disturb the crew. Lake Constance was chosen to "stand in" for Lake Zurich. Part of the plot takes place at the Swiss metropolis; but today's Lake Zurich can no longer be used for a set situated in 1914.

Production, including lengthy post-production, will demand all the rest of 2010; the producer's goal is to get the movie ready for Berlinale in February 2011 or at least for the Cannes Festival. German distributor will be Universal.