Michael Ironside bears little ill will towards the producer, known for backing lucrative projects like the “Pirates of the Caribbean” movies. “He has a business he has to run,” Ironside continued, “he has to make decisions based on his way of doing things and what makes him feel safe.”
The voice of DC villain, Darkseid, has his own way of doing things: Like some of his more direct characters, he says what he means and means what he says. Speaking his mind has made for great collaborations — he’s a repeat player for Paul Verhoeven, exploding heads and blasting bugs over the decades. But in some instances, Ironside’s way of doing things can put creators on the defensive. In a 2016 interview with Screen Anarchy, he explained how calling out David Cronenberg on misogyny in his 1988 film “Dead Ringers” led to a falling out:
“David and I have only worked together that once, we had a falling out about five or six years later, over a discussion. It was over the twins film with Jeremy Irons, ‘Dead Ringers.’ We were talking one day about it and there happened to be somebody listening and I told him I thought it was misogynistic horses***. You start sticking odd objects inside of women and pass it off as drama. I said if you’ve got to work out your godd***ed s***, why do you have to do it at the expense of the audience? And he said you’re full of s*** and we got in to it, and I still hold to that.”
To be fair, much of Cronenberg’s early oeuvre is clearly some form of relationship scream therapy — sexy, terrifying scream therapy. Whether the drama part of it passes muster depends on how horny and terrified the viewer wants to be.