Much loved in France, Cronenberg joins Legion of Honour

Canadian David Cronenberg received the French Legion of Honour on Wednesday night inrecognition of his contributions to filmmaking.

The director of Eastern Promises and The Flywas named a knight in the Lgion d'honneur bythe French ambassadorat a private ceremony in Toronto.

Although proudly Canadian, Cronenberg said he also felt a strong connection to France.

"I feel that France is also my country, another parent who has been proudly indulgent when it has been best and sternly critical when that was best, all for the benefit of David, their spoiled child," Cronenberg said.

"Thank you all for your indulgence. Vive la France, vive le Canada et vive le cinma."

Earlier, Cronenberg said he has always felt his work was welcomed in France, even when he was known as the King of Horror for films such as Shivers and Scanners.

He won a special jury prize at the Cannes Film Festival for Crash and a French critics prize for The Dead Zone.

"The French were amongst the very first to immediately accept cinema as art, as opposed to just a disposableentertainment," Cronenberg told CBC News.

"They also have a tradition of not having contempt for genre."

News emerged last week that Cronenberg has agreed to create a sequel to his Russian mob drama Eastern Promises.

He is also about to work with some of Hollywood's best-known actors. Cronenberg's next film, a political thriller titled The Matarese Circle, will most likely star Denzel Washington and Tom Cruise.

It is based on a 1979 book by Robert Ludlum.