Director Cronenberg writing a novel

Film director David Cronenberg says he's wanted to write a book for 50 years -- and now he's finally doing it.

Cronenberg, attending the Rome Film Festival this week, says he's written 60 pages so far -- and it won't be horror or science fiction, like many of his films.

David Cronenberg poses in front of a
still image from his film "Scanners"
during an art exhibition at the Rome
film festival. (Alessandra Tarantino~AP)

''Based on the pages I have written we found publishers all over the world, which is very terrifying to me,'' Cronenberg told reporters at the festival. ''It's at a very delicate phase right now, so I can't really talk about it. It's not like Stephen King. I don't know what it's like but you wouldn't call it a horror or science fiction novel at all. But what it is exactly, well, I don't know yet.''

Cronenberg's best known films are scattered across the '80s: "Scanners" (1981), ''Videodrome'' (1983), ''The Fly'' (1986) and "Dead Ringers" (1988). More recently he has garnered acclaim for two collaborations with actor Viggo Mortensen, "A History of Violence" (2005) and "Eastern Promises" (2007).