some thoughts on the analytical point of view

Did cronenberg really have this dream as a child... I wasnt aware (or either I misread the context).

is this true or fabricated, maybe he didn't really !

No reason he can't be both, which is a possibility more interesting to me.

Am I misremembering, or does the Actor express a change of heart? He is apprehensive about the camera, and the children using it. He almost seems revolted by the entire medium. But I seem to recall that he comes around by then end, perhaps around the time they are applying makeup, and ultimately decides it's a good thing, or at least that he isn't ready to do without it yet, and so consents to participate. Then the movie becomes cyclical, and I'm left with the impression that the Actor's feelings are likewise cyclical.

Perhaps the act of creating a movie as David does is in part traumatic. You're capturing a part of yourself, your feelings and psyche. It's got to be emotionally exhausting, and it could be very unsettling to see these feelings embedded in the finished product. Perhaps you cannot even relate to them anymore; it seems as though the act of capturing them has killed them. Maybe you cannot imagine putting yourself through that experience again, and again, and again. But after a while, the original impulses that inspired you to do so in the first place begin to reassert themselves, and you are drawn, willing or not, back into the cycle.

The children, of course, have no concept of this. They are innocent and naive. The Actor knows, and doesn't want the Camera to be in his apartment, wants to protect the children (who would be both the younger version of himself, and the representation of the creative impulses that drive the cycle). But the children are enthusiastic and purposeful, and he is eventually convinced to participate.

There's no suggestion of the children becoming like the actor though. They hardly express anything internal, they're almost automatons. It could just be that the tight time loop doesn't allow for that sort of change, and that the Actor has forgotten what the original experiences were like (they've been killed). Or I could have completely misinterpreted it. ;-)

Fun little flick.