Critics said that Brundle's transformation was used as a social commentary for the social paranoia surrounding the outbreak of HIV and AIDS, however Cronenberg denies this being the case as it was meant to be in place of diseases in general. Goldblum was against the original ending of the film where Veronica and Stathis end up back together. Goldblum believed that the ending would undermine the tragedy of the story. Even though some filmmakers insisted on keeping the ending, it was changed to the more tragic and abrupt ending in the movie.