Ever since the tumultuous Cannes press conference following the debut screening of his last film Melancholia, Lars von Trier has been living in a bubble of shame after being from the prestigious festival over inappropriate jokes he was trying to make about himself and Hitler. This is extremely unfortunate since Melancholia was a huge critical success at the festival and since then been well-received, winning best film at the European film awards.
It’s also probably the most accesible film in the dastardly Danes body of work. Yet in the surreal absurdity of all that was said during the press conference, the first details emerged about his next project which many in the press thought was a joke based on the candor of the directors tone.
The film is to be heavily pornographic in nature, so much so that von Trier joked about how there would have to be two different versions, one for theaters and one for the hardcore. Turns out what many thought to be another layer of his twisted sense of humor is true, as a new report from Variety confirms both the details of two versions of the film and Gainsbourg’s interest.
Charlotte Gainsbourg is in talks to topline in Lars Von Trier’s next film, “The Nymphomaniac,” an explicit exploration of a woman’s erotic life. Pic is at script stage and lensing is slated for next summer or fall. Penned by Von Trier, “Nymphomaniac” will be divided into eight chapters and will be released in two versions — a softcore cut for mainstream distribution, and a hardcore one. Stellan Skarsgard and Willem Dafoe have reportedly been approached by the helmer to star in the film. [Source: Variety]
When I interviewed Gainsbourg about Melancholia earlier this year, she confirmed that she was very interested in the project but had only read a synopsis while Alexander Skarsgard also confirmed that his father would be involved as well. As a lifelong von Trier fan, the fact that the director is in a stage of his career where he has nothing to lose will likely only make him more brazen and bold with what is sure to be a highly antagonistic film. It’ll be interesting to see how the project develops, where it will premiere (since Cannes is out of the question), and how distribution will be handled especially in the case of the hardcore pornographic version of the film.
But let’s be honest, what cinephile doesn’t want to see a hardcore porn through the lens of Lars?