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Lars Von Trier doesn't fly and has never been to the U.S. So the idea of a Skype interview was an interesting one, plagued here and there by some technical difficulties, but still a unique opportunity to talk to one of the most polarizing and interesting directors working in film today. He's won countless awards, equal amounts of adoration and disdain from the world cinema audience, and he's just come out of a depressive pit with a new film, Antichrist, that's already infamous for its sexualized violence and emotional brutality.
Made on the hush-hush with a couple of stars and little media attention, it was the scandal of this year’s Cannes Film Festival, where it provoked walkouts and vitriolic hatred from some viewers. Subsequent runs in Toronto and New York found audience members vomiting in the aisles. But it also found a vocal champion in Roger Ebert, whose endorsement of the film has given it a foothold in the precarious world of arthouse cinema.
None of that, though, prepares you for talking to the man, his face 20 feet tall on a screen in front of you. There was a definite feel of the Great and Powerful Oz about the whole production. We spoke (virtually) to von Trier at this year's New York Film Festival.
Greetings to you, sir.
I am happy to be talking to you in New York, because if I can make it there, well, then I can make it anywhere.
One of the weirder theories about this film that's been circulating is that it's meant as a variant on some of the universes David Lynch has been exploring. What do you think of that?
I am a big Twin Peaks fan.
So you have a tie-in with the Pacific Northwest there?
That also comes from this idea we have that whenever we shoot in Europe (using it for America) that it can only look like the state of Washington.
How did this film develop?
The title was set very early on. The film has more to do with that there is no god. I had Nietzsche's book, Antichrist, sitting on my desk table for around 40 years and I've still not opened it. But the title stayed with me.
I don't really know where it came from. The idea was to make a horror film. Initially I watched several films as a sort of background, and then I watched some Japanese horror, which I found fascinating just because of cultural differences, just to see images that are different from the West.
Which films really stuck in your mind?
I loved The Shining. And Carrie, certainly. I was never scared by The Shining, but it's certainly something that has stayed with me.
Coming out of the midst of your battle with depression, was the process of making this film difficult for you?
Usually, I feel quite excited when preparing a film. (Here), I felt almost human.
I wanted to ask you about Willem Dafoe's character. Are we meant to have much sympathy for him? He endures much, but at the same time, as soon as he changes his wife's medications, immediately I said to myself, "He deserves whatever he gets."
Initially, we had him responding more as a therapist throughout the entire script, but that changed to make him a bit more sympathetic.
Was it easy to get (Dafoe) for the role?
He is a very good friend. When I was casting this film, he sent me an e-mail and asked me if I had anything for him, and I said yes. Thank God.
Will we ever see the conclusion of the USA Trilogy (2003's Dogville, 2004's Manderlay and the as yet unfilmed Wasington)?
The problem about trilogies is that there have to be three of them. I do not have a set idea. At some point I will make the film, if it is possible.
In the end credits, you dedicate (Antichrist) to the Russian director Andrei Tarkovsky.
I discovered Tarkovsky in film school, and when I saw The Mirror, I was won over. I've stolen so much from him that I felt that if I didn't say something I would be arrested.
With your reputation as a provocateur, how do you feel about people who walk out of your films? (From where we were seated) it looked like no one left, like everyone made it through.
There were no walkouts? Then I have failed.
