20/08/2008

The US star actor Willem Dafoe and French actress Charlotte Gainsbourg have boarded the much anticipated new film by Lars von Trier, the psychological thriller Antichrist, ready to start shooting in Germany.

Gainsbourg whose French career has fast developed into a rich collaboration with top international filmmakers such as Michel Gondry (The Science of Sleep [+see also:
trailer
film profile]) Alejandro González Iñárritu (21 Grams), and Todd Haynes (I’m Not There) will for the first time play against the versatile Dafoe (Platoon). The US star previously collaborated with Trier on Manderlay [+see also:
trailer
film profile], the second film part of the Danish director’s US trilogy.

In Antichrist written by Trier with Anders Thomas Jensen (Adam’s Apples [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Anders Thomas Jensen
interview: Mads Mikkelsen
interview: Tivi Magnusson
film profile]), Dafoe and Gainsbourg play a couple who retreat to an isolated cabin, following the death of their child. A battle of the nerves develops between them. “I would like to invite you for a tiny glimpse behind the curtain, a glimpse into the dark world of my imagination: into the nature of my fears, into the nature of Antichrist,” said Trier in a press statement.

The English language film is produced by Meta Louise Foldager for Denmark’s Zentropa Entertainments23, in co-production with Germany’s Zentropa International Köln, France’s Slot Machine, Sweden’s Memfis Film, and Italy’s Lucky Red. Co-financiers include The Danish Film Institute, Nordisk Film & TV Fond, Film i Väst, the Swedish Film Institute, Filmstiftung NRW, ARTE, ZDF, Canal+, DFFF and CNC. Pre-sales have already been concluded by TrustNordisk with around 25 territories. The film’s premiere in Denmark is scheduled for summer 2009.