04/11/2016 - The US and Swiss actors have been signed up for von Trier’s story of a serial killer, The House That Jack Built, which will start shooting at Film Väst early next year

Danish director Lars von Trier has announced that US actor Matt Dillon (The Outsiders, Drugstore Cowboy, There's Something About Mary, Crash) and Swiss actor Bruno Ganz (Downfall [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Bernd Eichinger
interview: Joachim Fest
interview: Oliver Hirschbiegel
film profile], Wings of Desire) will play the leads in his upcoming feature, The House That Jack Built [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Lars von Trier
film profile], which will start principal photography in the spring of 2017 (read the news).

“They have both figured as milestones in my cinematic development, and besides being an epochal match, they are excellent actors and fit quite organically into ‘my cinematic family’. I look forward, with pleasure and pride, to working with them both,” said von Trier, who most recently made the award-winning Nymphomaniac 1 [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Louise Vesth
film profile] and 2 [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile] (2013).

Von Trier has himself scripted the drama-thriller set in the state of Washington in the USA, following the highly intelligent Jack (Dillon) over the course of 12 years, introducing the murders that define Jack's development as a serial killer. As the inevitable police investigation draws nearer, he takes greater and greater risks in his attempt to create the ultimate work of art.

Principal photography will get under way at Swedish regional film centre Film Väst in Trollhättan, before moving to locations in Copenhagen. The film is being produced by Denmark’s Zentropa Group, with Film Väst, the Copenhagen Film Fund and France’s Slot Machine, in cooperation with Danish pubcaster DR, Nordisk Film Distribution, Concorde Filmverleih, Potemkine Films, Les Films du Losange and SVT, among others. The international sales are handled by Denmark’s TrustNordisk.