DP
Von Trier being Von Trier.
A manic-depressive attention junkie.
Sounds like he was high. Or at least I hope so.
Who would have the cahones to call themselves a Nazi and what would any of the rest of us do with that claim anyway – you have to be a moron not to see it as a joke – nonetheless in bad taste .
Sounds like he was being ornery and didn’t feel like dealing with an interview, so he just lashed out… or he is insane… or both…
An artist being himself, warts and all, and not to be taken seriously. Press the “ignore” button.
…at one point, she hid behind the director…
There was a time when I felt sorry for his female leads. Now, I figure that an actress should have enough information on Von Trier to know what she’s getting into. If she still gets into it, then she needs to own up to it. The shenanigans are a routine with him by now, no?
Yeah I agree, Nathan. She must have been on to his personality by now.
Yes—a bad joke told awkwardly. The rest of the press conference was apparently quite lively. He’s trying to say something about art that stems from unlikable people, and maybe potential thematic material as regards to Hitler.
He’s a freak. And he put his foot in his mouth. Maybe he was also just tired and ready to stop the press conference already. Guess that was an effective way.
I used to really respect von Trier and his work… now I just respect the work. He’s quite happy to play the role of the village idiot, and I guess people are happy enough to cheer him on.
It’s all about getting attention for his film, but the wrong kind of attention; just pure publicity and tabloid attention seeking, usually in a rather petulant and adolescent manner. He’s a con-artist with emphasis on the “artist”, but impossible to take seriously these days.
He did give the finger to the judges when he didn’t win the big prize back in 1991 (Europa).
Yeah I agree, better to separate artist from work at this point.
You’d have to see him and hear his tone of voice to really know. I’m betting mostly moron with a tinge of douchebag.
@Pierre — he’s a baby. And he likes it that way. Fits the stereotype of “the artist” at any rate, lol…
@Riss — a tinge, a touch, a sprinkle, a dash…
LOL Both
Moderated
Try scumbag.
The link to the conference can be found at this page
http://www.festival-cannes.com/en/theDailyArticle/58569.html
I personally like dickwad.
I actually found von Trier to be a really enjoyable presence the entire time. Even when it got awkward, he was just playing around. Gotta love the Dunst soundbite when the conf. wraps though.
maybe medication and slight psychosis is at play here, not just arrogant stupidity
-“He did give the finger to the judges when he didn’t win the big prize back in 1991”
Yeah, but there’s something quite defiant about giving the finger to an institution, even its ultimately quite childish; and referring to Polanski as “the midget” as a subtle nod to Chinatown was genuinely amusing.
His rambling, self-conscious, lazily provocative journalist baiting here (and when Antichrist was released) is just playing up to his tabloid image as a mischievous jester who can’t be taken seriously.
“I’m the best director in the world” – oh Lars! What a prankster… “Now I’m a Nazi” – stop it Lars, my sides are splitting! What’s he going to proclaim himself next year: sex-offender; scientologist; reincarnation of F.W. Murnau?
I don’t know, the fact that he makes these serious, po-faced psychodramas (that his actors invest their emotions in 100%) and then promotes them with a stand-up comedy routine rubs me the wrong way.
And Trier yet again trolls people.
Like a great deal that goes on in the film world today, it has nothing to do with film and everything to do with profit and commerce.
I think he’s saying, he’s against mass-murder, but the sadist part is cool. Because, of course, the usual small hypocrisies most people bear in their every day lives merit summary execution, and personal frailty merits torture and execution. Haven’t you seen his films?
So I’d say, not moron, not douchebag. Sociopath, maybe.
Stupid. And spoiled.
Why ist there a “or” between those two words? An “and” would be more appropriate since he clearly is both. Not that this is somehow a bad thing.
He knows what he’s doing. It’s no great secret that he likes to stir people. I don’t see how that makes him a moron. His work speaks to his intelligence. I guess you could call him a douchebag if you wanted to, but “moron” or “idiot” doesn’t make much sense to me.
Brad S.
The following is copied from The Huffington Post:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/05/18/lars-von-trier-im-a-nazi-_n_863512.html
“Lars Von Trier has a hit with his new movie at Cannes, but it was his press conference that is making headlines.
The maverick Danish director, who is receiving accolades for his Kirsten Dunst-starring apocalyptic tale “Melancholia,” is no stranger to outrageous statements — in 2005, he said President Bush dreams of being spanked by Condeleezza Rice — shocked the assembled press with his answer to a question about his interest in the Nazi aesthetic.
“The only thing I can tell you is that I thought I was a Jew for a long time and was very happy being a Jew, then later on came [Danish and Jewish director] Susanne Bier, and suddenly I wasn’t so happy about being a Jew. That was a joke. Sorry. But it turned out that I was not a Jew. If I’d been a Jew, then I would be a second-wave Jew, a kind of a new-wave Jew, but anyway, I really wanted to be a Jew and then I found out that I was really a Nazi, because my family is German. And that also gave me some pleasure. So, I, what can I say? I understand Hitler. I think he did some wrong things but I can see him sitting in his bunker. I’m saying that I think I understand the man. He is not what we could call a good guy, but yeah, I understand much about him and I sympathize with him … But come on! I’m not for the Second World War. And I’m not against Jews. No, not even Susanne Bier. I am very much for them. As much as Israelis are a pain in the ass. How do I get out of this sentence? Okay, I am a Nazi. As for the art, I’m for Speer. Albert Speer I liked. He was also one of God’s best children. He has a talent that … Okay, enough.”
The press were both shocked and laughed at von Trier’s comments, though Dunst was more mortified than anything; at one point, she hid behind the director and said, “Oh, God!” in agony.
To top it off, he also offered that he was planning on making a long porn film with Dunst and co-star Charlotte Gainsbourg, and that perhaps his next film would be a movie take on “The Final Solution.”
After the press conference, he made sure to clarify to the Associated Press that he was largely kidding about his comments.
""I don’t have so much to say, so I kind of have to improvise a little and just to let the feelings I have kind of come out into words," von Trier said. “This whole Nazi thing, I don’t know where it came from, but you spend a lot of time in Germany, you sometimes want to feel a little free and just talk about this (expletive), you know?”
As for Melancholia, it’s in contention for the top prize, with critics raving about its take on the end of the world."