Lars Von Trier Drops A Bit Of New Info On 'Melancholia'

We just saw a trailer this week for Lars Von Trier's new film Melancholia, which will premiere in competition at Cannes this May. We still don't know too much about the film — he famously proclaimed "no more happy endings!" when announcing it, and there is a basic sci-fi concept wrapped around a family drama and some sort of existential crisis for the main character, played by Kirsten Dunst.

Now Lars Trier has dropped a few tidbits about the film to Empire, and those who can't wait for Magnolia to set a US release date for the film should hit the jump to enjoy the scant new bits of info.

The director told Empire,

As you can see in the trailer, Melancholia, [which is the name of] the planet, is kind of ten times bigger than the Earth, and I liked the idea of being 'swallowed' by Melancholia. I thought that was quite nice. And then I read today that that's actually one of the virtues of romanticism – willingly being purified by dying. In fact, the film contains maybe more of the original idea of romanticism. I'm just saying that a lot of films today, their interpretation of romanticism is... quite boring, I think.

That probably tells us quite a bit about the film, but knowing exactly how it applies to the plot and characters in question remains to be seen. And Kirsten Dunst probably won't be joining Bjork in the Lars Von Trier Hate Club any time soon, because apart from a couple of scenes where she had to work sans clothes (glimpsed in the trailer), he went relatively easy on her.

I think that Kirsten got off FAR too easy. FAR too easy. She was not dragged through any masturbation. She had a very smooth ride, I would say. But she did an extremely good job.

What does that say about Charlotte Gainsbourg, who did get dragged through a hell of a lot in Antichrist, but came back to take a role front and center in Melancholia, as the sister of Kirsten Dunst's character? She's obviously brave, and game to work with a director who knows what he wants, even if it might be a bit insane. Let's give thanks for that.

Empire teases that the upcoming print edition fo the mag will have more info, and also some confirmation about the director's next film. That could be a movie called The Nymphomaniac, so stay tuned...