Damage control is underway for Lars von Trier. The Danish director of Kirsten Dunst's latest film made incendiary remarks in Cannes claiming to "sympathize" with Hitler, which got him swiftly banned from the film festival.Now, while von Trier seems to be loving his new status as bad-boy of the fest, he also insists, "I'm not Mel Gibson."
As it happens, a rant-free Gibson popped up in Cannes this week, making a red carpet comeback to promote 'The Beaver.'
At a roundtable interview on Thursday, von Trier said: "If any of you would like to hit me, you're perfectly welcome. I must warn you that I might enjoy it." He then reacted to news that Cannes wanted him gone. "I'm very proud of being 'persona non grata,'" he explained. "I've never been that before in my life, and that suits me extremely well."
What about the anti-Semitic nature of von Trier's recent remarks at Cannes? He explained that in using the word "Nazi," he was simply using "stupid" Danish slang in which "Nazi" is a synonym for "German." If true, that still doesn't begin to explain his comment claiming to "understand" and "sympathize" with Adolf Hitler.
The director acknowledged, "I'm known for provocations, but I like provocations when they have a purpose." He admitted, "This had no purpose whatsoever. Because I'm not Mel Gibson. I'm definitely not Mel Gibson."
He offered to have 'Melancholia,' starring Dunst and Keifer Sutherland, withdrawn from the festival, yet it remains in competition. In the unlikely event it wins the Palme d'Or, the controversial director will not be invited to accept the award, a festival spokesperson said.
On Friday, Peter Aalbaek Jensen, who co-founded Danish production company Zentropa with Von Trier in 1992, said: "Zentropa would like to apologize to all [who] have been [affected] in any way....We would like to make it perfectly clear that Zentropa does not share Lars von Trier's view of what might be funny to say at a press conference, and that his comments are a direct contradiction of Zentropa's values."
Jensen also expressed "deepest regrets" to Susanne Bier, the award-winning Danish director who was the original target of von Trier's Nazi comments. Oddly, Zentropa actually produced Bier's 'In a Better World,' which won the 2011 Best Foreign Film Oscar, and the company produces Bier's upcoming film, 'All You Need Is Love.'
Teodora Films, Italian co-producer of 'All You Need Is Love,' sided with Bier. "Von Trier's words, even though he said them jokingly, are absolutely unacceptable," said an official with Teodora, who made a "solemn promise that we will never release a Von Trier movie in Italy."
The Danish Film Institute, underwriter of many von Trier movies, chastised the filmmaker: "It is unfortunate that great cinema should drown in such controversy totally irrelevant to the film itself. But there's nothing new in the fact that great artists make stupid remarks."
Magnolia still plans to release von Trier's 'Meloncholia' in the U.S. this fall.
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Source: http://www.popeater.com/2011/05/21/im-not-mel-gibson-says-lars-von-trier/
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