Director Lars von Trier is not exactly known for making tame films, and his upcoming pic Nymphomanic has drummed up a considerable amount of interest for a number of reasons.  The filmmaker’s follow-up to the well-received Melancholia stars Charlotte Gainsbourg as Jo, a self-diagnosed nymphomaniac who recounts her life story to Seligman (Stellan Skarsgard), an old, charming bachelor who finds Jo beaten up in an alley.  The film will feature its actors performing unsimulated sex on camera, and it also marks von Trier’s first movie since he got into a bit of hot water over some comments he made at the Cannes Film Festival.

I recently got the chance to speak with actor Jean-Marc Barr at the 2013 Sundance Film Festival for the upcoming Jack Kerouac adaptation Big Sur, and during the course of our conversation Barr also talked a bit about his work in Nymphomaniac and what we can expect from the pic, saying the film is unlike anything that’s ever been seen.  Hit the jump to see read on.

When I asked Barr about Nymphomaniac, he talked about the ambitiousness of the project:

“I think that Nymphomaniac is going to—it could either be a huge flop, huge, because the chances he’s taking with it are huge.  But it’s a film that is philosophically, it’s humor approaching I think almost all the facets of sex, and it’s never been seen.  And that’s what’s great about Lars and what proves that he’s a great artist is you know, you’ve got Shia [LaBeouf], you’ve got Charlotte Gainsbourg, you’ve Stellan Sarsgard, you’ve got Willem Dafoe, people want to work with the guy because he’s not just there to fucking entertain (laughs).  Thirty years ago that was the norm, but now it’s not the norm so were old hat now.”

When I pressed Barr about who he plays in the film, he was remiss to talk about it out of context given the nature of the character:

“How can I say this?  If I said what I did it would sound horrible so I would rather not [talk about who I play](laughs) Because I have to put in context and explain it to you and you couldn’t write it down.  The thing is that really Lars was hit on the hand in Cannes that year and it could have been dangerous and what’s great about it is he’s coming back five times stronger.”

Look for my full interview with Barr from Sundance soon.