A new image has been released for Lars Von Trier’s upcoming two-part drama, Nymphomaniac.  Charlotte Gainsbourg stars as Joe, 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.  Joe then recounts to him the story of her erotic life, from birth to the age of fifty.  The film will be released in hard-core and soft-core versions, and Magnolia has announced that they’ll be distributing the film in the U.S.  However, we don’t know if they’ll be distribution both versions, and how those versions will be distributed.  The standard release plan for Magnolia has become VOD before theatrical, and it looks like Nymphomaniac won’t be playing at Cannes because it missed the submission deadline rather than Von Trier being declared Persona Non Grata after his comments at the festival in 2011 when he was doing press for Melancholia.

Hit the jump for more including the new image. Nymphomaniac also stars Shia LaBeouf, Jamie Bell, Connie Nielsen, Christian Slater, Uma Thurman, Willem Dafoe, Jean-Marc Barr, and Udo Kier.

The first image has been released for Lars Von Trier’s upcoming erotic drama Nymphomaniac.  Charlotte Gainsbourg stars as Joe, 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.  Joe then recounts to him the story of her erotic life, from birth to the age of fifty.  The two-part movie began shooting in August, and will be released in both hard-core and soft-core versions with an eye towards a release later this year.

Hit the jump to check out the safe-for-work image, which presumably takes place at the beginning of the story.  The film also stars Shia LaBeouf, Jamie Bell, Connie Nielsen, Christian Slater, Uma Thurman, Willem Dafoe, Jean-Marc Barr, and Udo Kier.

Some major casting announcements to make today.  Here they are in brief:

• Ewan McGregor (Salmon Fishing in the Yemen) will join the stellar cast of John Wells’ August: Osage County, which already touts Julia Roberts, Meryl Streep and Chris Cooper among others, with George Clooney producing.
• Christian Slater (Broken Arrow) has been cast in Lars Von Trier’s pornographic duet, Nymphomaniac, two full-length features which will both be released in softcore and hardcore versions.  The pictures star Charlotte Gainsbourg in the title role along with Shia LaBeouf, Stellan Skarsgard, Jamie Bell and Connie Nielsen.

Hit the jump for more info.

Earlier today, TIFF announced that they were adding new films to a line-up that’s already packed with terrific-looking films.  Among the new additions are:

• What Maisie Knew (directed by Scott McGehee) Starring Joanna Vanderham, Onata Aprile, Alexander Skarsgård, Julianne Moore, and Steve Coogan.
• Do Not Disturb (directed by Yvan Attal) Starring François Cluzet and Charlotte Gainsbourg.
• Greetings from Tim Buckley (directed Dan Algrant) Starring Imogen Poots and Penn Badgley.
• Lines of Wellington (directed by Valeria Sarmiento) Starring John Malkovich, Nuno Lopes, Soraia Chaves, Marisa Paredes, and Victoria Guerra.

Hit the jump to check out the images and synopses.  The 2012 Toronto International Film Festival runs from September 6 – 16th.

Shia LaBeouf (Transformers) is the object of desire for director Lars von Trier’s Nymphomaniac.  The erotic drama is the next project from the Danish director, whose previous efforts include 2011′s Melancholia and 2009′s Antichrist.   It will follow the erotic events in the life of a woman from her youth to age 50; Charlotte Gainsbourg (Antichrist) will play the lead with Stellan Skarsgard (The Avengers) attached as her husband, who listens to her recount the adventuers.  There is limited information as to how large (ha!) LaBeouf’s role will be.  Hit the jump for more on Nymphomaniac.

Exonerated of the charges concerning comments he made about Nazis at the Cannes Film Festival this past May, director Lars von Trier is moving forward with his next feature film. Variety reports that actress Charlotte Gainsbourg, who starred in von Trier’s last two films Antichrist and Melancholia, is in talks to reteam with the director for The Nymphomaniac. The film is described as “an explicit exploration of a woman’s erotic life,” and production is scheduled to get underway either next summer or fall. The pic will apparently be divided into eight chapters and, given the explicit subject material, released in two versions: a “softcore” cut for mainstream distribution and a “hardcore” one (I don’t even wanna know what von Trier has planned for the hardcore cut).

No other details about the project are known, but von Trier has previously stated that the film will cover the lead character’s erotic life from zero to the age of 50. Von Trier also apparently wants Stellan Skarsgard, who starred in Melancholia, to appear in the film as well. Gainsbourg won the Best Actress award at Cannes for her work in Antichrist.

[This review is a re-print of my review from the 2011 Toronto International Film Festival]

Lars Von Trier‘s Melancholia opens in magnificent, operatic fashion. Birds fall from the sky, strands of light stream forth from the finger tips of Kirsten Dunst, the ground sinks beneath Charlotte Gainsbourg‘s feet and then a bigger planet obliterates our planet. This is all beautifully shot, set to classical music from a booming orchestra, and played in slow motion. It’s a prelude to the film’s big ideas, terrific performances, and thoughtful examination of what it means to be happy and if happiness is even worth pursing. But for all of its grandiosity and introspection, Melancholia never manages to strike an emotional connection.

New posters have gone online for Steven Spielberg’s War Horse and Lars Von Trier’s Melancholia.  War Horse continues to be a tough sell mainly because the lead character is a horse and the horse doesn’t talk.  You can put Mr. Ed in your World War I drama, Mr. Spielberg, but a non-talking horse?  How will that play in Peoria?  At least the poster is pretty-looking.

As for Melancholia, it’s a collection of character posters plus one interesting addition.  Von Trier gets his own poster.  It’s the first time I’ve seen a director who wasn’t also an actor in the movie get his or her own character poster.  Of course, Von Trier is a bit of a character and his poster even bears a fake seal proclaiming “Official Persona non Grata – Cannes 2011″.  Hit the jump to check out the posters.  War Horse opens December 28th.  Melancholia hits OnDemand on October 7th and opens in theaters on November 11th.

Lars von Trier’s depression is well-documented. He’s a visionary plagued by his own personal demons. His fears and phobias have kept him out of the skies and the rush of international film promotion. In 2007 they even led him to say, “basically, I’m afraid of everything in life, except filmmaking.” His depression was so crippling, in fact, that it had made him “a blank sheet of paper” that year, unable to create. Luckily, his struggles did not keep him from the directorial chair. The self-proclaimed “melancholy Dane” returned to work and dug to the very depths of empathy with his harrowing Antichrist, and now he’s dared to display his emotional demons front and center with the apocalyptic Melancholia. My review after the jump:

Lars Von Trier’s Melancholia opens in magnificent, operatic fashion.  Birds fall from the sky, strands of light stream forth from the finger tips of Kirsten Dunst, the ground sinks beneath Charlotte Gainsbourg’s feet and then a bigger planet obliterates our planet.  This is all beautifully shot, set to classical music from a booming orchestra, and played in slow motion.  It’s a prelude to the film’s big ideas, terrific performances, and thoughtful examination of what it means to be happy and if happiness is even worth pursing.  But for all of its grandiosity and introspection, Melancholia never manages to strike an emotional connection.

The U.S. trailer for writer/director Lars von Trier’s Melancholia has landed online. Starring Kirsten Dunst, Charlotte Gainsbourg, Kiefer Sutherland, Alexander Skarsgård and John Hurt, the film pits Justine and Michael’s (Dunst and Skarsgård) wedding against the backdrop of the end of the world. As I’ve written before, I’m not hopelessly devoted to von Trier’s previous work, but Melancholia looks beautifully reflective and I can’t wait to check it out.

Hit the jump to watch the trailer. Melancholia premieres on VOD on October 7th, hits U.K. theaters on October 30th and will enjoy a limited theatrical release in the U.S. beginning on November 11th.

The UK trailer for Lars von Trier’s upcoming sci-fi/disaster drama Melancholia has landed online. Starring Kirsten Dunst, Charlotte Gainsbourg, Alexander Skarsgård and Kiefer Sutherland, the film features Justine (Dunst) and Michael’s (Skarsgård) wedding taking place against the backdrop of impending doom. I can’t claim to be a huge fan of von Trier’s previous work, but everything I’ve seen from Melancholia has intrigued me. It looks beautifully tragic and, for whatever reason, kind of nostalgic to the point that I can’t wait to see it.

Check out the UK trailer after the jump. Click here to watch the first trailer from the film. Melancholia will premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival next month as well as the New York Film Festival and Fantastic Fest. It hits UK theaters on October 30th before getting a VOD release in the United States on October 7th. It will receive a limited theatrical release in the U.S. beginning on November 11th.

What better way could there be to celebrate a Wednesday than by watching a deeply depressing clip from an upcoming movie? And what filmmaker could fuel that mid-week depression better than Lars Von Trier? The eccentric Danish Dogme founder will be making his regular appearance at the 2011 Cannes Film Festival this year with his latest feature Melancholia, and will inevitably cause a media shitstorm of controversy as he does every time he walks the Croisette.

Today a new clip from the appropriately titled Melancholia has found its way to the internet, depicting a tearful Kristen Dunst and Charlotte Gainsbourg discussing the evil nature of earth. It should give you a sense of the tone of Von Trier’s impending apocalyptic tale and darken the mood of the rest of your day in less than a minute. In other words, it’s vintage Von Trier. The film will premiere in Cannes later this month with plans for a November North American release from Magnolia Pictures (expect it to make the summer/fall film festival run first). Melancholia stars Dunst, Gainsbourg, Charlotte Rampling, Stellan Skarsgard, and Udo Kier. Hit the jump to check out the clip.

What’s wonderful about director Lars von Trier’s films is that you never know what to expect.  Sometimes the outcome works and other times it doesn’t, but it will be a film-going experience unlike any other.  For example, his latest film Melancholia picks up from a normal, relatable setting—a wedding—and then goes totally batshit from there with a newly discovered planet that might collide with Earth.  Melancholia is billed as “a psychological disaster movie” and “a beautiful movie about the end of the world”. Also, going by the trailer, Kirsten Dunst might have super powers.  I have no idea what to make of Melancholia, and I can’t wait to see it.

Hit the jump to check out the trailer.

Rocker Pete Doherty, more famed for his antics than his music, is moving on to acting. The frontman for British bands Babyshambles and The Libertines has landed his first leading role as 19th century French writer Alfred de Musset.

The yet-untitled biopic is a low-budget French production and is reportedly based on De Musset’s fictional autobiography, Confession of a Child of the Century. It will also star Charlotte Gainsbourg. More details after the jump.