COLOGNE, Germany — Lars Von Trier’s two-part, half-hardcore enigmatic mainstream feature “Nymphomaniac” will use digital technology to splice its A-list cast of actors’ non-explicit performances onto the pornographic scenes of hired adult talent, Salon reported today.
According to producer Louise Vesth, the film’s stars Shia LaBoeuf, Uma Thurman and Charlotte Gainsbourg mimed sex scenes onset and then had their performances seamlessly stitched together with the porn stars in such a “painstaking process” that the film was not ready to air at this year’s Cannes Film Festival and was pulled at the last minute.
“We shot the actors pretending to have sex and then had the body doubles who really did have sex, and in [post-production] we will digitally impose the two," Vesth said. "So above the waist it will be the star and ... below the waist it will be the doubles."
Dubbed “an epic pornographic drama,” the movie stars Gainsbourg as a self-diagnosed nymphomaniac who recounts her erotic life to “True Blood's” Stellan Skarsgard after he finds her beaten in an alley. Willem Defoe and Christian Slater also make appearances in the celeb-studded flick.
“Lars has thrown everything in this one. It's about religion, about God, about philosophy,” Vesth said, implying that the film has merit beyond its experimental sexual and digital aspects.
Two cuts of “Nymphomaniac” will debut simultaneously: a hardcore version with unsimulated sex scenes and a softcore version sans the explicit footage.
Von Trier's latest project has reaffirmed that he is an old hand at shock cinema. His previous titles “Melancholia,” “Antichrist” and “Breaking the Waves” have all inspired buzz amongst the film-going public and criticsphere. Von Trier was even named a “persona non grata” at the 2011 Cannes Film Festival for his salacious comments about Hitler and the Nazi party.
The first installment of “Nymphomanic” is set to release on May 30 in Denmark. The film was co-produced by Zentropa and Heimatfilm.
