'I'm Not Mel Gibson,' Says Director Lars von Trier

By Moviefone Editors Posted May 21st 2011 11:54AM

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He offered to have 'Melancholia,' starring Dunst and Keifer Sutherland, withdrawn from the festival, yet it remains in competition.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.

Read more from Moviefone here >>>

Tags: cannes, Kirsten Dunst, lars von trier, mel gibson

Comments

(29)

Saturday 21 May

By Francesco

Highest Rank Vote down Vote up Report this

A good many celebrities have good relations with all sort of sleazebags, world tyrants and regime keepers. But, they get proportionately veeeery little attention. At least recently a couple of them got in trouble for performing for Ghaddafi. But, there's still ex: the F. Castro lovers (Coppola, Di Caprio, Glover, Spielberg, Costner, etc.), who get away with it, because we only get the "shocking" news stories.

Sunday 22 May

By early_exit

Francesco~ You wouldn't be referring to Beyonce or Jay z would you? You do realize the 2 million they got for entertaining at the Gaddafi family gathering was donated to various political organizations. And its just a coincidence that Michelle Obama is now awarding Beyonce with the Millennium award only months after the ink dried on those donation. checks.

By patsy

on your best day you won't be even half of Mel Gibson...

By luckygirlzrock

High Rank Vote down Vote up Report this

So, Mel Gibson is the 'measurement' of Wingnuts we should go by? That's like saying..."Well, I'm not as fat as Rose Ann Barr."

By Daniel

"I'm Not Mel Gibson' says director lars Von trier.
"I'm much worse"

By KBStrat

You're right. You are not Mel Gibson. You're worse. He was a drunken fool. You are a total moron!

By Gordon

Vote down Vote up Report this

The world hates to let a juicy scandal fade away. I'm still a Gibson fan, and I don't even remember what he was supposed to have said. But, just because I still like Mel Gibson doesn't mean I'm anti-Semitic. We all have prejudices.

By cgw

no...you're not Mel Gibson...if you were, we would have at least heard about you. You are still entitled to your opinion however. I am starting to be concerned about how limiting this 'political correctness' has gotten. If you don't like something a director or movie star has to say, don't see their films. Simple as that. If you don't like something a politician says, don't vote for him/her. But stop telling the world we have to stop voicing our opinions. I am not required to like everyone or speak well of everyone.

Monday 23 May

By brian mike

I was very encouraged to find this site. I wanted to thank you for this special read. I definitely savored every little bit of it and I have bookmarked you to check out new stuff you post.

Animation Courses

Page 2 of 2