Tranceformer - A Portrait of Lars von Trier Page #3

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Even if we're very different,

we work quite well together.

He's afraid of crowds,

of space.

He's afraid of not getting out.

0f being in a car

with lots of people.

So it's hard for him

to be a director.

He has to find someone

to play with

who understands the whole thing

and still wants to do it.

And Lars has the weakness,

if you call it that, of strength,

to write all his phobias

into his scripts.

So if there's a scene on a boat

or an oil-rig

or an airplane or something,

it's in his script.

But he'd never put a foot there.

In a film like Breaking,

shot hand-held,

the monitor is an important

piece of equipment.

Because I can't be

on location at the shoot

as the camera basically pans

all the way around

and I have no impression of what

ends up on celluloid otherwise.

So we've used it

for the latest films,

I've had a lot of use for it.

What is obviously difficult is from

what you've seen, communicating

what your collaborators

should do the next time.

So it's difficult, and sometimes

I've worked from a great distance

and been far away.

And that's both good and bad.

In the old days they said an

editor wasn't allowed on a shoot

because he should be shielded

from problems

that arise in production.

Similarly, there's an advantage to

a director not being on location.

He can hear from Morten Arnfred's

exhausted voice

that it's hard there.

It's blowing a lot, it's raining

a lot, it's cold, and so on...

When I get small, tired comments,

I know very well

it's windy and cold.

But the advantage of not being

there is you get

an objective idea

of what ends up on celluloid.

The line was right on the

door slam, wasn't it?

No, you've gotten up

to have breakfast.

And then you've gone back

to read.

He's found out about it.

You're not fully dressed...

-This is before the clothes from...

-Good. Great!

Great. Yes...

And the storm

is howling outside.

He's a man who...

there's an old saying:

"A man is a man, and a word

is a word." And his Ioyalty

is also of a Middle Ages order.

He's a knight. A little knight.

Well, I met Peter...

It must be about ten years ago,

on a commercial.

I'd gone through everyone

and asked myself

if there was a producer for me.

My last chance was going to

someone newly from film school.

He turned out to be very

interested. He'd produced a few...

...very particular productions

which resulted

in an enormous overdraft.

He'd gone bankrupt

and Lord knows what...

So it was like two "Lazarillo's"

getting together.

Peter knows if he asks me to do

a thing one way,

I'll do the opposite.

He's learnt to control me.

He doesn't lie either.

He's never lied or anything...

I lie 400 times a day.

It's intense to meet

a person who doesn't lie.

But the betrayal

that is the worst of all

is if for some reason, you're

forced to betray your ideals.

That's the worst betrayal.

It's bad enough betraying others.

But betraying your ideals for some

reason because the everyday...

...life collides with these ideals...

Ideals are what you base

your whole life on.

It is ideals...

It is a pure way to live

your life.

Everything is based on it, and

if you abandon that for something,

so that you can live up to

your ideals, it's a betrayal...

...that is fatal.

I understand that a person can

have psychological problems.

It...I don't understand it

myself, but...

0n the other hand, we're so

different in other areas

that I presume in this area

there are considerable differences.

I don't suffer from any

psychological problems myself...

The anxiety I have, it...

It expresses in a self-hate

of extraordinary proportions.

It's got something to do

with my self-discipline as well...

That...

I mean, it must seem crazy

that I can lead a film team.

0r the Russian army in Poland...

But I experience no anxiety.

As long as I climb up,

I'm quite small,

I'll climb up and shout.

And I'm certain the world

will fit in with me.

But I can't control myself.

That gives me anxiety, but

primarily it gives me self-Ioathing

to be dictated to by forces

within me that I can't control.

It's very...What I've come

to now, is a...

Perhaps it sounds totally banal,

but it's so apparent.

But l, relatively unused to

film festivals and such like,

was with him in Cannes,

and for me it was...

I thought it was fun, I also

thought it was silly,

like everyone else.

I had a new tuxedo and was

standing with my wife waiting

in this large hotel lobby

for Lars to arrive.

Limousines, crowds of beautifully

dressed people and elegant women.

The orchestra's playing

and finally in a limousine,

down the stairs,

Lars' wife arrives.

She's a little sweaty,

a little bothered,

she hasn't had time to make

herself up. She's nervous.

"He's coming soon." And so,

when she's done, Lars arrives,

so alone down the stairs,

barely greets me

and I'm to accompany him.

I walk after him and ask his wife,

"What's the matter with him?"

"Can't you see?" He's walking

some meters ahead of me. "No..."

"He's wearing Dreyer's tuxedo

from 1928!"

So he's been at an auction

some time, I don't know when

and bought this tuxedo from 1928

and decided to wear it at Cannes.

Then the whole thing becomes...

so moving and poignant.

She should be completely

fed up here. Not so?

-Should she shout at them?

-No, no...

No, we haven't got to that stage.

She's just tired of it all here.

Yes, just a little...despondent.

He's become so good with the

actors. It has occurred to me...

I've asked:

"What am I doing here?"

because Lars is so good.

Then I've concentrated more

on orchestrating other things

and taken care of

this fairly large production.

If you saw the film on screen,

you'd think it was made

by a small crew because

it has a documentary feel.

But this film's special aesthetic

needs, as you can see,

a large crew.

Before I read the script

and I knew it was him who'd

do it, I was delighted.

But in the hands of a normal

director, it wouldn't have worked.

Because...there's such a

spiraling melodrama to this film,

you need to create your own world

and lift it to a sufficiently...

...juicy level where the script

becomes believable.

I think it's hard

to understand women.

I have difficulty...Yesterday, I

was in the canoe with my children.

And one of these swans came that

wanted to attack all the time.

It was totally impossible to

predict when or why

it was going to do it

and when it became furious

and you went towards it,

it sometimes

just went off to one side...

Swans and women.

They are difficult, I think.

Can't I just act for my sake

and you can cut it out later?

No. No acting.

We talked about this very

early on. You promised me.

Not to act, yes...

But can't l, can't I act

before you roll the camera?

Yes, but I think

we have enough of that already...

I realize that it was cold, rainy

and it was a boring place.

They often are.

Let's go for a take.

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