Could Penelope Cruz be Lars von Trier’s leading lady for his psychological disaster film, “Melancholia”?
Various sources from the European media are reporting that the controversial director (along with assistant Anders Refn) told Danish television that he always had Cruz in mind and that she will in fact lead his film, which explores the “psychology view of a disaster.”
Shooting will reportedly take place in Sweden and Germany on a $5 million dollar budget with the ultimate goal to premiere the film at next year’s Cannes Film Festival. No time frame was evidently provided regarding shooting other than “later this year” but there’s plenty of time so Cannes 2011 sounds realistic regardless of the accuracy of these reports.
The title was previously revealed to reference Planet Melancholia, an enormous planet that evidently looms threateningly close to Earth, though the script itself — which was written by von Trier — is more of a psychological drama with sci-fi-ish elements. Von Trier also noted that there’ll be “no more happy endings” potentially hinting at something even more twisted and grim than “Antichrist” while producer Peter Aalbaek Jensen added that the film will utilize “some special effects, but nothing compared to Hollywood.”
After last year’s Cannes controversy with “Antichrist,” wouldn’t it be grand if von Trier came to town next year and blew them all away? Or at least fully aced a picture, as it’s been a while. Fingers crossed. More importantly is Cruz ready to be the next muse tortured by her Danish director? While Charlotte Gainsbourg seemed to not mind von Trier’s emotional tumult, actresses like Bjork, Nicole Kidman, Emily Watson and Bryce Dallas Howard have not surprisingly never returned to work with the director again who’s been accused of misogyny almost his entire career (or at least since he started working with female leads), and in fact, he’s generally never worked with the same female leads twice. If this report turns out true, we hope Cruz knows what she’s getting into.
