Where Does The Talking Fox In 'Antichrist' Come From? Lars Von Trier's "Shamanic Journeys" Of Course

“Antichrist” hits the U.K. on July 24 — uncut of course — so Lars Von Trier is all over the British press at the moment. Some of the conservative U.K. press is acting rather outraged, asking if the film should be banned, while other outlets are letting Von Trier do most of the talking.

This interview with the Guardian is pretty fantastic and the conversation with the Danish enfante terrible filmmaker spans multiple topics including the formalistic concept of defending a vile idea, even if he doesn’t agree with it as a challenge or an infuriating exercises. “For instance, it could be that I make a film about the human side of Hitler. That would be very interesting to me,” he said citing a random, but typically polarizing example.

But everyone wants to know where did the inspiration for the growling, talking fox come from? Easy explanation. “From my shamanic journeys. All these animals come from a practice I did 10 years ago. It’s a Brazilian technique where you enter a trance through this very powerful drumbeat. There are no drugs involved so it is very safe but very powerful. It’s not really that difficult to enter the parallel world,” he said.

Say again?

“When I first went there, I met the fox that you see in the film. It was biting itself and I was very shocked. It was unpleasant to watch so I traveled on until I saw a family of silver foxes, very Disney-like, all the young ones and the grown-ups, running around. Happy foxes. Well, of course, I go up to speak to the man of the family and – this is where it gets really interesting – he said to me, ‘Never believe in the first fox you meet.’ Fantastic, yes?”

Mmmmmkay. He calls this perfect advice for Hollywood despite the fact he works well outside that system and has actually never visited the U.S. (the filmmaker is deathly afraid of flying or even taking a ferry across the English channel, which he did once and apparently ended up in a near-catatonic state). “Antichrist” hits theaters in the U.S. in limited release on October 23.