Movies
Explicit Sexual Gore Causes ‘Antichrist’ Controversy at Cannes
At the top of my list as “most anticipated” for 2009 is Lars von Trier’s Antichrist, which just had its world premiere at the ongoing Cannes market/festival. I’ve been patiently awaiting the buzz, good or bad, and have instead found myself interested for all the wrong reasons – “explicit sexual gore”. Apparently it was so intense it caused an uproar during a press conference where reporters asked von Trier to explain himself. Read on for this breaking story.
From the Hollywood Reporter:
“Declaring himself “the world’s greatest director,” 53-year-old Dane Lars von Trier defended his enfant terrible title with aplomb at the Monday news conference for his Competition shocker “Antichrist.”
It started with a shouting match between Daily Mail columnist Baz Bamigboye and other members of the press corps, with Bamigboye demanding von Trier “explain and justify” the explicit sexual gore in his film and another journo in the audience yelling “He’s an artist, you’re not. He doesn’t have to explain anything!”
And he didn’t. On questions both abusive and toadying, von Trier maintained his autistic savant persona, deliberately avoiding any explanation of “Antichrist,” alternatively mocking or dismissing his interrogators.
“I don’t have to explain anything. You are all my guests here, not the other way round,” von Trier said. “Anyway, I don’t think about the audience when I make a film. I don’t care. I make films for myself.”
Von Trier did defend his use of nausea-inducing imagery — including a bloody masturbation scene and a leg-drilling sequence that could have been cribbed from the “Saw” franchise — as artistic “honesty,” saying to leave the shockers out would have been “like lying.”
He also insisted he was not playing a joke on the audience but meant everything, from the film’s talking fox to the closing dedication to Russian director Andrei Tarkovsky, a dedication that drew howls of laughter at last night’s press screening, to be taken seriously.
But, as always, von Trier tried to have it both ways, joking that it was “a bit of a pity” one can’t actually kill people on screen and putting the blame for the most extreme scenes on lead actress Charlotte Gainsbourg.
“Charlotte took it too far. I tried to, but I just couldn’t stop her,” von Trier quipped.”
Movies
‘Ready or Not’: Radio Silence Filmmakers Tease the “Absolute Banger” of a Sequel That’s Taking Shape
It was first reported a couple weeks ago that Ready or Not 2 is now in development, with Adam Robitel (The Taking of Deborah Logan, Insidious: The Last Key, Escape Room, Escape Room: Tournament of Champions) in talks to direct the sequel to the 2019 box office hit. Additionally, we had learned that Samara Weaving would be returning to star.
Entertainment Weekly caught up with Ready or Not directors Tyler Gillett and Matt Bettinelli-Olpin in the wake of those reports, and we’ve now got an update straight from the source.
“It’s getting figured out. That’s what we’ll say: Ready or Not 2 is getting figured out,” Gillett tells EW, confirming last month’s report. “What we can say is that there is a script that is an absolute fucking banger of a sequel. And however it gets made, and in whatever capacity we are helping get it made, we are so excited that it’s happening.”
“I don’t think we knew after making [Ready or Not] that there would be so much story left to tell,” Gillett continues. “We’re so proud of what that first movie is, we’re so proud of what the sequel is. We’re just really excited, and fingers crossed that it gets made.” Bettinelli-Olpin adds, “And with Searchlight and Samara, they’re not gonna let it down.”
The first film introduced a mythology wherein the wealthy Le Domas family has made a deal with the devil, one that requires them to take part in bizarre – and deadly – wedding night traditions. There’s much that can be done with the premise going forward, even if the first movie ended with Weaving’s Grace massacring the family and burning down their estate.
Wikipedia reminds, “The sole survivor of the night, Grace walks out of the burning manor just as the police arrive. Upon asking her what happened, she simply replies: in-laws.”
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