The announcement was made by his production company, Zentropa. Lars von Trier, the director of ‘Nymphomaniac’ (2014) and ‘Melancholia’ (2011), has been diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease. The 66-year-old Dane, however, would be “good mood and that he was being treated for his symptoms”reassured the box, which Lars von Trier co-founded in 1992 with producer Peter Aalbæk Jensen.
Despite this announcement, Zentropa clarified that the director continued to work on The Kingdon Exodusthe third installment in his series The hospital and its ghosts. In addition, he will participate in press events when his series is released. The latter should be presented in world premiere at the film festival in Venice and is expected for the end of the year in the Scandinavian kingdom. The cast for the new season includes Mikael Persbrandt, Lars Mikkelsen, Nikolaj Lie Kaas and Tuva Novotny, with guest stars Alexander Skarsgard and David Dencik.
A controversial director
Heavyweight of Danish cinema, Lars von Trier is a controversial personality known for provocative films and sometimes unbearable violence. In particular, he made Melancholia, Nymphomaniac et The House that Jack Built and received the Palme d’or at Cannes in 2000 for his film Dancer in the Dark. The Danish filmmaker was banned for seven years from the Cannes Film Festival in 2011 for saying at a press conference about Melancholia that he «sympathisait» with Adolf Hitler: “I’m only saying that I understand the man. He’s not really a good guy, but I understand a lot about him and I sympathize with him a little.” he had said. Before continuing in front of an embarrassed audience: “I’m with the Jews, but not too much, because Israel really sucks.” “If I could hurt someone by the comments I made this morning, I sincerely want to apologize. I am neither anti-Semitic, nor racist, nor Nazi. he had corrected in a clarification.