Manderlay - LVT's S

[Finn]

Manderlay is the second installment in the USA trilogy for Lars Von Trier. Dogville was U, Manderlay is S and his next film will be A. Apparently Bryce Dallas Howard (Ron Howard's daughter from The Village) will play Grace in this movie instead of Nicole Kidman (although she agreed to do it in press conference interviews).

More info...
http://imdb.com/title/tt0342735/maindetails

Release Dates...
TBA
So far...
Russia 24 June 2005  
Denmark 2005  

LVT's one of my favorite directors. I loved Dogville the most out of all his movies. Can't wait for this one!

[jonas]

I can't wait for this one either.

I'm excited to see whether or not Bryce Dallas Howard can hang with a director that is hard on his actors.

[rustinglass]

There are rumours that this time, the floor is the negative of dogville, that is: white floor with black lines.....

My eyes are hurting already.

[rustinglass]

Jean-Marc Barr on Manderlay:

"In this trilogy, i play the gansters... Now we are shooting the second part, Manderlay, in the same way we shoot Dogville, without scenery. This time, the theme is slavery. The idea is that the white people became themselves slaves of their desire of control. There will be more humour than in the first part, and there will be also some interesting visual effects..."

[mogwai]

Director cuts dead donkey scenes

Danish director Lars Von Trier has cut scenes of a butchered donkey from his forthcoming movie, bowing to pressure from animal rights campaigners. Von Trier said that while his conscience was clear over the death of the donkey in Manderlay, he did not want the row to overshadow the film. Actor John C Reilly quit the project early on because of his concerns about animal welfare. Manderlay is the second film in a trilogy, following on from Dogville. Von Trier assured animal lovers the donkey had been put down "as compassionately as possible", using an injection. In a statement, he said he had taken the "unusual" step of cutting all the scenes showing the dead donkey after a barrage of letters. He said: "In my view the political and social content of the film is so important that it would be sad if it could be rejected or ignored merely by referring to the 'donkey problem', as it was called in the papers. "You might say that this renders the death of the donkey in conjunction with the making of the film meaningless; however, you may still rejoice in the fact that it escaped slaughter."

Kidman replaced

The production crew had originally sought to use a dummy donkey, but when that did not work they sought one that was to be slaughtered. Manderlay is set in the 1930s against a backdrop of slavery in the American South. Nicole Kidman played the character of Grace in Dogville, the first in the trilogy, but has been replaced by The Village star Dallas Bryce Howard for the second film because her heavy workload would have held up the production. Dogville was shot entirely in a studio using the minimum of props, to give it a feeling of a stage play.

[Finn]

That's unlike Von Trier to bow to pressure like that. I guess he feels he's making the best decision.

[pete]

von trier is totally unpredictable, if you ain't surprised by his reaction then he's not lars.

[matt35mm]

It makes sense, though.  I agree with his reasoning.  I'd hate for my film to be overshadowed by such an issue.

[Ghostboy]

So basically, John C. quit for what turned out to be a moot point.  

[MacGuffin]

A bit more info:

Von Trier Cuts Donkey Butchery Scene from 'Manderlay'

Maverick Danish filmmaker Lars von Trier will cut scenes of a donkey being butchered from his film about slavery in the U.S. South after protests from animal rights activists who said he killed the animal for entertainment.

Von Trier's experimental style and affection for dark and disturbing themes have made him a hero to some moviegoers and a menace in the eyes of others. He is notoriously secretive about projects in production.

In an open letter to "animal lovers" released on Thursday, the award-winning eccentric thanked the activists for the large number of letters and said the donkey had been put down as compassionately as possible.

"The meat from the donkey was passed on to take its place in the food chain the way donkey meat happens to do in our part of the world," he said in the unusual public comment.

"I cut all the scenes showing the dead donkey out of the film," the 48-year-old director said in the letter.

Von Trier denied the donkey was killed for entertainment. He said the political and social content of the film, "Manderlay," was so important that it would be unfortunate if it was rejected or ignored because of the donkey.

"My personal feeling is that I acted conscientiously, and I don't suppose we'll ever agree on that."

"Manderlay," the second film in a trilogy called "USA - Land of Opportunities." It is a story of slavery set in the 1930s American South starring Bryce Dallas Howard, Willem Dafoe and Danny Glover. Release is expected this year.

[rustinglass]

That's unlike Von Trier to bow to pressure like that. I guess he feels he's making the best decision.

Well, he did cut some scenes out of breking the waves after test screenings, I know it's not the same thing but it goes to show that he's not completely unreasonable.

I wonder if he'll remove the donkey completely from the script.

[mogwai]

two pics from the manderlay set:

bryce dallas howard

lars von trier & bryce dallas howard

[rustinglass]

looks like it's true about the white floor

[kotte]

News from Zentropa.

Fans of uncompromising art and donkey-haters are advised to be on the lookout for special features on the dvd-version of Manderlay

Also

My personal feeling is that I acted conscientiously, and I don't suppose we'll ever agree on that. However, the charge made in many of the letters of killing a donkey "for entertainment" is one that I refute on the grounds that such charges can only originate from ignorance of my films...particularly entertaining is something surely nobody would call them.

Animal welfare is important, but in my view human welfare is more so...and the latter includes freedom of speech and the right to political debate (also expressed through art) conducted in observance of personal ethics. The danger of a unilateral fight for animal rights (however important it might be) is, of course, possibly a form of insidious escapism from the injustice and horrors of the human worl. With the hop that my readers will avoid this trap, allow me to extend my good wishes to their heart felt projects.

Copenhagen, December 8, 2004. Lars von Trier


And also...
Bryce looks so fucking naive in those pictures...she's annoying. Hope Lars tortures her Bjork-style.

[Jeremy Blackman]

Animal welfare is important, but in my view human welfare is more so...and the latter includes freedom of speech and the right to political debate (also expressed through art) conducted in observance of personal ethics. The danger of a unilateral fight for animal rights (however important it might be) is, of course, possibly a form of insidious escapism from the injustice and horrors of the human worl.[/i]

This is not very convincing...