Lars von Trier.Photo: David M. Benett/Dave Benett/Getty
Director Lars von Trier has been diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease, a statement from his production company Zentropa, confirmed.
Deadlinereported that the Danish director’s long-time producer at the company, Louise Vesth, confirmed the news Monday in a statement saying that he had been diagnosed “just before the summer holidays.”
While Vesth said von Trier is in “good spirits and is being treated for his symptoms,” the diagnosis will mean he will take part in less press for the upcoming release.
According toThe Hollywood Reporter, which also obtained the statement from Zentropa,The Kingdomwas “a combination of hospital melodrama and grotesque horror,“and takes place in a hospital in Copenhagen.
The outlet went on to note that the director had taken a step back from the media spotlight already, after a joke he made about sympathizing with Nazis during a 2011 press conference for his filmMelancholiaat Cannes got him banned from the festival.
The comment resulted not only in a ban of seven years but also a police investigation for alleged “trivialization of the Holocaust” — a crime in France,The Hollywood Reporterexplained. Von Trier was not charged and the investigation was dropped, the outlet said.
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“Well yeah, you could see my face. I was choking, because I’m watching a friend having a meltdown,” she toldThe Guardianof the incident. “And what he’s saying is horrendous in a roomful of press. He was asked an inappropriate question [about his family] and his response was to make a joke about it. But no one laughed and he just kept unravelling.”
source: people.com
