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Melancholia

Coverage by Nobuhiro Hosoki

Story : In this beautiful movie about the end of the world, Justine (Kirsten Dunst) and Michael (Alexander Skarsgård) are celebrating their marriage at a sumptuous party in the home of her sister Claire (Charlotte Gainsbourg), and brother-in-law John (Kiefer Sutherland). Despite Claire’s best efforts, the wedding is a fiasco, with family tensions mounting and relationships fraying. Meanwhile, a planet called Melancholia is heading directly towards Earth.

Opens November 11, 2011 (Limited 11/11)

Runtime:2 hr. 10 min.

Interview with Actress Kirsten Dunst, Actor Alexander Skarsgard, Actress Charlotte Gainsbourg.

(Q) : I personally love this movie. It's one of my favorite movies of the year and I guess I'll just ask you how did you guys get attracted to this project? How were you approached? Did you king of seek out to work with Lars von Trier or did he approach you?

(Kirsten Dunst) : For me, I literally got an email just like, 'Read this script. Lars wants to talk to you tomorrow. He's really interested in you for this movie.' And we Skyped and it was so simple. He was just, you know, I know that two directors had recommended me because it was supposed to be Penelope Cruz in the film at first and so two director friends of his mentioned me for the role. So we barely even talked about the script. We just talked about 'The Night Porter' and Charlotte Rampling. And I don’t know. We just... and then, yeah, that was... it was really simple for me.

(Q) : What was your reaction to the script? Did you have reservations?

(Kirsten Dunst) : I didn't. I didn't. I knew that whatever journey I was going on it would be an interesting one. And I'm always up for a challenge.

(Q) : Did you want to work with Lars?

(Kirsten Dunst): I did. Yeah.

(Q) : How was the tone conveyed to all of you? Because I would imagine when you're reading this on paper you could picture a number of things. But it's incredibly stylistic and I'm sure Lars had a very strict eye. He might have conveyed that to you.

(Kirsten Dunst) : Personally, I know it's a Lars film. I didn't think like stylistically how it would look so much until we were getting to these homes. And did anyone else?

(Alexander Skarsgard) : No.

(Kirsten Dunst) : Like I don't think about that.

(Charlotte Gainsbourg) : No, I didn't even see it as being America or, you know, that castle.

(Kirsten Dunst) : Yeah, I had no idea what it-

(Charlotte Gainsbourg) : And his atmosphere. Yeah.

(Q) : How does working with Lars differentiate from other filmmakers you've worked with? What makes his style of filmmaking kind of so unique?

(Alexander Skarsgard) : Very unconventional. It's very- I think we all- it was such an interesting vibe and atmosphere. And like we all kind of lived together in the middle of nowhere in southern Sweden. And you're kind of used to working where you kind of block a scene, then you have tape marks, and then you shoot a master and the lights are coming from here and you've got to find that light.

And then you show up and he's just like, 'All right. Let's see what happens. Well, that was great.' Or, 'That sucked. Let's try again.' And you can do- he doesn't care about continuity. He's so open to- he wants to be surprised and he wants to be like, 'Oh, that was interesting. I didn't expect that to happen.' But then he can also like you do whatever you want but then he'll come in and he knows.

I feel like he's editing it in his head as he's watching it. And he's like, 'Oh that's great. That's interesting.' And then if there's something he needs then he'll come in and he'll just whisper something and like, 'Try this and try that.' It's really just one of the most amazing experiences of my career.

(Q) : How about rehearsals? Does he have you rehearse?

(Alexander Skarsgard) : No, well, he shoots it. And it's usually a disaster, you know. It is. I mean like you remember like those big scenes with cars coming and going.

(Kirsten Dunst) : Yeah.

(Alexander Skarsgard) : And he's like, 'All right. Let's shoot.' And we're like, 'What's my cue? When do I'- but like I get it because there are these moments that will happen. It's like most of it will be a disaster because people will show up and like, 'Oh, shit, you're- I'm not supposed- okay.'

But then something will happen, you know, in that rehearsal, some- a little moment or something awkward or something that is real and you won't' be able to recreate that. And he'll be there with the camera and he'll capture that. And then you'll do it again, obviously, and you'll fix what didn't work. But then he'll have those little moments that he can put in.

(Charlotte Gainsbourg) : Yeah, it's interesting to be off balance, also. And that's what he works with is trying to, I find, trying to push you a bit off your ground and it's very helpful.

(Alexander Skarsgard) : Well, it makes you real. Because if you come and you're like, 'All right. I'm an actor and this is what I'm going to do. I'll plant it in my head. And I'm going to do this and then I'm going to look over there when I say that line.'

(Kirsten Dunst) : Oh, that's not fun.

(Alexander Skarsgard) : Exactly. You know it's kind of great that he's just like, 'No, no, no. Break that up and do it differently. See what happens. Just be there.'

(Charlotte Gainsbourg) : But I find that now it's very difficult to work in a different way.

(Kirsten Dunst) : Oh, it's so weird.

(Charlotte Gainsbourg) : Because you feel so free and then suddenly when someone says, 'Okay, we're going to rehearse,' and you're feeling well you're missing stuff.

(Kirsten Dunst) : Yeah.

(Charlotte Gainsbourg) : You know it's very difficult.

(Q) : It seems like some of that might stem from like his passion with the dogma filmmaking and just like take after take and just constantly. So how much would you say from the script stayed in the movie? Was there a lot of improv going on? Did he give you that kind of freedom?

(Alexander Skarsgard) : It's all in the movie.

(Kirsten Dunst) : It's all in the movie. We did some improv but I actually improved with you the most, I feel like.

(Charlotte Gainsbourg) : When?

(Kirsten Dunst) : With Alexander. The whole limo scene and the bedroom scene.

(Alexander Skarsgard) : Oh, yeah.

(Kirsten Dunst) : Even if it was just like physical improv it was just like, 'Okay, guys. Figure out the scene.' Like he was just saying.

(Q) : How was the atmosphere on set? Because it's such a dark movie. It feels like you'd sort of have to keep it light.

(Alexander Skarsgard) : Well, that's when I-

(Kirsten Dunst) : Energy of people.

(Alexander Skarsgard) : Why we've got to party on weekends and really have fun. Because you need that. It's like you can't spend two months in that like darkness.

(Kirsten Dunst) : No.

(Alexander Skarsgard) : You kind of need to-

(Kirsten Dunst) : No everyone's like cooking or meet for a delicious meal at the hotel.

(Q) : So he has overcome the depression which is so much a theme in the film and that he's talked about openly?

(Alexander Skarsgard) : He'll never be able to make another movie again, then. It'll just be boring romantic comedies.

(Q) : How do you guys handle that arc in the beginning? Because the limo scene, it's so happy and fun. And even the beginning of the wedding feels really good and then all of a sudden you kind of get a downward spiral.

(Alexander Skarsgard) : Well, we talked about that before we started. And we were all kind of on the same page. You've just got to start somewhere to be able to go down here. You can't start down there, you know. We wanted a lightness and something, you know, excitement. This is going to be a great day. They're both like, 'Oh, okay. We're at least trying.' There's just, I mean, if you start in the limo and it's like, 'No, no no.' Then where do you go from there? It's kind of-

(Q) : Did you do the shoot in order?

(Kirsten Dunst) : No, not at all. But we did do that scene, that was my first scene that I did. So-

(Alexander Skarsgard) : Yeah.

(Q) : Your character is really quite mysterious in terms of his expectations from Justine. Were you supposed to be just dumb as a character? Unaware?

(Alexander Skarsgard) : No, I'm dumb as an actor. It's all real. No, I think he's just trying desperately. Justine is such a like little fragile wounded bird or something and he believes that he can make it better. And he really like, 'I'll take care of you.' And the more- and she kind of slowly drifts away and he's struggling and trying to like, you know, no, this is okay. There's a scene that we shot that didn't make it to the final cut where-

(Kirsten Dunst) : The one scene. Lars was happiest about this scene, too. He was so happy with it that day.

(Alexander Skarsgard) : Yeah. Yeah.

(Kirsten Dunst) : So happy. It didn't make the movie.

(Alexander Skarsgard) : I know. And he told me and it was devastating. 'It just didn't work in the cut.' But it's a really sad moment because it's like Michael telling Justine that, she says she's not happy. And he's like, 'Well, no one's happy. I'm not looking for happiness. It's okay.'

You have moments of happiness but no one's really happy. And it's jus so sad to hear Michael who you think is the kind of guy who's like, 'No, no, it's going to be great,' say like, 'No, we're content and we'll have a pretty good life. But I'm not happy. Let's just like stay together because it'll be all right.' So sad.

(Q) : Alex, since your father has actually worked with Lars several times I was wondering did he give you any acting tips? Sort of how you tap into actually working with Lars?

(Alexander Skarsgard) : No, he just said, 'Do it. If you ever get an opportunity to work with him just do it.'

(Q) : How was it working with him? Your father?

(Kirsten Dunst) : Oh, just everything about it was so amazing. We shot in Sweden so in weekends I went up to Stockholm to see my mom and my siblings and just an amazing ensemble working with like one of the greatest directors out there. I mean and my old man is in it. And I love working with him and just hanging out with him. It was, it really was. It was the only, the first and only time I've said yes to a project without having read the script. I just got a call and I was like, 'All right. I don't know what he wants me to do but I'll do it.'

(Q) : How was this a different experience from 'Antichrist'?

(Charlotte Gainsbourg) : It's very different. I mean the first one felt so intimate and felt like a tiny crew. And going to extremes. And with this character everything was more subtle. It was more difficult for me to understand and to know where I was going because- yeah, because it was less extreme.

And the crew felt different. The whole thing was nearly the opposite. Which is nice. I was nervous before I started the second film because I enjoyed myself so much on the first one. I was worried it wouldn’t be as good.

(Q) : You enjoyed 'Antichrist'?

(Charlotte Gainsbourg) : Yeah. Very, very much. In a troubled way. But that's why we do this job. It's not to go in easy places.

(Q) : Was Lars a sort of different director for both films?

(Charlotte Gainsbourg) : It was very different.

(Q) : In a different place when he shot both?

(Charlotte Gainsbourg) : Yeah, I think he was not well when he shot 'Antichrist' and was always- not always but he came up saying he didn't know if he would be able to finish the film. And with anxiety, crisis, he would leave the set and it was really hard for him.

So we suffered looking at him, you know. Not being able to cope with everything. For this he was good. He was saying how happy he felt and so it was nice to see him recover.

(Q) : I saw the movie in Cannes and when I came out of the press screening I thought this is really going to shake up the entire festival because it's such a brilliant film. It's really maybe one of his most accessible films. And then the press conference happened. What did you guys feel? Were you shocked by this attitude there? How did that kind of feel for you guys? I know that's kind of a weird question.

(Kirsten Dunst) : You're funny. I mean for me, like, I just had to deal with like your face in that press conference that turned into a YouTube clip, you know. There's my answer. I mean I was just like, it's watching a friend unravel. It was just- I felt so awful for him. And I knew that obviously inappropriate what he said in that forum. So it was really, you know, I felt so embarrassed for him, too. I just, I felt, you know.

(Alexander Skarsgard) : It's just a bummer that that overshadowed the film a little bit. A little bit.

(Kirsten Dunst) : Yeah.

(Alexander Skarsgard) : But then I think your award really brought it back, so-

(Kirsten Dunst) : Not really. I think the film brought it back completely.

(Alexander Skarsgard) : Yeah.

(Kirsten Dunst) : Otherwise, yeah. It wouldn't have even stayed in competition I don't think.

(Q) : Do you see this role pointing your career in a new direction? You're not known for this type of role.

(Kirsten Dunst) : Yeah, and to me, I never felt- I've always done like a mixture of, you know, like I did 'The Virgin Suicides' but then I did 'Bring It On'. To me I've always mixed it up. So this is just an opportunity because of my age, too. And there aren't that many, I think, roles like this that are so unconventional for women. So to me it's not a new direction personally. It just is the movie that I chose to do next. You know what I mean? It wasn't like a divisive decision or it came from a very like honest and excited place.

(Q) : I just meant coming off a best actress award in Cannes that this would attract different kinds of roles offered to you.

(Kirsten Dunst) : I don't know. I did like a really raunchy comedy just now. So I'm never, I'm not someone who like-

(Q) : For whom?

(Kirsten Dunst) : A raunchy comedy.

(Q) : For?

(Kirsten Dunst) : It was a play called 'Bachelorette' and it's- Will Ferrell produced it and it's really just like girls being awful. I get to play a real bitch, which I don’t get to do so it was fun.

(Q) : Was it really emotionally taxing the entire experience? Was there kind of a recovery time after where you sort of just have to recollect?

(Alexander Skarsgard) : On 'Bachelorette'.

(Kirsten Dunst) :I went to Germany with my dad after. It's good to something immediately after, I think, and not sit there alone like right after you finish. Because you do. You create a family, then it's done. And you have this schedule, too. So I went on a vacation with my dad. It was really nice. And it was weird because we went to this castle in Germany where Wagner wrote a lot of his music and where Ludwig lived.

King Ludwig, which Lars named his son after. So it was a nice little, like, I didn't realize my dad and I were going to this place. It's called Neuschwanstein. It's like- it looks like a big Disney castle. But it was fun because it was a little button on the end of something that I experienced that- it was so special to me. So it was cathartic at the end. It didn't feel- I was tired but I wasn't sad or, you know, there was nothing negative about it after for me.

(Q) : Is there something you guys have to get in your head to bring this concept to life? Especially with the planet looming in the background. Especially when so much of your emotion is coming from seeing that thing in the background and how it's changing. Are you thinking about anything specific to bring that out? Are you looking in the distance and picturing something?

(Kirsten Dunst) : I didn't.

(Charlotte Gainsbourg) : It's pure imagination.

(Kirsten Dunst) : Yeah.

(Alexander Skarsgard) : Ignorance is bliss. Michael has no fucking idea. No idea.

(Q) : In terms of female characters I feel like a lot of people have sort of negative things to say about the way Lars portrays women but I think his characters are brilliant.

(Kirsten Dunst) : I know. It's so crazy to me. Misogynistic. It's like he's one of the only people writing roles.

(Charlotte Gainsbourg) : Yeah.

(Alexander Skarsgard) : Yeah.

(Kirsten Dunst) : And women always are the leads.

(Q) : They're completely different charters but they're both so real and natural and you don't really see a lot of that. I just wanted to say.

(Charlotte Gainsbourg) : But there is a cruelty and a darkness in the book. That's what makes the characters-

(Q) : That's what makes a person, though.

(Kirsten Dunst) : Yeah.

(Q) : Would you guys want to work again with Lars? And is there any truth to the kind of things he was mentioning in the press conference with this kind of-

(Kirsten Dunst) : The 'Nymphomaniac'. Are you doing that? You are?

(Charlotte Gainsbourg) : Yeah.

(Kirsten Dunst) : That's awesome. Really?

(Alexander Skarsgard) : I think my dad is in it, as well.

(Charlotte Gainsbourg) : Yeah.

(Alexander Skarsgard) : Awesome.

(Kirsten Dunst) : That's so awesome.

(Charlotte Gainsbourg) : But I'm still crossing fingers that I don't-

(Q) : Which version?

(Charlotte Gainsbourg) : I haven't read the script. I've just read a synopsis. And I hope he'll-

(Q) : Is it kind of like the third in the apocalyptic trilogy for Lars?

(Charlotte Gainsbourg) : I don't know. I-

(Q) : But he threatened to do two versions. One PC and-

(Kirsten Dunst) : A four-hour one.

(Q) : And one N-17. Which one are you in? How did you feel when you saw the movie? Finally saw everything after spending time shooting it? Maybe for you two because you weren't really in the other half. Through the whole thing.

(Alexander Skarsgard) : So that's why it's really- I could actually watch the second half of the movie as a member of the audience. And kind of just enjoy it. It's always weird when you watch yourself because especially the first time you're, I'm at least, I'm very critical. And I'm very like, I kind of dissect my own performance. I'm like, 'Oh fuck .why? Oh man, that's way too big.

Why did I do that? Oh, really? He chose that take? I remember another one that was much better.' So I wasn't able to go to Cannes. I was working in LA on something so I couldn’t- I missed Cannes. So I saw it. I went back to Sweden in May. It was in theatres then. Or in June, right after Cannes. And I just, oh, I though it was amazing. Like just the sound. I saw it in the theatre. Just the second half of the film-

(Kirsten Dunst) : That was crazy at the end.

(Alexander Skarsgard) : It just blew me away.

(Kirsten Dunst) : I laughed at Cannes.

(Alexander Skarsgard) : So amazing.

(Kirsten Dunst) : I was like, 'Oh my God. I can't like'- I was like, 'What? Hang on.' Not because I thought it was funny but it was just so intense. I thought it was amazing, though. I thought the end was really cool when I saw it all done.

(Alexander Skarsgard) : It was so beautiful.

(Kirsten Dunst) : For the first time.

(Alexander Skarsgard) : It was visually so amazing.

(Kirsten Dunst) : I haven't seen an ending in a theatre like that. And it's so unexpected because it is so intimate and then this huge, you know, it is a sci-fi movie. It is. I don't want to say that it is. But it's kind of awesome to call it a sci-fi movie because it just- the more intimate, the more weird and, I don't know, I'd be happy if this went into a sci-fi genre.

(Q) : The beginning kind of foreshadows everything. But I feel like by the end you kind of forget about all that and you're still surprised because you get so wrapped up in the characters rather than the story. I found that was really cool.

(Kirsten Dunst) : Right. And the planet stuff was never- I was so worried that that would look weird or be distracting or look really phony. You guys didn't think that?

(Charlotte Gainsbourg) : No, no.

(Kirsten Dunst) : You always thought it was going to look good? I was like, 'What is this blue light? Do this.' It's like, 'Hmm. I hope this is going to look good.'

(Charlotte Gainsbourg) : I was more worried about the horse riding.

(Kirsten Dunst) : Oh, yeah. That. Yeah. Well-

(Q) : Did you ride?

(Kirsten Dunst) : A little. We took him for a walk.

(Q) : A walk?

(Kirsten Dunst) : Well, we weren't galloping through the woods. I don't know. I can't get-

(Charlotte Gainsbourg) : We did it on wooden horses.

(Kirsten Dunst) : So embarrassing. Oh God.

(Charlotte Gainsbourg) : And he didn't use any of it.

(Kirsten Dunst) : He didn't? No, right. No.

(Q) : Wait, you were sitting on wooden horses, pretending?

(Charlotte Gainsbourg) : Yeah.

(Kirsten Dunst) : Deleted scenes are the criteria.

(Q) : I wonder why that never made the movie. How was it shooting the two parts? Were they separate in the shooting schedule?

(Kirsten Dunst) : No. All mixed up. Wouldn’t you say? For the most part. We did the reception a little bit together. And then that house in Gothen- but then we moved locations for two weeks to Gothenburg and shot two hours outside, or an hour outside of there, at the big mansion.

(Q) : Is there anything specific that he told you that needed to be different? Maybe just in terms of the point at which your character's at? Because also you're a different person in the first half than in the second.

(Kirsten Dunst) : Right. That was natural to me because I'm an actor. You know I should know where I'm at in the movie. But, yeah, so for me there wasn't any like, 'And now there's this scene.' I mean I know what scene we're at and where we are in the script.

(Q) : Did Lars give you any kind of advice before going in? Like any kind of specific direction that kind of sticks with you?

(Charlotte Gainsbourg) : I remember he asked us, I think, to watch 'Persona'.

(Kirsten Dunst) : Yeah, and he told me to watch 'Philadelphia Story', too.

(Charlotte Gainsbourg) : Really?

(Kirsten Dunst) : Yeah.

(Alexander Skarsgard) : He told me to watch 'Philadelphia'.

(Kirsten Dunst) : I'd seen it before, but, yeah.

(Q) : Why?

(Kirsten Dunst) : I think because it takes place at a wedding and it's funny and charming and he didn't want to lose that essence even though it was a film about depression, too. Yeah.

(Q) : How about your personal preparation processes? What do you guys like to do? Break down the script? Anything like that?

(Alexander Skarsgard) : I just sit and I read the script like three times a day and then I take notes. Just write down ideas and then 98% of them will be crap. And then it's just kind of realizing those, finding those things that you thought of when you read it and then like finding those interesting things and then that will come- and then kind of starting. Its just inspiration. And then coming up with ideas and then that's how I like finding the character. That's how I work.

(Q) : You guys are working with so many great directors. I was curious is there any aspiration to do any actually behind the camera? To do the actual directing?

(Alexander Skarsgard) : I've done a little bit of that in Sweden. I directed a short. And a couple of commercials. But, yeah, I've written some stuff. I'd like to do that eventually, I think.

(Kirsten Dunst) : I've done two shorts before. I, yeah, I like it a lot. But I like it small. I don't think I- it would take me a minute to feel confident enough in a story. I don’t have any ideas that I feel confident enough in right now to do, direct a film.

(Charlotte Gainsbourg) : Yeah, I feel real intimidated by that process. But I wish I could.

(Q) : So do you think the film has a happy ending?

(Alexander Skarsgard) : I do in a weird way.

(Q) : Yeah. At least for Justine.

(Alexander Skarsgard) : There is that one, I don't want to give anything away, but there's that one little moment between the sisters at the end and I was like, 'Oh.'

(Kirsten Dunst) : They all saw the movie. It's okay. I mean.

(Kirsten Dunst) : Yeah, okay. Oh, that's neat.

(Alexander Skarsgard) : No, I did. I did. Because you finally connected, you know.

(Kirsten Dunst) : Yeah. I hadn't thought about that.

(Alexander Skarsgard) : And then we all died but there was that little great moment.

(Kirsten Dunst) : My girlfriend saw it last night and she had the biggest smile on her face at the end. And then other friends of mine looked zombified. So I wasn't- like a very- I like that the film has so many different reactions. It really is not, you can't conform it. Or really explain what the movie, it's hard to, you know. This is the hardest movie I've ever had to talk about because it's not one you can sum up or compartmentalize into things. It's really for the audience to experience themselves, which is rare.

(Q) : Were you guys aware of those extraordinary opening images?

(Kirsten Dunst) : I mean I shot- I didn't- I kind of knew what it would look like a little bit but I didn't know how beautifully it would all go together like that.

(Q) : I've got a cheesy last question. How would you guys react to the end of the world? I just had to ask it.

(Kirsten Dunst) : Oh, I don't know. I'd be sad if I never had kids and it was the end of the world. But I don't know.

(Q) : Okay

(Kirsten Dunst) : Yeah, I don't know. If it was the end of the world, like, tomorrow, I'd probably just like drink with my friends or something. I don't know.

(Alexander Skarsgard) : I'd go hang out with my family.

(Kirsten Dunst) : Yeah.

(Alexander Skarsgard) : Yeah.

(Charlotte Gainsbourg) : I'd just want it to be quick and not know about it.

(Kirsten Dunst) : Yeah, we don't have to worry about this.

(Alexander Skarsgard) : It's going to happen.

(Kirsten Dunst) : It's not going to happen guys. It's okay.

(Q) : Not today.

(Q) : What are you all working on next?

(Alexander Skarsgard) : Sorry. Actually I have not.

(Kirsten Dunst) : Ouch. Very true.

End.