Lars von Trier’s long battle with the vices of man have left its toll. The avantgardist filmmaker revealed in an interview with the Danish newspaper Politiken (and cited by The Guardian) that his undergoing treatment for drugs and alcohol addiction may have stripped him of his artistic cappacities. Von Trier has a rather rich past when it comes to alcohol and mixing this up with the director’s deppresion fits results in something of a cinematographic recipe for success. But it’s not really a healthy way of life.
Director Lars von Trier admitted that in order to get the mind working, he had to drink a bottle of vodka daily. This “parallel world” in which he entered supposedly armed him with creativity. A very bold and damaging thing to do more so stating that most of his films were written during this phase. But when it came to his future in cinematography, the Danish filmmaker was not very optimistic: “I don’t know if I can make any more films, and that worries me. There is no creative expression of artistic value that has ever been produced by ex-drunkards and ex-drug addicts.” Lars von Trier is recently known for his Nymphomaniac films which starred well-known actors such as Shia LaBeouf and Willem Dafoe. The movies were controversial to say the least. But he became known thanks to Breaking the Waves starring Emily Watson. After that his future as a director was set in motion.Yet Lars von Trier said how painful it was to write the scripts for Nymphomaniac while being sober, stating that it took 18 months to complete them while Dogville was achieved in a mere 12 day process. All thanks to drugs.
Now it seems though that Lars von Trier has left his addiction in the dust and even attends regularly Alcoholic Anonymous meetings. How will this impact his future as a provocateur and screenwriter? Only time will tell. And that time will be sooner that you’d think. Von Trier is setting his sights a little lower this time taking on the reins as director for a TV show named The House that Jack Built. Little is known of this series, story-wise only that Lars von Trier’s producing partner Luise Vesth said that the filmmaker is working on the script. Shooting will start in 2016.