Production has already begun and a big cast is now in place, but Lars von Trier still had an old partner to sign for The Nymphomaniac. That person is Udo Kier, who announced in an interview with DreadCentral that he’ll be involved with next year’s two-part sex epic, making this just one of many collaborations with the Danish auteur. (For good measure, those others would be Epidemic, Europa, Breaking the Waves, Dancer in the Dark, Dogville, Manderlay, last year’s Melancholia, and the TV series The Kingdom. Quite the resume those two have.)

Despite no word as to who he’ll be playing, Kier told them “I’m off now to Germany to play a part in [The Nymphomaniac] with Charlotte Gainsbourg and Nicole Kidman and the nice boy from the Transformers; he is playing in it.” For the love of all that is decent, I only hope he didn’t get signed via the same method as Shia LaBeouf.

Here’s the official synopsis:

“NYMPHOMANIAC is the light and poetic story of a woman’s erotic journey from birth to the age of 50 as told by the main character, the self-‐diagnosed nymphomaniac, Joe.

On a cold winter’s evening Seligman, an old bachelor, finds Joe semi‐unconscious and beaten up in an alleyway. After bringing her to his flat he sees to her wounds while trying to understand how things could have gone so wrong for her. He listens intently as she over the next 8 chapters recounts the lushly branched-‐out and multi faceted story of her life, rich in associations and interjecting incidents.”

Barring any future comments about tyrannical leaders of the 20th century, both parts of The Nymphomaniac (probably the “hardcore” versions) will be arriving at Cannes next May. Charlotte Gainsbourg stars, while Stellan Skarsgård, Willem Dafoe, Jamie Bell, Connie Nielsen, Jesper Christensen, and several others will appear in supporting roles.

Is it nice to see Kier back to work with von Trier?