After exploring sex in a way that only he could with Nymphomaniac, Lars von Trier will tackle death for his next project. Set to begin shooting in March, his English-language serial killer drama The House That Jack Built spans 12 years, following Matt Dillon in the lead role as we see his character’s presumably brutal murders. As usual, the director is drawing on a number of sources of inspiration, this time from Carl Theodor Dreyer to the President of the United States, according to his latest comments.
“The House That Jack Built celebrates the idea that life is evil and soulless, which is sadly proven by the recent rise of the Homo trumpus – the rat king,” the director tells The Guardian. While he didn’t expand further — we’ll have to wait until 2018 when it premieres to see the connection — the Melancholia helmer is no stranger to attracting attention with each new project. It remains to be seen if the bleak world he’s bringing to screen next will seem outdated a year or two into Trump’s presidency, but we imagine the Antichrist will have no problem pushing buttons.
His next film, which also stars Bruno Ganz, Riley Keough, and Sofia Grabol, will be split into “five incidents” (aka the murders) and then the “digressions” in between, as Jack attempts to create the “ultimate artwork” in his vocation. As we await more casting, check out an early experimental 1977 short film from Lars von Trier titled The Orchid Gardener.