Lars Von Trier Takes Back His Nazi Apology

Danish director Lars von Trier, who came under fire at this year’s Cannes Film Festival due to remarks about sympathizing with Adolf Hitler at the press conference for his latest film MELANCHOLIA, has now said that he was “not sorry” about his controversial statements after all. At the Cannes Film Festival, von Trier, who actually declared (if jokingly) that he was a Nazi, was pronounced persona non grata and banned from the Festival’s awards ceremony and other official functions. The director eventually did make a public apology, but now, in an interview in the magazine GQ, he  is reversing that sentiment, saying that he believes there is no such thing as the “right or wrong thing to say…..I think that anything can be said. That is very much me. The same with film — anything can be done in a film. If it can be thought in the human mind, then it could be said and it could be seen on a film. He remarked that  “I am not sorry for what I said. I’m sorry that it didn’t come out more clearly. I’m not sorry that I made a joke, but I’m sorry that I didn’t make it clear that it was a joke. But I can’t be sorry for what I said — it’s against my nature.” MELANCHOLIA, which won a Best Actress prize at the Cannes Film Festival for Kirsten Dunst, shows next week at the New York Film Festival, where the controversial director is not expected to appear. Questions remain about his reception in New York later next month in advance of the film’s theatrical opening. Happy Jewish New Year to you, Lars…….

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