It has been a substantially long time since this article has re-appeared on our site. In their words:
Europe's celebrated director of The Idiots and Dancer in the Dark talks with the precociously talented director of Boogie Nights, Magnolia, and Punch-Drunk Love, on ways of seeing America, the egos of actors, and his controversial new film, Dogville.
Ok, let's cut to the chase: An interview between Lars von Trier and Paul Thomas Anderson is a cinephile's wet dream. As two of cinema's most distinctive directors, they have created some of the most searing movie experiences in recent memory. Despite their vastly different approach, both men, are united by a concern with the outsider in society: The awkward and misbegotten lonely hearts of Anderson's Magnolia and Punch-Drunk Love find their counterparts in the small-town American of von Trier's Dancer in the Dark and the upcoming Dogville.
Both bring a precise, focused discipline to their movies that leaves little to chance. Von Trier, in particular, has developed a reputation for his combative relationship with his actors, most notably with Bjork during the making of Dancer in the Dark, but his severe approach typically results in career-defining performances. Anderson, too, has wrung brilliance from his ensemble productions, especially from Philip Seymour Hoffman, who has appeared in all of his movies, and Adam Sandler, whose layered, tormented turn in Punch-Drunk Love was one of last year's great surprises.
The two directors convened at von Trier's film studio, Zentropa, on the outskirts of Copenhagen, to gossip about actors, trade views on America, and nominate some of their favorite movies.
