The typically maverick filmmaker Lars von Trier is entering more common territory. Following the premiere of his latest "automavision" film, The Boss of it All, at the Copenhagen International Film Festival last Thursday, he announced plans to make a horror film called Antichrist. He didn't give anything away in terms of the plot, but did mention an affinity for Asian films like The Ring and Dark Water. He also said that it would be in English, will feature three main characters, and is likely to begin shooting next summer if financing goes as planned. He added that, "anything can happen in a horror film," suggesting that nothing about the project is definite. According to the report by ScreenDaily, producer Peter Aalbæk Jensen gave away too much plot info two years ago, prompting von Trier to completely rewrite the script and keep most of the details a secret from him.

Von Trier dabbled in horror a bit with his miniseries The Kingdom, which was recently remade for U.S. television by Stephen King, but it was more weird than scary (I know people who disagree with me there), and in that sense it shares with Asian horror the lack of slashing and hacking that is common with the American brand. I would prefer to see what the filmmaker would do with killings more than with hauntings, the latter being too permitting of free-form, surreal randomness, but hopefully he'll have something interesting to add to the genre no matter what he has in store.

As for Wasington, the third installment of von Trier's "America the Beautiful" trilogy (Dogville; Manderlay), which he previously said wouldn't happen, the film is not completely dead yet. He told reporters,"I'm quite sure it will happen one day," but says that right now it is an avoidable project.

I am a huge fan and an even bigger defender of Lars Von Trier, the controversial filmmaker who has been the cause of much polarization among film critics since he began making films that take place in, but are not filmed in, the United States, earning him a reputation for being anti-American. Now I anticipate him being criticized for backing down. He is supposedly giving up on his "America the Beautiful" trilogy (Dogville and Manderlay were the first two installments), having said that the third in the series, Wasington, had too many script problems. Now, his latest, The Boss of it All, a comedy in the Dogme 95 style, is going to premiere at the less-prestigious Copenhagen International Film Festival instead of Cannes, where his films are usually unveiled.

Some people will probably say that Von Trier is hiding out from his attackers, but I don't imagine that he would ever, ever let his critics affect him in such a way. As far as Wasington goes, I assume he is probably bored with the concept and has realized he doesn't need anything more to say in its context. The festival thing could simply be his recognition that Denmark is his home and he has nothing to prove by being in the spotlight of Cannes once again. Besides, if the film is finished now, why wait until May to screen it? Copenhagen began yesterday and runs until October 1st.