Eva Green Called Him 'God,' Then Rejected His Film
For most performers, a chance to work with a revered auteur is a dream come true. But when Eva Green was offered a part by a man whose work she adored, the negotiations revealed a dark side that made her walk away from the ultimate professional fantasy.
It’s a rare privilege for an actor to get to collaborate with a personal hero. Most would jump at the offer, no matter the circumstances. But not everyone is willing to compromise their principles, as one actress demonstrated when she was faced with a difficult decision involving a controversial European director.
A Defining Debut
She burst onto the scene with her role in the erotic drama The Dreamers. The picture featured her in full nudity, portraying a sheltered twin in an uncomfortably close relationship with her brother, played by Louis Garrel. The combination of incestuous themes and graphic sexuality quickly established her as a bold new talent.
Over the following years, she transitioned into major Hollywood productions, appearing in Ridley Scott’s Kingdom of Heaven and the James Bond installment Casino Royale. Still, the memory of her first major appearance lingered. A movie like that is hard for audiences to forget.
A Line in the Sand
So, when an offer came to appear in Lars von Trier’s Antichrist, she found herself at a crossroads. On one side was the incredible allure of collaborating with one of her favorite filmmakers of all time. On the other was the concern that it would permanently tarnish her reputation. She didn't want to be known solely for contentious roles filled with explicit content.
Speaking to The Edit, she explained her hesitation about potentially starring in Antichrist. “After The Dreamers, I think people would have been very nasty to me,” she said. “People always talk about the sex. You have a sex scene, and they’re like, ‘Oh my god, there’s sex.’ So I’ve decided not to have a sex scene for a while, because you feel like it’s the only thing people remember. I feel very vulnerable.”
When Idols Fall
Perhaps she made the right call. Von Trier's 2009 picture certainly generated a lot of buzz, with Charlotte Gainsbourg and Willem Dafoe in the lead spots. The final cut included scenes of what was supposedly unsimulated intercourse and even themes of genital mutilation. The actress simply felt she wasn't prepared for that kind of challenge.
She attempted to find a middle ground, given her deep respect for the filmmaker, but it was fruitless. “Lars von Trier was my God. I loved everything that he’d done, it was my dream and fantasy to work with him, but I didn’t want to do certain things. I was asking questions and not being a puppet. There were a lot of sexual things where I was like, ‘Really? I’m not sure; is there another way to make it work?’ and he was like, ‘Nobody questions my authority.’ Brutal,” she recounted.
Von Trier is one of the industry's most polarizing figures, not just for his cinematic style—which often explores humanity's harshest impulses and eroticism—but also for his personal conduct, including accusations of sexual harassment. By the end of the discussions for Antichrist, it seems her perception of him had changed dramatically. “It kind of got tricky,” she later told the AV Club. “I don’t think he would want to work with me, honestly.”