Christian Slater Joins Cast of Lars Von Trier's 'Nymphomaniac'

Christian Slater has joined the all-star cast of Lars Von Trier's pornographic drama Nymphomaniac. The film is billed as an exploration of female sexuality from birth to age 50 and stars Charlotte Gainsbourg as the self-diagnosed nymphomaniac Joe. Slater will play the father of Gainsbourg's character in flashbacks to her childhood.

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Stellan Skarsgard (The Avengers) also stars as an old bachelor who finds Joe one cold winter's night, lying beaten up in an alley. He takes her home and cares for her wounds while she recounts the story of her life in eight separate chapters. Von Trier is shooting Nymphomaniacas two separate full-length features, both of which will be released in soft and hardcore versions.

"Lars is a complete gentleman. It's great to be on a set with someone who has such a loyal and talented team," Slater said, commenting on working with the legendary cinematic provocateur. "The majority of his crew are people he has worked with over the past twenty years. They love him and I understand why. It's lovely as an actor to get opportunities a few times in your career to work on a truly special project with a director and leader who really understands his material and is able to convey what he wants so concisely."

Von Trier has a reputation for being particularly tough on his actors - Bjork walked off the set during the shooting of the Oscar-nominated Dancer in the Dark- but the Danish filmmaker has had little problem finding A-listers for his latest project. In addition to Gainsbourg, who starred in von Trier's Antichrist and Melancholia, the cast of Nymphomaniac includes Shia Labeouf, Jamie Bell and Connie Nielsen.

Nymphomanic is currently in Germany outside Cologne. Louise Vesth is producing the film for Zentropa Entertainments in co-production with Bettina Brokemper of Zentropa International in Cologne, Marianne Slot of Slot Machine and Bert Hamelinck for Caviar. TrustNordisk is handling international sales and has pre-sold the film to multiple territories worldwide, including Concorde in Germany and Artificial Eye in the U.K.