Shia LaBeouf in Talks for Lars von Trier's 'Nymphomaniac' (Exclusive)

Shia LaBeouf has set his sights on Danish director Lars von Trier's ambitious erotic drama Nymphomaniac, which is set to begin production in September. The Transformers star is in talks to join a cast led by Charlotte Gainsbourg.  

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Nymphomaniac is the latest indie film to be embraced by the young actor. He's set to hit theaters over Labor Day in John Hillcoat's Lawless and stars in The Company You Keep, directed by and starring Robert Redford, which will premiere at the upcoming Venice Film Festival before making its way to the Toronto International Film Festival.

LaBeouf's third indie film in the pipeline is The Necessary Death of Charlie Countryman, which recently wrapped production. And he has shown a willingness to appear in erotic material recently, co-starring in an artsy Sigur Ros video.   

Nymphomaniac follows the erotic adventures of a woman (Gainsbourg) from her youth to age 50, as recounted to her husband (Stellan Skarsgard). It's not clear how big LaBeouf's role would be.

Von Trier is splitting the English-language project into two films and will shoot a softer and more explicit version of each. No domestic distributor is aboard, but rights have been sold off in numerous foreign markets.

German funding body the NRW Filmstiftung is backing Nymphomaniac with $1.6 million in production subsidies. The film will be shot entirely in the German state of North-Rhine Westphalia, where von Trier shot Antichrist.

Nymphomaniac is von Trier's his first movie since Melancholia, which made headlines around the world when the avant-garde filmmaker joked aboug being a Nazi while promoting the film at the 2011 Cannes Film Festival. He quickly apologized but was banned from the festival.

Nicole Kidman, who starred in von Trier's 2003 drama Dogville, suggested in a recent interview that she will play a small role in Nymphomaniac.

LaBeouf is represented by CAA, attorney Matt Saver and John Crosby Management.

E-mail: Pamela.McClintock@thr.com