Performance artist Marina Abramović wants to make a movie with provoc-auteur Lars Von Trier because he’s “the most disturbing director in (sic) this planet.” That does pass as flattery.
Abramović is putting together an anthology film called Seven Deaths which will chronicle the demise of seven different heroines from famous operas. She wants a different director for each story and her video plea to the Nymphomaniac director is a very public way of letting him know how much she wants him.
Abramović has taken heat in the past for the way she treats volunteers in her performances and it sounds like she recognizes a fellow sadist when she sees one. “You really bring the actors on the edge of complete nervous breakdowns,” she says. “Because I am a performance artist, I understand very well what you are doing” is her attempt at collegial alignment of sensibility.
Beware, Von Trier. Lady Abramović levels her famous stare at the camera and lowers her voice before making an offer he can’t refuse, “Just say yes, you know, because in my life, when somebody says no, it’s just the beginning.”
This is a woman who is currently building a temple upstate for her performance cult, complete with white-robed henchmen. I would listen to her.
(Photo: Nymphomaniac Promo, Artist Is Present Promo)
