10 Movie Interviews That Went Very Wrong
1. Lars Von Trier Jokes About Nazis, Gets Banned From Cannes For 7 Years
Anyone who knows much of anything about acclaimed filmmaker Lars von Trier will be aware that he's a provocateur with a twisted sense of humour who loves to court controversy.
But von Trier arguably went too far while speaking to press after the Cannes Film Festival premiere of his 2011 film Melancholia.
When a journalist asked him to expound on his German roots and the film's apparent "Nazi aesthetic," von Trier went into an awkward, rambling story about learning that his biological father was a non-Jewish German.
Von Trier went on to call himself a Nazi, that he "understands" and "sympathises with" Hitler, and in an attempt to quell the shocked audience, said he wasn't against Jews but called Israel a "pain in the ass."
Even when another journalist asked him a question, von Trier repeatedly referred to himself as a Nazi and made joking reference to the Final Solution, before the press conference mercifully came to an end.
You need only look at poor Kirsten Dunst, who is sat next to von Trier throughout the interview, to gauge the soul-crushing level of discomfort felt by everyone in the room.
And though von Trier apologised extensively for the remarks, while admitting years later that he wasn't sober during it, the Cannes Film Festival declared him "persona non grata" and banned him from the fest for seven years, until he returned with The House That Jack Built in 2018.