Penelope Cruz seeking to join Von Trier's "Melancholia"???

This week is just full of interesting cast new; and it's only Tuesday! Von Trier is one interesting (read: disturbing) director and I'd love to see Cruz branch out by working with him (not that I don't love it when she works with Almodovar, but that relationship can't last forever, right?). Von Trier has a way with his actors, and if his writing is more on the level of than Dancer in the Dark than Antichrist, Cruz could finally have a great all-English performance (I still haven't seen Elegy, so I can't comment on that one).

Source: FirstShowing.net

It looks like the lovely Penélope Cruz wants a bit of time in the controversial von Trier spotlight after seeing Charlotte Gainsbourg steal her thunder in Cannes last year (Gainsbourg won the Best Actress award, Cruz did not). I just received a news tip from a Swiss reader who runs the site Cineman.ch. He was informing me that, somewhere in Germany, it was just announced that German director Lars von Trier cast Penélope Cruz is his next upcoming film called Melancholia. On their website, though, I can't find any sourcing details at all. While I do trust them, I need confirmation before I can call this anything other than a rumor.

Melancholia was first announced last year. It's described as a "psychological drama-cum-disaster movie" about an enormous planet that looms threateningly close to Earth - but it's not an alien invasion movie. A translation of the article on Cineman.ch reveals that, remarkably, von Trier made this announcement right now because he wants to be able to have this film ready by Cannes. I'm not sure if he means this year or next, but damn, he better get to work. Then again, if it's another one or two-man show (like Antichrist), it would only take a few weeks to shoot. But we don't know anything about Melancholia, so it's hard to tell.

If this does turn out to be true, it will be quite interesting (to say the least) to see von Trier work with Cruz. So does this mean he'll make Cruz play a sex-addicted woman who ends up mutilating herself? Because if so, I might like to see that. I'm half-kidding, but the article does say that Cruz' role in this should be "edgy" (or "tranchant" in French). We will definitely let you know if this casting news is accurate or not - stay tuned!

Read more: http://www.firstshowing.net/2010/02/09/rumor-lars-von-trier-casts-penelope-cruz-in-melancholia/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+firstshowing+%28FirstShowing.net%29#ixzz0f3bsa1dW