Lars Von Trier to give the ladies a break, torment Martin Scorsese for a while

By Sean O'Neal | May 13, 2011 | 3:07pm

Aux Features Film

Martin Scorsese has agreed to be the subject of Lars Von Trier’s next experiment in cinematic torture, signing on to collaborate with the Danish director on a sequel to (or if you prefer, remake of) The Five Obstructions, Von Trier’s 2003 documentary. That film found von Trier forcing his Danish filmmaker colleague and inspiration Jørgen Leth out of retirement to make his 1967 short The Perfect Human all over again in five different iterations, each time giving him certain obstacles to overcome, such as shooting in a dangerous Bombay slum or turning it into anime. Now Von Trier will get to pull Scorsese’s strings on a remake of one of his films, though it’s not yet clear which one it will be.

Of course, earlier this year, Von Trier quickly denied rumors that he was interested in remaking Taxi Driver, so there’s some speculation this new project could involve a scene from that film. And who better to revisit Scorsese’s monologue about the effects of a .44 Magnum on a vagina than Lars Von Trier? Now that you should see. But as The Hollywood Reporter notes, it’s just as likely that Von Trier will drag Scorsese through revisiting one of his early shorts like The Big Shave or What’s A Girl Like You Doing In A Place Like This?, which—so long as dragging Scorsese through masturbation isn’t involved—sounds just as intriguing.