Leave it to writer-director Lars von Trier to attract a firestorm of media controversy. According to Variety, the 53-year-old Danish provocateur may collaborate with Martin Scorsese and Robert De Niro on a follow-up to Scorsese's landmark 1976 movie Taxi Driver.
It's unclear whether the project would be a re-hash, a sequel, or (heaven forbid) a prequel, and although the whole idea is currently an unsubstantiated rumor, that hasn't stopped the Berlin Film Festival from making some noise.
The idea follows in the footsteps of The Five Obstructions directed by Jørgen Leth. Von Trier was the genesis behind that project as well; he challenged Leth to remake his 1967 movie The Perfect Human five times with five different restrictions. For example, one of the five had to be completely animated.
We doubt Scorsese would remake Taxi Driver once, let alone five times, and we can only hope this is a prototypical Von Trier stunt designed to gain him as much attention as possible.
Apparently, the media hoopla got started when one of Von Trier's business partners said he could neither confirm nor deny the rumor. "There will be a statement coming shortly," he later said.
UPDATE: The Playlist reports that Von Trier's business partner has denied the rumor, saying, "I have seen it [the story] in the Danish film magazine and what is written there is not true."
Posted 02.16.10 by reelz