Last we spoke about Lars Von Trier’s upcoming film, The House that Jack Built, the director had just donned a handkerchief, made a series of Bowie references, and announced that the film was indeed a film and not, as was originally planned, an eight-part TV series. However, it seems that its subject matter hasn’t changed at all since when it was initially thought to be slated to debut, in parts, on the small screen: it’s still being told from the perspective of a serial killer named Jack. And now that serial killer has a face, for, as the Guardian announced, Matt Dillon has just been cast as the film’s lead.
And, a bit more has been revealed about the film’s plot — and therefore the killings Dillon will get to perform. Oddly (or not oddly, for Von Trier) similar to the way the Nymphomaniac films were a series of sexual encounters over the course of one woman’s life, this film will depict a character’s existence by focusing on the different moments in time in which he commits a murder, “each of which,” per the Guardian, “he believes is a work of art.” It’ll take place across 12 years of his life. Also similar to Stellan Skarsgård’s role in Nymphomaniac, The House that Jack Built likewise has a character to whom the lead “speaks about his thoughts and actions.” This character is allegedly named Verge, and will be played by Bruno Ganz.
Von Trier said in a statement:
It’s with great pleasure that we have succeeded in being able to present Matt Dillon and Bruno Ganz as the lead actors in The House That Jack Built. The two gentlemen have each figured as milestones in my cinematic development. Besides being an epochal match, they are excellent actors and fit quite organically into my cinematic family. I look forward with pleasure and pride to working with them both.
The film will reportedly be available for your viewing [pain] sometime in 2018.