Director Lars von Trier diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease

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The Danish director and screenwriter known for such works as “Melancholia”, “Antichrist” and “Nymphomaniac” suffers from Parkinson’s disease. This was announced by the film company Zentropa, which Trier founded in 1992 with producer Peter Olbek Jensen, Variety writes.

Lars is in good shape and is undergoing treatment, the company said in a statement.

The release also says that the 66-year-old director will continue work on the third and final season of the mini-series “Kingdom” (Riget), nicknamed the “European Twin Peaks”. The first and second seasons were released in 1994 and 1997, respectively – in each of which has four episodes, Trier will also take part in closed press events to coincide with the premiere later this year, and for the first time the season will be shown at the upcoming Venice Film Festival.

The first four episodes of the controversial series ended with numerous unanswered questions, and a sequel was filmed in 1997. The series picks up exactly where the first part left off, retaining the signature color scheme and shaky filming style. But the finale of the second season left even more questions, so we started talking about the third. However, due to the death in 1998 of Ernst-Hugo Jaregard, who played the Swedish neurosurgeon, and the subsequent deaths of Kirsten Rolffes (Fru Drusse) and Morten Rotne Leffers (male dishwasher), filming became almost impossible.

But Trier still wrote the script, putting it on the table for a long 20 years.

Lars von Trier is now married to Bent Frege – in the year of their wedding, in 1997, they had twins Ludwig and Benjamin. The director’s first marriage was also to the director of children’s films, Cecilia Holbeck, which lasted eight years. They have two daughters, Agnes and Selma.