Avant garde filmmaker Lars von Trier is no stranger to controversy, and Bryce Dallas Howard has her own story to share regarding the polarizing filmmaker who, among other instances, has courted rebuke due to allegations of sexual harassment by Björk and John C. Reilly’s exit from film Manderlay over the killing of an animal.
In a new interview with The Times U.K. to promote the soon-to-be-released Deep Cover on Prime Video, Howard discussed her background growing up on sets due to her father Ron Howard‘s rich directing and acting career. One such anecdote that was perhaps less glamorous was an interaction with the Melancholia director on the set of Manderlay, a credit which came early on in the Jurassic World star’s career.
Upon arriving to the set of the Danish director’s film, she remembered “he started insulting me: ‘Your father’s a terrible filmmaker.’ I went, ‘Lars, what are you trying to see?’ and he said, ‘Your angry face. I don’t know what it looks like.’”
Then, von Trier threw a glass of water in her face, “so I threw a glass of water in his face. He goes, ‘Why did you do that?’ and got up and left. That was my introduction to the Lars von Trier experience, but it wasn’t like I went to my room and cried or anything. I was sort of delighted by it,” she said.
Von Trier, who was diagnosed with Parkinson’s Disease in 2022 and was admitted to a care center in February 2025, has long been regarded as a problematic figure, whether for making jokes about sympathizing with Nazis due to his German roots or for his treatment of actresses and ways of depicting women on screen.
In 2005’s Manderlay, which also stars Willem Dafoe and Danny Glover, a woman and her father discover a plantation in rural Alabama circa the 1930s that is still operating under the conditions of slavery. The film, a sequel to 2003’s Dogville led by Nicole Kidman, traces her conviction to facilitate the freedom of the enslaved people.
The post Bryce Dallas Howard Recalls Lars Von Trier Trying To Rile Her Up For ‘Manderlay’ Scene By Insulting Her Father: “I Was Sort Of Delighted By It” appeared first on Deadline.
