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COLOGNE, Germany – Lars von Trier’s end-of-the-world melodrama Melancholia continues to rack up the honors, sweeping last night’s Danish Film Academy honors, the Robert awards, winning 10 trophies including best film, best director and acting prizes for stars Kirsten Dunst and Charlotte Gainsbourg.

Dunst picked up the best actress honor for her starring turn in Melancholia as a depressed bride confronting the end of days. Gainsbourg, as her more practical sister, took the best supporting actress honor. Dunst won the best acting prize in Cannes for her role.

Melancholia won best film at the European Film Awards and the National Society of Film Critics honored it with both its best film and best actress gongs. The Oscars snubbed Melancholia, though, due, perhaps, to von Trier’s controversial comments about Hitler at a press conference for the film in Cannes last year.

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Alexander did a great interview for ComingSoon, in which he talks about Melancholia, Lars Von Trier, his upcoming projects… Check it:

(Thanks to my friend Becca for the video, since now MTV has restrained the videos for US residents only.)

“Melancholia” certainly isn’t the first film to contemplate the end of the world as we know it, but the dreamy drama from writer/director Lars von Trier does boast its own noteworthy debut: the teaming of father/son duo Stellan and Alexander Skarsgård.

In the movie, out Friday (November 11) in New York and L.A., Alexander plays mild-mannered Michael, the man who marries Kirsten Dunst’s slightly unhinged Justine. Father Stellan plays Justine’s boss and Michael’s best man, Jack — a role that required the elder Skarsgård to act out some less than savory behavior.

“He’s such a douche bag in the movie,” Alexander said with a grin.

“Your dad’s a douche bag?” Dunst answered, laughing.

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Director Lars von Trier doesn’t have the best reputation as an actor’s director (he also doesn’t have the best reputation as a public speaker, but that’s a conversation for another time). He supposedly fought with Nicole Kidman on the set of “Dogville” and the star definitely didn’t return for the film’s sequel, “Manderlay” (she was replaced by Bryce Dallas Howard). For years, rumors swirled that Bjork vowed never to act in a film again after the grueling experience making von Trier’s “Dancer in the Dark.” She later claimed she never wanted to act at all but made an exception for von Trier. Then again; she has acted a couple more times, including in the film “Drawing Restraint 9,” so who knows.

What I do know is talking to the cast of von Trier’s “Melancholia,” which opens this Friday, gives you a different portrait of von Trier. Maybe his style has changed, maybe his mindset has changed, but to a man (and woman) they all relished the experience of working with him. “True Blood” star Alexander Skarsgard wanted to act for von Trier so badly, he did something he’s never done before: he took a role without reading the script first.

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When that giant asteroid did a fly-by of planet earth the other day, it might have been a cosmic PR stunt for Lars von Trier’s Melancholia. Even the infinite, accelerating universe, it appears, has a thing for movies. And with this film, Earthly cinephiles are in for a mind-blowing trip.

Probably von Trier’s most accessible work, the classically crafted Melancholia imagines the end of the world, drawing on both grand-scale sci-fi tropes and intimate family drama. Von Trier has the chutzpah to draw a parallel, in his mad, self-aggrandizing way, between the demise of the planet and the crushing depression of his heroine (Kirsten Dunst, who won best actress in Cannes, despite the director’s dreadful remarks about Nazis in the press conference). The opening scenes of Melancholia, a sort of prelude that telegraphs the entire story, are set to the prelude of Wagner’s “Tristan and Isolde,” and include some of the most gorgeous images ever committed to film. Diving deep into “the abyss of German romanticism,” in von Trier’s phrase, they include haunting dream-scapes of a moon-lit estate marked for doom, Dunst floating Ophelia-like among the lilies á la John Millais, standing among falling birds or with live current streaming from her fingers, and dragging a bridal train weighted down with nets and debris — an inspired metaphor for depression.

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Alexander Skarsgard must have a dark side. He’s drawn to characters who emanate a silky menace: not only his most famous role, the 1,000-year-old vampire Eric Northman on the HBO series True Blood; but also a violent hayseed in this year’s remake of Straw Dogs; and a steely U.S. Marine sergeant in the 2008 miniseries Generation Kill. His gorgeous new film, Melancholia, written and directed by Lars von Trier, digs deep into two of the toughest subjects around, severe depression and the end of the world. (It opened in select cities yesterday.)

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You’ll find now HD screen captures of “Melancholia” added to our site. Alexander is wonderful on it, one more time, proving that he can do ANY role.

Madman Australia unveiled their new and dynamic (literally) poster advertisement for what could be their biggest release in Australia this year. von Trier’s latest from Cannes hits cinema nationwide on 15 December and the poster itself captures the quiet desperation and tension prevalent in the film itself.

The stunning animated poster features the provocative director Lars von Trier alongside the outstanding ensemble cast which includes Kirsten Dunst, Charlotte Gainsbourg, Kiefer Sutherland, and Alexander Skarsgård.

In addition to the motion poster, Madman Entertainment have also created a 2-minute ‘making of feature where Madman Art Director demonstrates the steps taken to produce the
motion poster and discusses the creative concept including the unorthodox inclusion of von Trier.

Check it out below (with sound) !

Alexander Skarsgard, Ezra Miller, Emily Browning, Stine Fisher Christensen, Anton Yelchin and Shailene Woodley were the 19th annual Hamptons International Film Festival’s 2011 Breakthrough Performer award recipients. Arts & Living caught up with Mr. Skarsgard and Mr. Miller, among a few of the others, on Saturday morning at c/o The Maidstone in East Hampton.

Mr. Skarsgard, a native of Sweden, was recognized at the 19th annual film festival for his work in “Melancholia” by Lars von Trier. He is best known to American audiences for his portrayal of vampire Eric Northman on “True Blood” on HBO.

On Saturday morning, he was a bit jet-lagged, having just flown in from Sweden late on Friday afternoon before heading straight off to the festival festivities.

“I basically jumped straight in the shower and went right to the screening and then the party after,” Mr. Skarsgard said. “It was pretty intense.”

A frequent weekend Hamptons visitor this past summer, Mr. Skarsgard talked about his love of the East End—especially the beaches, a good friend and her husband who live in Amagansett (he stayed with them this summer and for the duration of the festival), and making treks with them to Montauk.

“She has such a cute, beautiful house. So I like just hanging out there with her family, cooking, chilling … eating food and drinking wine,” he said.

Coming out to the East End was the perfect escape for the actor, who spent a hectic summer shooting films back to back in New York: “What Maisie Knew” and “Disconnect.”

“Obviously shooting was very intense in the city and then it was just a nice break to get out on the weekends, to hang out here,” he said.

Motion posters are all the rage right now, and despite all of the ruckus regarding Lars von Trier recently, Magnolia is still pushing along his new film Melancholia for its release. In fact, if you want to watch it this evening, it’s available On-Demand right now. In the meantime, Yahoo has debuted this new motion poster for the apocalyptic drama, starring Kirsten Dunst, Charlotte Gainsbourg, Kiefer Sutherland and Alexander Skarsgård. Check it: