Uncut Forum

The A.V. Club skrev:Medea (1988)—“Jason”
The Last Trip To Harrisburg (1984)—“Man And Woman In Train”

UK: Okay, now you force me to tell the whole story of how I met Lars von Trier. Because Medea was the beginning of a friendship—and people never understand what a friendship is. I’ll tell you what a friendship is to me. Friendship to me is, if my friends need my little finger to live, I’m going to have it cut off. I’m going to the hospital, they cut off my finger, and maybe I have a gold finger instead, and I become famous. But I still give it to my friend.

AVC: That’s von Trier, to you?

UK: No, no, no. More than that. He is more than that. I was in Mannheim for the festival, and I made a short film called The Last Trip To Harrisburg. When the atomic thing was happening, I was scared. They had an accident in their nuclear facility. And I said to Fassbinder, “I want to make a film about this,” and I wanted to use the text of Jean Genet. And Fassbinder said, “Oh, you’re going to be in trouble. Why don’t you buy the Bible?” So I bought the Bible. The Bible is wonderful. It’s only one book, but you can put two grams of coke on top of the Bible, and you first take a line of coke and then you open the Bible. Because then you understand. And I wrote the text, saying I can record it, which I do in the movie.

So I played an American soldier and a blonde woman, beautiful woman. I play both. And Fassbinder saw it and said, “You have no money! I am going to be your voice for the man and the woman…” But he didn’t change, it was a monologue about going to eternity. It wasn’t [high voice], “I’m the woman, so I talk like that.” It was same voice. And it was amazing. Two grams of coke and the Bible.

So my film, which I did with Fassbinder’s voice, went in competition to Mannheim, and it was in competition with Lars von Trier’s Element Of Crime. So we went to see it—Lars didn’t arrive yet—and I talked to all the American directors, and I said, “We can go home.” [American accent] “Why, man?” “Because whoever made that film, he’s going to win. That is amazing!” And he did. So I went to the festival director and I said, “There’s one person I would like to talk to, the person who made that film, Element Of Crime.” “Oh yes, Udo, we can arrange that, no problem.” And I expected somebody like Kubrick or Fassbinder, all dressed in black and, like Fassbinder, touching their dick all the time, and greasy hair, and an intellectual image of “I give a fuck.” And then came a young boy in a sweater, and it was Lars von Trier.