Lars von Trier’s Nymphomaniac is packed with porn doubles and prosthetic vaginas, but there are no butt doubles for Christian Slater. He plays the father of the sex-obsessed young Joe (Stacy Martin), and while his character is spared the graphic sex scenes and physical abuse of his co-stars, his own nude close-up comes when he has to defecate in a hospital bed in front of his daughter and literally falls out of bed covered in excrement.
“When I first saw some of the scenes, I was a little nervous,†Slater told Vulture last night at a New York screening of the film hosted by Interview and Absolut Elyx. “But after the first time I met with Lars — I got to Cologne, Germany, and sat down with him and we had a really nice dinner together — I just thought he was such a sweet guy, and such a gentleman, and he told me so much about himself that I kind of felt like I knew him, and I felt like I’d be willing to do anything I could for him.†Was that really his butt? “Yeah, that was my hiney,†Slater said. “Look, you throw yourself out there, and we wanted to make it as raw and realistic as possible. You’re the first person brave enough to ask me that question, so there you go.â€