‘Nymphomaniac’ In Berlin: Lars von Trier Shows Up With ‘Persona Non Grata’ T-Shirt; LaBeouf Abruptly Exits Press Conference

Lars von Trier and his extended cut of the first volume of “Nymphomaniac” arrived at the Berlin International Film Festival today, though the filmmaker technically stuck to his pledge to no longer do press.

The director showed up at the press conference wearing a t-shirt that read “Persona Non Grata: Official Selection” underneath the official logo of the Cannes Film Festival (where he was infamously was declared persona non grata at a press conference two years ago). But after taking a few photos with members of his “Nymphomaniac” cast, von Trier took off and let his cast do the talking for him.

Uma Thurman, Christian Slater, Stellan Skarsgård, Stacy Martin and Shia LaBeouf had those honors, though LaBeouf decided to use it as an opportunity for some more “performance art.”  When asked a question about the film, LaBeouf simply said: “When the seagulls follow the trawler it is because they think sardines will be thrown into the sea. Thank you very much.” And then walked out of the room (you can watch a short video of the stunt here).

The quote refers to soccer player Eric Cantona, who said the same thing at a press conference in 1995 related to him having kicked an “abusive spectator.” Which suggests that LaBeouf was deliberately plagiarizing Canton in a follow up to his plagiarizing a short film late last year, which may or may not have been intentional too? Either way, LaBeouf succeeded at getting some attention in Berlin, with even his fellow cast members all gasping as he took off.

You can read what they sincerely had to offer the press conference in the absence of both von Trier and LaBeouf here.