Shia LaBeouf, Jamie Bell and Connie Nielsen will begin filming the hardcore pornographic drama "Nymphomaniac" this week.
Bell and Nielsen are the latest actors to join the "Nymphomaniac" cast. The Hollywood Reporter reveals that British actor Bell, of "Billy Elliot" fame, and Danish actress Nielsen, best known for her roles in "Basic" and "Boss," will join LaBeouf in the Lars von Triers-directed flick, which will be begin filming in Germany on Thursday.
The controversial film starring LaBeouf, Charlotte Gainsbourg and Stellan Skarsgard is slated for an 11-week shooting schedule, according to THR. Others expected to appear in "Nymphomaniac" include Nicolas Bro ("Warhorse"), Jesper Christensen ("Quantum of Solice") and Jens Albinus ("Idiots"). Nicole Kidman and Willem Dafoe have also been linked to the film, but there has been no confirmation as to their roles.
"Nymphomaniac" tells the story of Joe (Gainsbourg), a self-proclaimed nymphomaniac (or a woman who has an abnormally excessive and uncontrollable sexual desire), who is found beaten in an alley by Seligman (Skarsgard). Seligman takes Joe back to his home and nurses her back to health "as she divulges her lifetime's worth of carnal exploits," according to Cinema Blend.
The film is already a subject of controversy as Trier plans to release two versions: one that will feature hardcore and possibly real on-screen sex and another tamer version. Release is set for 2013.
LaBeouf, whose role in the film has not yet been revealed, made headlines when he said he is willing to do whatever is takes -- including unsimulated on-screen sex.
“I don't know what's going to be asked of me,” LaBeouf told "Extra TV" during an interview. “But I'm willing to do whatever is asked of me to get closer to the truth that's on the page.”
LaBeouf's willingness to have sex on-screen does not necessarily account for confidence, though. He says he is "terrified" of what is to come.
"[Von Trier] is very dangerous," he told MTV News' Josh Horowitz. "He's the most dangerous dude that I've ever showed up for. I'm terrified. I'm so terrified, which is why I have to go. We'll see what happens."
But with a movie title like "Nymphomaniac," the actors knew exactly what they were getting into.
"[The movie] is what you think it is," LaBeouf told MTV. "It is Lars von Trier, making a movie about what he's making. For instance, there's a disclaimer at the top of the script that basically says we're doing it for real. Everything that is illegal, we'll shoot in blurred images. Other than that, everything is happening."
"Nymphomaniac" is not the first mainstream film -- nor the first Triers film -- to feature real, on-screen sex.
Trier's 2009 "Antichrist" featured graphic sex between Gainsbourg and Willem Dafoe. Vincent Gallo's 2003 "Brown Bunny" featured actress Chloe Sevigny engaging in oral sex. In 2001, Patrice Chereau's "Intimacy" showed stars Mark Rylance and Kerry Fox having sex, becoming one of the first mainstream British films to do so.
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