Trivia for
Dancer in the Dark (2000) More at IMDbPro »

• Writer-director Lars von Trier's first draft screenplay was called "Taps" and featured tap dancing in every scene. Choreographer Vincent Paterson convinced von Trier that it would be far too difficult, if not impossible, to teach something as "technical" as tap dancing to Björk and the other cast members within a reasonable period of time. Von Trier rewrote the screenplay so that the songs would be more in the style of "traditional" Hollywood musicals, but retained some of the tap-dancing motif with the character of Oldrich Novy.
  
  
• Stellan Skarsgård was originally cast in the role of Jeff, Selma's would-be boyfriend, but was unable to play a part as large as that due to a scheduling conflict (with Aberdeen (2000)). The part of Jeff went instead to Peter Stormare, and Skarsgård ended up playing the substantially smaller (only two scenes) role of Selma's eye doctor.
  
  
• The role of Cathy, Selma's best friend, was originally written for an African-American woman. However, Catherine Deneuve, who had written to Lars von Trier several years earlier about the possibility of doing a film together, expressed interest in the part. Von Trier cast her and slightly rewrote the part as a French immigrant woman to accommodate Deneuve.
  
  
• Though the film is set in Washington State, it was filmed in Sweden. Some of the cast members in smaller parts are Swedish actors who are dubbed by actors with American accents.
  
  
• When the workers are shown leaving the factory near the beginning of the film, we can briefly see a man and a woman, each holding a baby, waiting in the parking lot. The woman is Bente Frøge Trier, wife of writer-director Lars von Trier; the two infants are their twin sons. Von Trier originally cut these cameos out of the film, but reinserted them following protests from his wife.
  
  
• Lars von Trier originally cast himself as the angry man who chastises Selma and Cathy in the movie theater. However, due to the contentious on-set relationship between himself and Björk, he feared that he might end up losing control and overacting, so the part went to Michael Flessas instead.
  
  
• The name of the Judge is A.D. Mantle, a reference to Anthony Dod Mantle. He was the director of photography of three Dogme 95 films (Festen (1998), Mifunes sidste sang (1999), and Julien Donkey-Boy (1999)). Director Lars von Trier was one of the founders of the Dogme 95 movement.
  
  
• In very beginning of the film Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas (1998) you can hear the song "My Favourite Things", which is contained in this movie. During the 27 seconds this song is played, you can see a sign held by a Vietnamese man with the name "Selma" on it.
  
  
• During the Scatterheart-sequence, Selma (Björk) lies down on a stack of birch logs. In Icelandic, Norwegian and Swedish, "Björk" means "birch". Lars von Trier said he thought it would be fun to put in the movie.
  
  
• The third film in Lars von Trier's "Golden Heart" trilogy in which the heroines remain naïve despite their actions. The two other parts are Breaking the Waves (1996) and Idioterne (1998).
  
  
• As a countermeasure for wearing strong glasses extensively, Björk wore contacts of the opposite level to neutralize her vision during those scenes.
  
  
• Lars von Trier has said that each morning before filming, Björk would say "Mr. von Trier, I despise you," and spit at him.
  
  
• Premiere voted this movie as one of "The 25 Most Dangerous Movies".
  
  
• While known among DV filmmakers as being filmed with anamorphic lenses to obtain a 2.35:1 aspect ratio, this is not entirely true; anamorphic lenses were only used on the infamous "100 cameras" for the musical numbers. The rest of the film (along with close-ups in the musical numbers) was shot with a larger camera in 16x9, which was then cropped to the final 2.35:1 aspect ratio.
  
  
• On the soundtrack, all the additional vocals are done by the cast, except for "I've Seen It All", where Radiohead's Thom Yorke replaces Peter Stormare. Despite the song being omitted from the actual soundtrack, many fans of the film have entitled the song that Selma sings as "The Next To Last Song" even though the song itself is actually an a cappella lyrical reworking of "New World", the seventh and final song on the soundtrack, and the song that plays during the closing credits.
  
  
• In her September 2005 book "Close Up and Personal", Catherine Deneuve writes of the difficulties of filming this movie. Despite some initial misgivings (filming of the musical scene in the factory was "disordered", and film preparations ran late) Deneuve decided that things would be professional, as Lars von Trier knew what he wanted to do and people would follow his lead. Later, however, she says she realized there was no point asking von Trier to explain her character further, because she didn't have many scenes. Deneuve's account makes it clear both Von Trier and Björk were difficult to work with, but she also comments that she enjoyed the experience, while not making real connections.
  
  
• Björk's first leading role in a feature film. During the shooting, she left the set. No one knew where she was and no one was able to contact her. Shooting was suspended indefinitely. She came back after three days - as can be seen in Von Trier's 100 øjne (2000).
  
  

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