Life As a ‘Nymphomaniac’ Body Double
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| Elvira Friis played body double for Stacy Martin and Charlotte Gainsbourg in Lars von Trier’s new movie “Nymphomaniac.” |
But there is another disclosure: Professional actors were replaced by several body doubles for the more explicit sex scenes.
“My mom never speaks with her friends about what I am doing, but she straight away told her friend that I am playing in a von Trier movie,” Friis said during an interview in her Copenhagen apartment shortly after “Nymphomaniac” started showing in Europe.
“Nymphomaniac” has become one of the most buzzed-about foreign films in some time, and the anticipation has been fueled by the release of a series of tantalizing clips from the movie. According to Rotten Tomatoes, the movie aggregation website, “Nymphomaniac” so far has a 100 percent rating from critics, and 95 percent of audience members want to see it. The Variety review of the film said “Racy subject aside, the film provides a good-humored yet serious-minded look at sexual self-liberation, thick with references to art, music, religion and literature, even as it pushes the envelope with footage of acts previously relegated to the sphere of pornography.”
Friis performed in several scenes and working for von Trier set a higher bar than her typical roles.“This was quite a special job and I loved doing it. Being allowed to work for von Trier is a huge compliment.”
Her facial expressions didn’t matter because, in the end, her body would have the head of either Martin or Gainsbourg planted on it when the final production was finished. Martin played the main character in “Nymphomaniac,” the sex-hungry Joe, at a young age, and Gainsbourg played Joe in older years.
Sex gets a much different treatment in ”Nymphomaniac” than what actors like Friis are used to. While in a typical adult movie sex at least seems to bring people some pleasure, this is not the case in “Nymphomaniac.” The main character never appears satisfied and instead remains lonely and longing for something more.
Accustomed to being part of small crews and working in front of basic cameras, Friis found herself doing sex scenes that were extremely well planned and involved many more people. In some cases, she was doing the scene with another body double.
While critical, stand-ins aren’t intimately involved in a movie’s production from start to finish.
“We joined the project at quite a late stage in May last year,” Friis said. “Basically the whole movie had been shot, but they were not happy with some scenes filmed in Germany and therefore engaged us. We got emailed film stills of the scenes and in the studio they showed us a brief clip which was to precede our scene,” Friis said.
They also aren’t cozy with the rest of the cast.
For instance, although she lent her backside to a scene in which Gainsbourg is depicted as being spanked, the two never met. Friis wore the same dress as Gainsbourg in a scene in which the actress is tied to a sofa. “The closest I got to Charlotte Gainsbourg was that I was wearing her dress,” Friis said.
During the sofa scene, Friis is propped up on telephone books. “I remained in this position for three hours. The crew said I could have a break, but I am the person who wants to finish things perfectly once started,” Friis said. “I really suffered pain the next day.”
Friis did meet von Trier. “He spoke with me a bit about the porn business and then explained me how I should shake my legs and other things. He had exact ideas about how the scenes should look like.
Lars von Trier sometimes said this was good, but can’t you stretch your arms more. Some scenes we had to repeat again and again.”
Friis has not seen the movie yet and wants to wait until von Trier’s long version is released. “In that version I act naked in a longer scene, which is quite special, but non-pornographic,” she said.
The director’s cut will for the first time be screened at Berlinale, a film festival taking place in the German capital beginning of February.