The US actor plays the serial kill Jack in Zentropa’s The House that Jack Built. The legendary Swiss actor Ganz (Downfall) plays the mysterious Verge, who engages Jack in a recurring conversation about his actions and thoughts.

Speaking about Dillon and Ganz, Lars von Trier said: “The two gentlemen have each figured as milestones in my cinematic development. Besides being an epochal match, they are excellent actors and fit quite organically into “my cinematic family”. I look forward with pleasure and pride to working with them both."

Four prominent female roles will be announced at a later date. Set in the US, in the 1970s, the film will follow Jack over a period of 12 years as he turns into a serial killer in a quest to turn each crime into an artwork in itself.

The €8.9m (NOK79.6m) film produced by Zentropa Group received NOK 3,950,000 from Nordisk Film & TV Fond, the largest amount ever granted to a feature film. I t is co-produced by Film Väst, the Copenhagen Film Fund, Slot Machine, with support from the Danish Film Institute, the Swedish Film Institute, CNC, Film und Medienstiftung NRW, Eurimages, The Media Programme, in cooperation with DR, SVT, Nordisk Film Distribution, Germany’s Concorde Filmverleih France’s Potemkine and Les Films du Losange.

TrustNordisk continues pre-sales at the American Film Market in Los Angeles.