People warned over graphic movie with “severe” unsimulated sex scenes

Speaking to The Hollywood Reporter in 2013, she said: “We shot the actors pretending to have sex and then had the body doubles, who really did have sex, and in post we will digital-impose the two. So above the waist it will be the star and the below the waist it will be the doubles.”

‘Terrified’ to perform
The technique allowed von Trier to push visual boundaries without requiring his stars to take part in explicit acts, while still delivering scenes that many viewers describe as strikingly realistic.

Before filming, however, there was still uncertainty among the cast. In an earlier interview with MTV, Shia LaBeouf, who was 26 at the time, admitted he was “terrified,” claiming the script suggested scenes would be performed for real.

“There’s a disclaimer at the top of the script that basically says, we’re doing [sex] for real,” said LaBeouf in 2012. “And anything that is ‘illegal’ will be shot in blurred images, but other than that, everything is happening.”

“He’s the most dangerous dude I’ve ever showed up for. I’m terrified,” he quipped about con Trier.

‘Not for all tastes’
Even more than a decade later, the film continues to divide audiences, with many saying it’s not something to watch casually.

“Be warned – this is not for all tastes,” one user wrote in the reviews section of Rotten Tomatoes.

A second writes that the film is “a dark, disturbing, engrossing, enticing and enlightening film that America could never get away with. Porn with a deep, dank moral center.”

“It’s crazy, funny, disturbing, odd, extremely graphic, brutal and if you can handle all that, it’s extremely good,” comments a third.