Lars Von Trier tells Bryce Dallas Howard what he really thinks of her dad

"Your father's a terrible filmmaker," Lars Von Trier told Bryce Dallas Howard.

By Matt Schimkowitz | June 8, 2025 | 3:21pm

Photo by Stephane Cardinale (Corbis/Corbis via Getty Images)

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Lars Von Trier tells Bryce Dallas Howard what he really thinks of her dad

What’s the best way to coax a good performance out of an actor? If you’re Lars Von Trier, the answer is mocking their father. On the press tour for her new Prime Video action comedy, Deep Cover, Bryce Dallas Howard reminisced about the time Von Trier called her father, Academy Award winner Ron Howard, a “terrible filmmaker” on the set of Manderlay. It’s undoubtedly better treatment than the donkey got on that set, but, surprisingly, Howard was “sort of delighted by it.”Speaking with The Time U.K., Dallas Howard recalls that as soon as she was on the set of Manderlay, “He started insulting me.” She continues:

“‘Your father’s a terrible film-maker.’ I went, ‘Lars, what are you trying to see?’ and he said, ‘Your angry face. I don’t know what it looks like.'” Von Trier then threw a glass of water in her face. “So I threw a glass of water in his face. He goes, ‘Why did you do that?’ and got up and left. That was my introduction to the Lars von Trier experience, but it wasn’t like I went to my room and cried or anything. I was sort of delighted by it.”