Christian Slater, Trine Dyrholm and Dree Hemingway have signed on to star in "Incidents of Intimacy," the latest feature to emerge from the Dogma25 banner, the initiative marking a quarter-century since the founding of the Danish Dogme 95 movement. The casting was confirmed this week, giving the project a trio of performers whose careers span Hollywood studio productions, European arthouse cinema and American independent film.
The film's title and the involvement of its three leads represent the extent of what has been formally announced. No distributor, production schedule, runtime or release plan has been disclosed, and representatives for the production have not commented publicly on the storylines or characters the actors will play.
Slater's addition gives the project its most recognizable American name. Since breaking through in the late 1980s with "Heathers" and "True Romance," he has built a career that moves between studio pictures and television, including a recent turn in the Danish-produced thriller "The Last Client." That project paired him with a Scandinavian creative team, an experience that appears to have carried over into this Dogma25 engagement.
Dyrholm arrives as one of Denmark's most decorated working actors. She won the Silver Bear at the Berlin International Film Festival for her lead performance in "In a Better World" and has been a fixture of Danish cinema for three decades, collaborating frequently with director Thomas Vinterberg. Her presence in the cast underscores the Danish roots of the Dogma25 enterprise.
Hemingway, meanwhile, has charted a path through American independent film since her debut in "Starlet." She has since worked with directors including Sean Baker and appeared in "While We're Young" and "Listen Up Philip," building a reputation for choosing material with an edge.
The combination suggests a project designed to bridge two filmmaking cultures - the austere, rule-driven tradition of Danish cinema and the more commercial instincts of the American independent scene.
A Movement Born From a Vow of Chastity
Dogme 95 began in 1995 when Danish directors Lars von Trier and Thomas Vinterberg drafted a manifesto and a set of ten rules they called the "Vow of Chastity." The guidelines demanded location shooting, handheld cameras, natural light, post-synchronized sound and a ban on genre conventions, among other restrictions. The effort produced a small but influential wave of films, most famously Vinterberg's "Festen" (released internationally as "The Celebration"), which won the Jury Prize at Cannes in 1998, and von Trier's "The Idiots."
The movement's influence faded in the early 2000s as its founders moved on to other formal experiments, but its principles - stripped-down production, performance-driven storytelling, rejection of artificial polish - continue to echo through independent cinema worldwide. Dogma25, as the name implies, was conceived as a 25th-anniversary revival, inviting a new generation of filmmakers and actors to engage with the original rules.
A Slate That Keeps Growing
"Incidents of Intimacy" joins a Dogma25 lineup that has been assembled gradually since the initiative was announced. The banner has attracted a mix of established European talent and international names, positioning itself as both a tribute to the original movement and a working production entity.
For Slater, the project represents a further step into European production after years of predominantly American work. For Dyrholm, it is a return to a tradition she has helped define. For Hemingway, it is a chance to work within a framework that prizes raw performance over production value - a natural fit for an actor whose filmography has consistently favored intimate, director-driven material.
Whether "Incidents of Intimacy" will adhere strictly to the original Vow of Chastity or take a looser approach to its principles has not been indicated. The title itself - pairing "incidents" with "intimacy" - hints at the kind of small-scale, character-focused storytelling the movement was built to support, though no synopsis has been released.
Production details, including timing and location, remain under wraps. Given the international makeup of the cast and the Danish origin of the Dogma25 project, shooting could plausibly take place in Europe, but no confirmation has been offered.
What is clear is that the project has assembled three actors with distinctly different profiles and a shared willingness to work outside the conventional studio system. For a movement founded on the rejection of cinematic artifice, that combination may be exactly the point.
Further announcements - including additional cast, a director and a production timeline - are expected as the project moves forward.
Source: The Hollywood Reporter