LARS VON TRIER - VON TRIER SLATES AMERICAN CRITICS

Director LARS VON TRIER has hit back at the American critics who blasted him for making films about the US when he has never been there.

The Danish filmmaker first incurred American wrath after the CANNES debut of DANCER IN THE DARK. And his new film - which stars NICOLE KIDMAN - is likely to draw similar gripes.

He laughs, "I knew I wanted to write a film set in America, as I had been so provoked by the reception of Dancer In The Dark at Cannes, where American journalists told me off for criticising a country I had never been to.

"It made me decide to continue doing it. I mean there are so many people who have been in the US, that it must be interesting to see a film by somebody who hasn't.

"The US has done it for years anyway; Hollywood has specialised in making films like that. That it was forbidden, of course, appealed to me right away."