If I made a musical in the beginning of my career, it would have been crane shots and tracking shots and people coming out of cakes and whatever, but these techniques are something that I've left behind me.

S. — Press Conference for Melancholia Cannes 2011

Referring to the art of Nazi architect Albert Speer von Trier added:.

As he himself said in an interview "basically I'm afraid of everything in life except filmmaking. He is closely associated with the Dogme 95 collective – an avant-garde filmmaking movement – although his own films have taken a variety of approaches. Von Trier suffers periodically from depression as well as various fears and phobias including an intense fear of flying.