Danish Director Lars von Trier Diagnosed with Parkinson's Disease

David M. Benett/Dave Benett/Getty Lars von Trier

Director Lars von Trier has been diagnosed with Parkinson's disease, a statement from his production company Zentropa, confirmed.

Deadline reported that the Danish director's long-time producer at the company, Louise Vesth, confirmed the news Monday in a statement saying that he had been diagnosed "just before the summer holidays."

He will be continuing his work on the third and final installment of his upcoming series The Kingdom Exodus — a reboot of his 1990s TV show The Kingdom, according to the statement. The new show is set to premiere at the Venice Film Festival later this month.

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While Vesth said von Trier is in "good spirits and ​​is being treated for his symptoms," the diagnosis will mean he will take part in less press for the upcoming release.

"The illness means that Lars will only take part in interviews to a very limited extent," the statement continued, Deadline reported.  "Thank you for your understanding in this matter. There are no further comments."

According to The Hollywood Reporter, which also obtained the statement from Zentropa, The Kingdom was "a combination of hospital melodrama and grotesque horror," and takes place in a hospital in Copenhagen.

The outlet went on to note that the director had taken a step back from the media spotlight already, after a joke he made about sympathizing with Nazis during a 2011 press conference for his film Melancholia at Cannes got him banned from the festival.

The comment resulted not only in a ban of seven years but also a police investigation for alleged "trivialization of the Holocaust" — a crime in France, The Hollywood Reporter explained.  Von Trier was not charged and the investigation was dropped, the outlet said.

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Following the press conference, The Guardian reported that Kirsten Dunst, who starred in Melancholia and was present at the event, placed blame on the journalist, British film critic Kate Muir, who asked the question about the director's German roots.

"Well yeah, you could see my face. I was choking, because I'm watching a friend having a meltdown," she told The Guardian of the incident. "And what he's saying is horrendous in a roomful of press. He was asked an inappropriate question [about his family] and his response was to make a joke about it. But no one laughed and he just kept unravelling."