All we know so far about Melancholia is that's it's being touted by its director as a "psychological disaster movie". Which, frankly, isn't revealing a great deal bearing in mind that that director is Lars Von Trier. We'd assume some sort of devastating endurance test if he was making a film about Snoopy.
One more nugget of information about the film may just have come to light however, as the Playlist have noticed various sources within Europe reporting that Penelope Cruz is playing the lead. Von Trier apparently told Danish television that he'd written Melancholia with Cruz in mind from the very beginning. What's her character? We don't know yet, but it's a brave actress who'd sign up to work with the man who circumcised Charlotte Gainsbourg and hung Bjork.
The film, from what's been teased so far, seems to involve a large planet appearing in a dangerously close orbit to Earth. Sci-fi and disaster movie elements have been acknowledged as being part of the project, but the emphasis seems firmly on psychodrama. Von Trier estimates the budget at $5m, and plans to start shooting later in the year, for a Cannes premiere in 2011. Surely 2012 would have been more appropriate?