In the beginning, there was 2003’s** The Five Obstructions**, a fascinating documentary that charted filmmaker Jorgen Leith’s response to a challenge from cinematic protégé and provocateur Lars von Trier to remake his 1967 short The Perfect Human five times, following strict rules laid down by the Dogme-obsessed director. Well, now it looks like von Trier is at it again, slapping his movie gauntlet across the chops of another respected auteur, with Martin Scorsese the recipient of his challenge.%7B
The pair has announced that they’ll be collaborating on a remake of Five Obstructions, with Scorsese working up five new versions of an as-yet-unspecified previous work. The Hollywood Reporter speculates that it could well be one of Scorsese’s better-known shorts or even a scene from one of his iconic movies.
It’s an intriguing development and follows on from rumours last year that the two directors would work on a remake of **Taxi Driver **together, with Robert De Niro roped in to once again star. While those rumblings were quickly shot down, it would appear that it was the earliest word on what morphed into this planned project.
But the challenge will have to wait a little while, as Scorsese has now locked on to his first post-Hugo Cabret film, looking to start work on Silence with Daniel Day-Lewis early next year.