Star quits 'donkey killing' film

One of the stars of a major film quit after the director ordered a donkey to be killed before his eyes.

John C. Reilly walked off the set of Manderlay, a sequel to the Nicole Kidman drama Dogville, being made by Lars von Trier.

The Danish director had horrified the 38-year-old American - whose previous films include Chicago, The Hours, Boogie Nights and Gangs of New York - by insisting that the animal be killed on camera for the sake of realism.

A member of the production team said: ' It was a prospect which Reilly just could not stomach and caused him to resign from the crew immediately.'

Manderlay is being shot in Trollhaettan, south-western Sweden.

The plot requires the donkey to die because it is needed for food for characters in the £8.5million film, which explores the American South of the

1930s. A spokesman for the production company Zentropa said the script called for the death of the elderly animal to be captured on film.

The spokesman added: 'We tried very hard to use a puppet instead of a real donkey because we really needed to show a donkey being killed for the film, but when that didn't work we approached a vet and asked him to provide us with an animal that was due to be slaughtered anyway.

'Because of the film, this poor donkey lived two more months than it would have otherwise.'

Producer Peter Aalbaek Jensen, Zentropa's managing director, said none of the other actors - who include Danny Glover and Lauren Bacall - had any problems.

He added: 'I allow myself a smile faced with this ethical problem of an actor when hundreds of millions of animals are killed every day all over the world without anyone being concerned.

'The other actors did not have moral problems about the death of the donkey, especially since we gave it a lease on life, and he was killed with dignity, according to Swedish law and in the presence of a veterinarian.'