 Paul Bettany (qv) didnt want to play Tom Edison because they were  shooting it in Sweden. Then his friend Stellan Skarsgård (qv) said  that Lars von Trier (qv)s shoots are so funny that "youll miss  something extraordinary if you turn the part down". After shooting  half the movie Bettany asked Skarsgård when the fun will start,  which Skarsgård replied: "I lied. I did it because he is amazing to  work with, and you wouldnt be able to see that before you were  actually here yourself. I wanted to give you a chance, and you  wouldnt have shown up if I had been frank with you"