Von Trier`s ´Antichrist´ Bedeviled by Bird

Von Trier is not known for his flexibility or for animal welfare.

Intransigent director Lars von Trier has finally found his match -- in a German stork.

Preproduction on the Danish director's new drama "The Antichrist" was briefly brought to a standstill when a stork decided to nest in the German field chosen as the film's main location, the head of a German film funding body said Monday.

Von Trier is not known for his flexibility or for animal welfare (John C. Reilly famously pulled out of his 2005 film"Manderlay" after the director had a horse killed on set).

But this time, Germany's animal protection laws proved more than a match. As Filmstiftung NRW head Michael Schmid-Ospach revealed during a lunchon at Cannes, von Trier has backed off and found another field.

"Antichrist" will start shooting in the summer. It will be the first film von Trier has shot outside of Scandinavia.