3 Things That Still Worry Me About BlackBerry

BlackBerry put on a pretty good show on Wednesday when it revealed the Z10 and the Q10, its first new smartphones in a year and a half. The demos were crisp, and the new BlackBerry 10 software looked clever. At the very least, it seems that BlackBerry has finally joined the modern smartphone era.

But despite my interest in BlackBerry’s new phones, I’m still worried about the future of the platform, and not merely because it’s been off the radar for a while. Looking at what BlackBerry did and didn’t announce, and what reviewers are saying about the product, gives me a few big reasons for concern:

Apps, Both Present and Future

BlackBerry deserves credit for having lots of apps out of the gate–more than 70,000, the company says–including some important ones like Twitter, Facebook, Angry Birds and The New York Times. Still, there are some big names missing from the list, including Netflix, YouTube, Spotify and Instagram. You can’t expect a new platform to have everything right away, though, so I don’t want to judge BlackBerry’s current app count too harshly.

It’s the future that I’m really worried about. What happens when the next Instagram comes out, and becomes a sensation on the iPhone and Android? Will BlackBerry be like Windows Phone–that is, just an afterthought in the minds of up-and-coming app developers? The good news is that Android apps are relatively easy to port to BlackBerry 10 (in fact, roughly 40 percent of those 70,000 launch apps are simple ports, ReadWrite notes), so RIM just has to convince developers to make a relatively small effort. We’ll see if they do.

Never Neglect Maps

The consensus among BlackBerry Z10 reviews is that its Maps app is subpar. The Verge complained about inaccurate data, and said the software couldn’t reliably find local businesses. CNet bemoaned a lack of features, such as walking directions, transit maps and street views. Apparently the software doesn’t even let you jump into the Maps app by tapping on an address or map in the web browser. That’s just basic stuff. At least the Maps app includes voice-guided turn-by-turn directions.

In any case, having a good mapping service isn’t just about telling you where to go. It’s about using your location to deliver useful information. Google Now, for instance, can warn you about traffic before your commute home, and Apple‘s Passbook can call up a boarding pass when you get to the airport. These days, a really good standalone Maps app is only part of the equation, and BlackBerry doesn’t even have that yet.

Voice Commands and Virtual Assistants

BlackBerry has added voice commands in its new phones, but the list of supported actions is paltry compared to what Android and the iPhone offer. You can’t ask for movie times, the weather forecast, directions, or things to do. You can’t tell the phone to start playing music, answer a trivia question, calculate numbers or set reminders.

You may argue that it doesn’t matter, that most people don’t rely too heavily on voice commands to begin with. I think that will change as these virtual assistants become faster and support more types of queries. They’ll also become more useful in automobiles–in fact, some car makers are now starting to integrate Siri–and they may some day play a big role in wearable computing, allowing you to communicate by voice when your phone is just out of reach. It’s still early days for this kind of technology, but Apple and Google already have a huge head start. BlackBerry, by comparison, is just getting started.

I’m not saying the new BlackBerry phones are no good, or that no one should use them. Like I said before, the software has some clever ideas, such as the Hub that combines all communications into one area, and the Balance feature that acts as a separate login for business use. But the smartphone industry moves quickly, and BlackBerry’s period of rebuilding has taken its toll in a few key areas. As with before, it’s going to be hard for the company to catch up.

MORE: Check out a video about the new hardware and features

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Drew Barrymore Wears Sweatpants She Finds on the Floor

Stylewatch
Style News Now

01/31/2013 at 09:00 AM ET

Daniel Jackson for Harper’s BAZAAR

If you take away the fact that she’s a multi-talented movie star, producer, former CoverGirl and current cosmetics mogul who got married in Chanel, we really have a ton in common with Drew Barrymore.

For instance, we share the same life motto. “I live for makeup and I like wine. These are my truths!” she says in the March issue of Harper’s Bazaar of the decision to start Flower Cosmetics and Barrymore Wines while pregnant with daughter Olive.

More revelations that we’re totally on board with? “I wear sweatpants than I find on the floor” (on why she didn’t want to start a fashion line, like many celebs) and “It’s my crusade to help women feel good about themselves” — something that we at PEOPLE StyleWatch fully relate to.

It’s to fulfill that mission that she started Flower in the first place, and why she’s been so involved in everything from the formula to the packaging: “It’s about … a girl watching her mom at a vanity table,” she says. “I wanted warmth and acceptance and self-love.” And if she achieves that with Flower while wearing homemade tie-dye yoga pants (you’ve got to read it to believe it), well, we’ll love her even more.

To read more on Drew Barrymore’s next big steps, click here and pick up the biggest-ever March issue of Harper’s Bazaar, on stands Feb. 12.

–Alex Apatoff

PHOTO: SHOP STAR LOOKS — FOR LESS!

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Hedgehog Alert! Prickly pets can carry salmonella

NEW YORK (AP) — Add those cute little hedgehogs to the list of pets that can make you sick.

In the last year, 20 people were infected by a rare but dangerous form of salmonella bacteria, and one person died in January. The illnesses were linked to contact with hedgehogs kept as pets, according to a report released Thursday by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Health officials on Thursday say such cases seem to be increasing.

The CDC recommends thoroughly washing your hands after handling hedgehogs and cleaning pet cages and other equipment outside.

Other pets that carry the salmonella bug are frogs, toads, turtles, snakes, lizards, chicks and ducklings.

Seven of the hedgehog illnesses were in Washington state, including the death — an elderly man from Spokane County who died in January. The other cases were in Alabama, Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Minnesota, Ohio and Oregon.

In years past, only one or two illnesses from this salmonella strain have been reported annually, but the numbers rose to 14 in 2011, 18 last year, and two so far this year.

Children younger than five and the elderly are considered at highest risk for severe illness, CDC officials said.

Hedgehogs are small, insect-eating mammals with a coat of stiff quills. In nature, they sometimes live under hedges and defend themselves by rolling up into a spiky ball.

The critters linked to recent illnesses were purchased from various breeders, many of them licensed by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, CDC officials said. Hedgehogs are native to Western Europe, New Zealand and some other parts of the world, but are bred in the United States.

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Online:

CDC report: http://www.cdc.gov/mmwr

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Stock futures flat as earnings roll in; data on tap

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Stock futures were little changed on Thursday ahead of data on the labor market and a slew of corporate earnings reports.

Facebook Inc shares lost 4.6 percent to $29.83 in premarket trading. The company doubled its mobile advertising revenue in the fourth quarter but that growth trailed some of Wall Street's most aggressive estimates.

Qualcomm Inc gained 6.3 percent to $67.55 in premarket trading after the world's leading supplier of chips for cellphones beat analysts' expectations for quarterly profit and revenue and raised its financial targets for 2013.

Investors will look to weekly initial jobless claims data at 8:30 a.m. ET (1330 GMT) for clues on the health of the labor market ahead of the payrolls report on Friday. Economists in a Reuters survey forecast a total of 350,000 new filings compared with 330,000 in the prior week.

The S&P 500 <.spx> is up 5.3 percent for the month, as legislators in Washington temporarily sidestepped a "fiscal cliff" of automatic tax increases and spending cuts that could have derailed the economic recovery, and amid improving economic data and better-than-expected corporate earnings.

But the benchmark index has stalled recently and is virtually flat for the week, hovering near the 1,500 mark, as investors look for more catalysts to justify further gains.

"We've got a handful of economic data today that might move the needle for the market and we've got plenty to contemplate as we continue to get through a plethora of earnings reports as well, so I'm not surprised to see us sideways," said Art Hogan, managing director of Lazard Capital Markets in New York.

"Whether you look at the fears over sequestration (broad government spending cuts set to take effect March 1) which is next month's business, or you consider the jackrabbit start to the year that is not sustainable, or you start to contemplate the weak patches in the economic data stream that we have seen in pieces - all of that combines for a wall of worry for this market to climb and it's building."

Also at 8:30 a.m. (1330 GMT), the Commerce Department will release December personal income and spending data; economists expect a 0.8 percent rise in income and a 0.3 percent increase in spending.

United Parcel Service Inc lost 2.1 percent to $79.49 in premarket trading after the world's largest parcel delivery company reported a net loss in the fourth quarter after a $3 billion one-time charge from pension accounting, and forecast that 2013 earnings would rise 6 percent to 12 percent.

Later in the session at 9:45 a.m. (1445 GMT), the Institute for Supply Management Chicago releases January index of manufacturing activity. Economists in a Reuters survey forecast a reading of 50.5 compared with 50.0 in December.

S&P 500 futures fell 0.5 point and were slightly below fair value, a formula that evaluates pricing by taking into account interest rates, dividends and time to expiration on the contract. Dow Jones industrial average futures rose 5 points, and Nasdaq 100 futures lost 7 points.

Thomson Reuters data through Wednesday morning shows that of the 192 companies in the S&P 500 that have reported earnings this season, 68.8 percent have exceeded expectations, a higher proportion than over the past four quarters and above the average since 1994.

Overall, S&P 500 fourth-quarter earnings are forecast to have risen 3.8 percent. That's above the 1.9 percent forecast from the start of the earnings season, but well below a 9.9 percent fourth-quarter earnings growth forecast on October 1, the data showed.

WMS Industries Inc surged 56.2 percent to $25.57 in premarket after the company agreed to be acquired by Scientific Games Corp for $26 per share in cash. Scientific Games advanced 1.8 percent to $9.09.

(Editing by Bernadette Baum)

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U.N. Panel Says Israeli Settlement Policy Violates Law

GENEVA — Israel has used the expansion of Jewish settlements to pursue a creeping annexation of the occupied Palestinian territories and committed multiple violations of international law in its treatment of Palestinians, the United Nations Human Rights Council said in a report on Thursday that called for an immediate halt to all settlement activity.

Presenting its findings after a nearly six-month investigation, the panel of three women jurists led by a French judge, Christine Chanet, said Israel’s settlements had clearly violated the Geneva Conventions which prohibit a state from transferring its own civilian population into territory it has occupied.

Israel “must cease all settlement activities without preconditions” and begin the withdrawal of all settlers from the occupied territories, the jurists said their report, which is to be debated at the Human Rights Council in March.

The panel examined 67 submissions from academics, diplomats, Israeli civil society and Palestinians, Ms. Chanet said, but Israel refused to cooperate with the mission which was unable to visit the West Bank and instead went to the Jordanian capital, Amman, to hear testimony.

The Human Rights Council voted a year ago to investigate the impact of settlements on Palestinian rights, which prompted Israel to break off cooperation and castigate the panel as a political platform used “to bash and demonize Israel.” The report came two days after Israel boycotted the council’s review of Israel’s human rights record, becoming the first country to withhold cooperation from a process in which all 193 United Nations member states have previously engaged.

The United States also opposed creating the fact-finding mission on the grounds that “it does not advance the cause of peace and will distract the parties from efforts to resolve the issues that divide them.”

Washington has opposed Israel’s creation of further settlements and construction in East Jerusalem as “unhelpful” and an obstacle to a two-state solution of the Palestinian issue.

Reviewing Israel’s settlements policy since 1967, the panel said that Israel, with the full knowledge and compliance of successive governments, had established some 250 settlements in the West Bank and East Jerusalem since 1967 which now have an estimated 520,000 settlers and are growing much faster than the population of Israel. The result is “a mesh of construction and infrastructure leading to a creeping annexation that prevents the establishment of a contiguous and viable Palestinian state and undermines the right of the Palestinian people to self-determination,” the report said.

These actions fall under the jurisdiction of the International Criminal Court, the panel said, and if Palestine ratified the Rome Statute that created the court, Israel could be called to account for “gross violations of human rights law and serious violations of international humanitarian law,” the report said.

The settlements are maintained through “a system of total segregation” between the settlers, who enjoy a preferential legal status, and the rest of the population, the report said. It found Palestinian rights to freedom of movement, equality, due process of law and access to education, water, housing and natural resources “are being violated consistently and on a daily basis.”

The panel reported that violence and intimidation by “a small minority” of settlers continued with impunity and expressed grave concern at the high number of children who are detained. They were “invariably mistreated, denied due process and fair trial,” the report said and many were transferred to detention centers in Israel, also a violation of international law.

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Facebook slumps as mobile ad growth fails to impress

(Reuters) – Shares of Facebook Inc were set to open 7 percent lower on Thursday as a surge in fourth-quarter mobile advertising revenue failed to live up to Wall Street’s high expectations.

Three brokerages downgraded the stock of the No. 1 social network, which has struggled to develop a full-fledged mobile advertising business.

Facebook has long established itself as one of the most important websites, but investors have worried that until the company’s mobile advertising strategy takes off, revenue growth will remain shaky.

The company reported a better-than-expected fourth-quarter profit on Wednesday and said its mobile advertising revenue doubled to $ 306 million, suggesting it was making inroads into handheld devices such as smartphones and tablets.

Investors were looking for at least $ 350 million in mobile advertising revenue, Piper Jaffray analyst Gene Munster said in a note to clients.

“While the trajectory of mobile growth may not be as steep as some investors were hoping, the theme of mobile as the future of Facebook remains intact,” he said.

BMO Capital Markets analyst Daniel Salmon, who downgraded the stock to “market perform” from “outperform”, however said Facebook’s 2013 stock performance would not be dictated by its ability to generate mobile ad dollars.

He said new catalysts were necessary to drive Facebook’s stock price up.

Facebook’s stock, which has lost over a quarter of its value since its botched debut in May, were down at $ 29.08 in premarket trading. The shares closed at $ 31.24 on the Nasdaq on Wednesday.

(Reporting by Neha Alawadhi in Bangalore; Editing by Saumyadeb Chakrabarty)

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Kendra Wilkinson Fondly Remembers Hugh Hefner's Late Secretary

By Tim Nudd

01/31/2013 at 08:30 AM EST

Kendra Wilkinson and (inset) Mary O'Connor

Jason LaVeris/FilmMagic; Inset: Elayne Lodge

A friend, a confidante, a shoulder to cry on. Someone who brought a welcome dose of levity when things got heavy.

Mary O'Connor was many things to Kendra Wilkinson.

Now, the former star of The Girls Next Door has written down her fond memories of Playboy founder Hugh Hefner's longtime secretary – who died last weekend – in a heartfelt post on her website.

"I'm devastated to hear about the passing of Mary O'Connor," she writes. "She was almost like a therapist because we could talk to her about anything. When I lived at the mansion I was very close with her. Over the years, she helped me through a lot and was always there for me."

Wilkinson, 27, was particularly touched when O'Connor invited her along to her favorite place far from Los Angeles – Branson, Mo. "I felt so special that she invited me to her getaway with her and it was so nice to see where she went away to," Wilkinson says.

One of Wilkinson's favorite memories shows O'Connor's fun-loving side. "She showed up at my bridal shower wearing a shower cap, while all of my friends were in risqué outfits," Wilkinson recalls. "She also held my baby shower for [now 3-year-old son] Lil' Hank which is something I will always be thankful for."

Wilkinson adds: "She was a wonderful person and I wouldn't be the person I am without her."

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Sex to burn calories? Authors expose obesity myths

Fact or fiction? Sex burns a lot of calories. Snacking or skipping breakfast is bad. School gym classes make a big difference in kids' weight.

All are myths or at least presumptions that may not be true, say researchers who reviewed the science behind some widely held obesity beliefs and found it lacking.

Their report in Thursday's New England Journal of Medicine says dogma and fallacies are detracting from real solutions to the nation's weight problems.

"The evidence is what matters," and many feel-good ideas repeated by well-meaning health experts just don't have it, said the lead author, David Allison, a biostatistician at the University of Alabama at Birmingham.

Independent researchers say the authors have some valid points. But many of the report's authors also have deep financial ties to food, beverage and weight-loss product makers — the disclosures take up half a page of fine print in the journal.

"It raises questions about what the purpose of this paper is" and whether it's aimed at promoting drugs, meal replacement products and bariatric surgery as solutions, said Marion Nestle, a New York University professor of nutrition and food studies.

"The big issues in weight loss are how you change the food environment in order for people to make healthy choices," such as limits on soda sizes and marketing junk food to children, she said. Some of the myths they cite are "straw men" issues, she said.

But some are pretty interesting.

Sex, for instance. Not that people do it to try to lose weight, but claims that it burns 100 to 300 calories are common, Allison said. Yet the only study that scientifically measured the energy output found that sex lasted six minutes on average — "disappointing, isn't it?" — and burned a mere 21 calories, about as much as walking, he said.

That's for a man. The study was done in 1984 and didn't measure the women's experience.

Among the other myths or assumptions the authors cite, based on their review of the most rigorous studies on each topic:

—Small changes in diet or exercise lead to large, long-term weight changes. Fact: The body adapts to changes, so small steps to cut calories don't have the same effect over time, studies suggest. At least one outside expert agrees with the authors that the "small changes" concept is based on an "oversimplified" 3,500-calorie rule, that adding or cutting that many calories alters weight by one pound.

—School gym classes have a big impact on kids' weight. Fact: Classes typically are not long, often or intense enough to make much difference.

—Losing a lot of weight quickly is worse than losing a little slowly over the long term. Fact: Although many dieters regain weight, those who lose a lot to start with often end up at a lower weight than people who drop more modest amounts.

—Snacking leads to weight gain. Fact: No high quality studies support that, the authors say.

—Regularly eating breakfast helps prevent obesity. Fact: Two studies found no effect on weight and one suggested that the effect depended on whether people were used to skipping breakfast or not.

—Setting overly ambitious goals leads to frustration and less weight loss. Fact: Some studies suggest people do better with high goals.

Some things may not have the strongest evidence for preventing obesity but are good for other reasons, such as breastfeeding and eating plenty of fruits and vegetables, the authors write. And exercise helps prevent a host of health problems regardless of whether it helps a person shed weight.

"I agree with most of the points" except the authors' conclusions that meal replacement products and diet drugs work for battling obesity, said Dr. David Ludwig, a prominent obesity research with Boston Children's Hospital who has no industry ties. Most weight-loss drugs sold over the last century had to be recalled because of serious side effects, so "there's much more evidence of failure than success," he said.

___

Online:

Obesity info: http://www.cdc.gov/obesity/data/trends.html

New England Journal: http://www.nejm.org

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Marilynn Marchione can be followed at http://twitter.com/MMarchioneAP

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Stock futures point to lower open after weak GDP read

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Stock index futures pointed to a slightly weaker open on Wednesday following an unexpected contraction in fourth-quarter economic activity.

The first read showed gross domestic product fell 0.1 percent, far below expectations for growth of 1.1 percent. However, a read on private sector employment topped forecasts, with the ADP National Employment report showing 192,000 jobs added in January, higher than the 165,000 expectation.

Futures dipped modestly following the GDP data; previously, they had indicated a flat open for equity markets, which have surged in recent sessions.

"This is one chink in the armor of the recent better-than-expected economic indicators. This will make people start to get wary," said Wayne Kaufman, chief market analyst at John Thomas Financial in New York. "If it turns out Sandy and the fiscal cliff were the reasons for (the contraction), people will shrug it off."

Deeper losses were prevented by a rise in both Boeing Co and Amazon.com Inc , which rallied after earnings, continuing a trend this quarter of high-profile names advancing after results.

Amazon.com Inc rose 8.8 percent to $283.30 in premarket trading a day after reporting better-than-expected fourth-quarter earnings and strong revenue growth. The rally put the stock within striking distance of an all-time high.

Boeing Co rose 1.3 percent to $74.60 before the bell after reporting adjusted fourth-quarter earnings that beat expectations. The Dow component also said that while production continued on its Dreamliner jet, which has had technical problems recently, it was suspending delivery until clearance was granted by the Federal Aviation Administration.

Thomson Reuters data showed that of the 174 companies in the S&P 500 that have reported earnings this season, 68.4 percent have been above analyst expectations, which is a higher proportion than over the past four quarters and above the average since 1994.

S&P 500 futures fell 2.6 point and were about even with fair value, a formula that evaluates pricing by taking into account interest rates, dividends and time to expiration on the contract. Dow Jones industrial average futures fell 18 points and Nasdaq 100 futures fell 3.25 points.

The S&P 500 has risen for nine of the past 10 sessions, putting it above 1,500, a level market technicians call an inflection point that will determine the overall direction in the near term. The benchmark index is on track to post its best monthly performance since October 2011 as investors poured $55 billion in new cash into stock mutual funds and exchange-traded funds in January, the biggest monthly inflow on record.

The Dow Jones industrial average has been flirting with 14,000, a level it hasn't seen since October 2007. Many analysts have said markets may need to take a pause at current levels.

The Federal Reserve concludes a two-day meeting on Wednesday, and while the central bank is expected to keep monetary policy on a steady path, intensive debates continue behind the scenes over when the controversial bond-buying program should be curtailed.

In company news, Chesapeake Energy Corp rose 10.5 percent to $20.95 in premarket trading a day after saying Aubrey McClendon would step down as chief executive after a year in which a series of Reuters investigations triggered civil and criminal probes of the second-largest U.S. natural gas producer.

U.S. stocks advanced on Tuesday, led by defensive sectors, in a sign the cash piles recently moving into the market are being put to use by cautious investors to pick up more gains.

(Editing by Chizu Nomiyama and Nick Zieminski)

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IHT Rendezvous: A Story Known Far and Wide, in Denmark at Least

Until this month, if the Danish director and screenwriter Nikolaj Arcel was known at all in the English-speaking world, it was as the co-writer of the screenplay for the original version of “The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo.” But after winning two prizes at the Berlin Film Festival a year ago, the latest film he directed, “A Royal Affair,” is now getting attention in Hollywood as one of the five contenders nominated for the Academy Award for best foreign-language film.

“A Royal Affair” is set in the late 18th century, in the court of Christian VII, the mentally ill king of Denmark. A German doctor with progressive political and medical ideas, Johann Friederich Struensee, is hired to attend him, but after some initial improvement in the king’s behavior, things begin to take an unexpected direction: the doctor fills Christian with the revolutionary ideas of Voltaire and Rousseau at the same time he secretly becomes the lover of the young English-born queen, Caroline.

The film is the fifth Mr. Arcel has directed and features Mads Mikkelsen, who has appeared in “Casino Royale” and “Clash of the Titans,” as Struensee and Alicia Vikander, seen most recently in “Anna Karenina,” as Caroline. This week Mr. Arcel, 40, spoke by telephone from Denmark, where he is at work on a new project, about the genesis and objectives of “A Royal Affair.” Here are edited excerpts from that interview:

Your film portrays an episode virtually unknown outside Denmark. How well-known is it among Danes in the 21st century?

This is probably one of the most famous historic episodes in Denmark, and I would say that every single Dane knows about it. But it’s funny, because as soon as you cross the border, nobody knows it. So basically it’s only Denmark, where it’s taught in schools.

Did this story fascinate you as a child?

Yes, as it did most Danish kids. Of course you can’t understand the complexities of it when you’re in second or third grade, but what you can understand is that a beautiful young girl married a crazy king and had an affair with a rebellious revolutionary doctor. The adventure of it got to me as a kid.

So why hadn’t a movie version of this story been made earlier?

It’s a very ambitious project. I knew a lot of people had been trying to make the film for many, many years; obviously it’s been a bit of a holy grail for Danish filmmakers. But of course because of financing and various other problems, I guess it didn’t get made.

I never thought I would be crazy enough to try and do it. But then eventually after my third film, I thought, “O.K., if nobody is going to do this film, maybe I should give it a go.” Then cut to five years later, because it did actually take that long to get it done.

To tell the story, you opted to make a genre film, somewhat in the style of the costume dramas that the British do so well. Why did you take that approach?

Denmark is known for smaller sort of films, the Dogme films and small dramas, but what my entire career has been about has been making films that are very non-Danish in their look and way of storytelling. So I always find joy in trying to do something that has never been done in Denmark before. In this case it was the big, epic, lavish sort of costume drama.

When you talking about your films looking non-Danish, what do you mean?

I was part of a generation raised on American films, on the films of the ’70s, the new Hollywood, and I was a big fan of those. We grew up with a healthy mix of Hal Ashby, Scorsese, Coppola, Spielberg and Lucas, and you can see that in other filmmakers my age now in Denmark. They have a slightly more Americanized way of telling stories, a slightly more lavish scope and are making films that are a little bit more genre and not so much dramas that are about divorce and death and family. We like to tell slightly bigger stories. I’m a big political nut myself, so a lot of my films have politics.

It’s interesting to hear you say that, because I thought you were using the costume drama and romantic triangle in “A Royal Affair” to deal a lot with politics, and not just 18th-century politics but also issues that confront us today.

Yes, the big fight between conservatism and idealism. When I was writing, it was general feelings that I had about things that are still being discussed. When we were at Berlin, it was very timely because of the Arab Spring. Everybody thought we had done a film about the Arab Spring. And then when it came to America, it was the presidential election, and everybody in the U.S. thought we did a film that spoke to the American political situation. But this just goes to show that these are discussions that never end. We’re still discussing the same issues.

So the debate in the film about whether to inoculate the population against smallpox is a kind of stand-in for current issues like global warming and whether the 1 percent should pay more in taxes?

Yes, and you can even relate it to the health care discussion: should we use money to make sure that people are healthy? The conservatives at court are saying we don’t have money for that, we’ll just inoculate the wealthy— which is something that still goes on, I think.

Lars von Trier is listed as one of the executive producers of “A Royal Affair.” Could you talk a bit about his participation in the project?

He’s a friend and obviously a mentor to me and to almost every Danish filmmaker. I asked him to be the main consultant for the screenplay and also in the editing. He came in and read the screenplay at various stages and gave his notes and came up with some ideas. He was the one, for example, who suggested that we follow both Caroline and Struensee instead of following just one of them. He said, “You should go epic and spend the time it takes to be with both of them, instead of just one.” And that was very good advice.

And in the editing process?

He also came into the editing room and sat with us for a couple of weeks. He gives very good, concise notes, he’s very good at that. The good thing about Lars is that he’s a brutal guy. He will just tell you if something doesn’t work, and he will tell you right away ‘I hate that’ or ‘I love that.’ (Laughs)

Specifically, he did help us take out some overexplaining at certain points. We thought the audience wouldn’t get certain things, but he said, “Take this out, delete this scene, you don’t need that.” He is basically the mentor of this film.

I know you’re being told you’ve got an uphill climb, being in the same category as Michael Haneke’s “Amour,” but you sound like you’re pleased just to be one of the nominees.

Yes, of course. I mean, who wouldn’t be? I think that being nominated for an Oscar is something quite joyful and if you start really stressing that you want to win, then you get … I think winning is not the important thing. It’s really an honor to be in the company of Haneke and some of these other directors. I’ll just be happy with that for now. (Laughs)

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