With Let Me Fall, Baldvin Z and scriptwriter Birgir Örn Steinarson are set to duplicate their success with Life in a Fishbowl, one of Iceland’s biggest local box office hits of the last decade. The drama went straight to number one in Iceland last weekend with 8,229 admissions from 10 screens, making it the fourth biggest opening ever for a local film.

The realistic drama based on true events is an unflinching tale about two teen girls stuck in a spiralling downfall of drugs and abuse. Twelve years later, their paths cross again and a reckoning between them becomes unavoidable.

The film was produced by the Icelandic Film Company, in co-production with Germany’s Neutrinos Productions and Finland’s Solar Films. Toronto-based Raven Banner picked up world sales prior to the film’s world premiere in Toronto.

What was the starting point for the film, which is based on real events?
Baldvin Z: After Life in a fishbowl [2013], my co-writer Birgir Örn Steinarson and I immediately tried to find another project to work on. At the time, I had started working on an anti-drug campaign and thinking of a project dealing with drug abuse. The anti-drug campaign didn’t happen, but while working on that project, I heard about diaries from a young teenage drug addict who had taken her own life in 2001. Her story was mind-blowing. That’s when I got the idea for the film.

I immediately contacted the father of another young girl who had just passed away-the youngest girl in Iceland, victim of a drug overdose. He put us in touch with three girls who were using drugs and living in the streets. We spent time with them, interviewing them, and they told us terrible stories. Birgir and I combined all the information and started to work on the script, but it wasn’t before 2015 that we had a first draft.

According to the Icelandic media there is an alarming rise in young adults’ drug-related deaths in Iceland, particularly linked to Opioids, with nearly 30 deaths reported since early 2018…
BZ: Yes it’s frightening, and many kids are just 18. I don’t know what is going on, but it could be linked to the economic boom in Iceland. Things go crazy here in Iceland and it did also in 2007. My goal with the film is to raise awareness on the phenomenon of drug abuse among youngsters in Iceland, but also in many parts of the world. We have to take this matter very seriously.

Just like in Life in a Fishbowl, the film is painfully authentic, to the point where you feel both emotionally and physically engulfed in the human drama. Could you tell us how you worked visually and with the actors to convey this sense of unforced realism?
BZ: When we started writing the script, we wrote it chronologically. But by the 2nd or 3rd draft I changed my mind. I wanted the audience to feel the cruelty of drug abuse and to know from the beginning that it would end up badly. So we deconstructed the chronological narrative.

In terms of casting, I already had in mind the adult actors, and at the beginning I was thinking of hiring only two female actors who would play Stella and Magnea at different ages. Then I watched the 1981 film Christiane F again and realised that we simply had to use young girls to play the young Stella and Magnea. I knew of ElínSif Halldórsdóttir who plays Magnea. I had cast her for my TV series The Case and saw her in a Eurovision contest. She auditioned for the part and blew my mind. Then Eyrún Björk Jakobsdóttir who was actually too young to play Stella, begged us to come to the audition. When we brought her and Elín together, we couldn’t believe how good and how real they were. I knew as well that they were strong enough to pull this off. At the beginning I told them: ‘I will push you really hard, but at any time, you can tell if this is too much. You will always have the upper hand‘. Trust with the actors is key to create authenticity.   

What were the biggest challenges during filming: capturing the different time lapses and keeping a continuity while working with 4 actors for 2 roles?
BZ: Absolutely. We were forced to do some things chronologically to convey the girls’ physical transformation, which was not so great for the schedule but good for the film. The older Magnea and Stella - Kristín Þóra Haraldsdóttir and Lára Jóhanna Jónsdóttir respectively - had to watch the young actresses Elín and Eyrún to include elements of their acting to their own performance.

The music is again composed by Ólafur Arnalds, credited for Life in a Fishbowl, Broadchurch, The Hunger Games etc. How did you collaborate on Let Me Fall?
BZ: Our collaboration started in 2009 with my first film Jitters, that was also his first film. We’ve done many things together since then. With Life in a Fishbowl, he did the music before the film was shot. Here, I listened to his music catalogue that he hasn’t used yet and I picked some pieces that I liked. I shot some scenes with that particular music in mind. Then he created the entire score after the film. Ólafur is so talented, and he always nails the perfect mood for a film.

You’ve recently established your production company Glassriver, with three partners. What are your plans?
BZ: Over the past ten years, I’ve worked with different companies, on film, documentary, TV drama. Now I have full artistic and financial control over my work. Thanks to the golden age of short and long format storytelling, Iceland is able to attract major international players and can achieve bigger ambitions. At Glassriver, we’re preparing among other things a major international series, The Trip that takes place in Iceland and abroad, with an international cast from Puerto Rico and the US. It will be 50/50 Icelandic/English language. You could only dream of things like this a few years ago. Now this is happening for real.