Both Worlds Apart and Men Who Hate Women are supported by Nordisk Film & TV Fond.
What attracted you to the true story of the 17 year-old girl Tabita (Sara in the film) raised as a Jehovah Witness, who has to choose between her family and her boyfriend the day she falls for a non-believer?
My previous film that came out in Denmark two years ago, We Shall Overcome was a huge success (over 400,000 admissions). After that, it was difficult for me to figure out what to do next. Then I read this story in a Danish newspaper. I immediately thought that this was a remarkable story and didn't think it had been told before. You've seen films about youth that are drawn into scientology or religious sects, but I hadn't seen any other film about a fundamentalist family in which the children are indoctrinated.
But the theme of a youth rebelling against an adult authority was already prevalent in your previous film...
Yes, but it was just a coincidence. I was drawn to that idea and started working with my co-writer, Danish journalist Steen Bille. We liked the simplicity within the structure of the story: It goes on inside a family and the family itself is within a religious group. So there is a confined environment and strong emotional conflicts. The situations that create those conflicts look like ‘normal' situations that could be found in any family, but because of the pressure from the religious belief, it becomes absurd and therefore lends itself perfectly for good drama. On the surface, the story is quite ordinary, but it has a real complexity underneath.
What is also interesting is that you describe the Jehovah Witnesses in their daily life, behaving like ‘normal' people if it wasn't for their fundamentalist thinking making them different from us.
It was important to show the Jehovah Witnesses not as enemies, but as people. They believe strongly that their way is the right way. But of course, this kind of extremism - be it religious or political, that we see everywhere in the world nowadays - can become quite dangerous.
How did you collaborate with Tabita?
We did a five hour interview with her. She is a great storyteller. When we spoke to her, we felt like we were in an Ingmar Bergman film from the 1950s. Out of that intense interview, I got someone to write 180 pages. Then I interviewed her former boyfriend because I thought he could come up with other things, and he did.
I feel a great responsibility as well because Tabita's real family is still part of the Jehovah Witnesses. The Jehovah Witnesses won't be able to come after me, but they could turn for instance against the mother because of the way she is described in the film. If she is expelled from the Jehovah Witnesses, it would be quite devastating for her. Some expelled people who are not strong enough do commit suicide. This is part of the difficulty of working so closely with real people, but I could never have told the story without Tabita's influence.
The young Rosalinde Myster who plays Sara is amazing. How hard was it to find her?
It was a very long process, and I found her only three weeks before shooting...We looked at 500 young girls. Rosalinde did a short film when she was 10 years old. But because both her parents are actors, her acting inheritance is certainly there in a wonderful way. Sara had to be very special. You had to believe her when she prays to God.
How do you think youngsters will react to the film?
I think that youngsters will identify with -or perhaps envy the notion of love within the family. But the film is also about loosing all that. The tragedy of loosing your family - not because of fundamentalism, but because of divorce, is something many youngsters will identify to. It is very tough to be young nowadays.
Tell me about your next project Men Who Hate Women, the film adaptation of Stieg Larsson's first book from his Millennium Trilogy. What attracted you to that project?
I really like to do totally different things. Among my films, We Shall Overcome and Worlds Apart are probably the closest emotionally. But I've also made major television series. This is a crime drama with a very interesting lead female character called Lisbeth Salander. She's a hunky squatter turned hacker. She is petite, skinny, yet ultra violent (played by Noomi Rapace). She is totally closed off to everybody, but as the mystery plot evolves, she bonds with the journalist (Michael Nyqvist) who is supposed to solve the mystery. He knows that because of her abilities, she can help him so he takes her in. They become lovers, but not in a loving way because she is so harsh. When men try to victimize her, she punishes them and takes revenge. She has been to a mental hospital because of her ultra violent behaviour...
A bit like Luc Besson's Nikita...
Yes. I was inspired by Nikita. There is a scene where she is raped by a lawyer, but she rapes him back. The scene is extremely violent. Then she tattoos his stomach saying "I am a sadistic rapist"! She is a dark angel.
Are you involved in the writing as well?
I have two Danish writers on the project: Rasmus Heisterberg and Nikolaj Arcel. We plotted the whole story together and then they went on writing it together. I did the casting and prepping while they were writing, because the timing is very tight. We are going to start filming on February 26 in Stockholm. It will be a Swedish film in Swedish.
But you will only direct the first feature film...
Yes. The first book will be a feature length film and two part TV episodes. The other two books will be mainly shot for television. But I didn't want to be away from home for too long. It will be crazy, but it's a great project and I'm thrilled to do something so totally different.