Exclusive Interview: Tomas Alfredson On Let The Right One In
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By Kellvin Chavez on
October 20, 2008
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A film that has already garnered 13 awards, Tomas Anderson's "Let The Right One In" is the newest vampire movie,, but one with a twist. In this exclusive interview with the director, Tomas talks about his work on the film, how other vampire movies like The Lost Boys or the Twilight series haven't been an influence (He's never seen Lost Boys or read the Twilight books). Tomas also discusses the use of CGI and how it can be overdone, bullies and a the difficulty in casting.
What made you want to do this film based on the novel?
Alfredson: When I read the novel three years ago I was really struck by the story about the bullied boy, Oskar, and how brave he was and how unsentimental the story was told. It's a story of a twelve year old boy carrying this horrific situation. That was the strongest component for me.
How difficult it is for you to do a film based on a novel?
Alfredson: Well, I've mostly worked in comedy before this and so this, to do cinematize violence was very hard for me or to do scary stuff. It's an easy thing to make an audience feel sick or to make gory pictures, but to really frighten an audience is very hard. So that was the biggest thing for me to do, to find a way to make it horrifying.
How much collaboration did you have with the novelist? I heard that he helped with the screenplay.
Alfredson: He had written the screenplay as well. We worked together, John [Ajvide Lindqvist] on the adaptation. I was the reader and he was the writer. I had some ideas and some input and it was a very interesting process. It's also a very hard thing for a novelist to do, a screenplay on your own material because you have to leave many things out. But he did a great job I think.
How difficult was it to cast these two kids in these roles?
Alfredson: It was a very big thing to find them. It took us nearly a year. It wasn't just about finding the boy and then find the girl. We had to find this couple because I think these two children, they really are the same character. They're the two sides of the same coin and they had to look as different as possible. I look upon them though as if they were the same person.
What I liked as well is that the film is more of a relationship film than a horror movie. Was that your intent going into the film?
Alfredson: Yes. I really don't know anything about horror really and so I had to use the things that I'm able to work with. I'm very interested in human relations. So that was my way into the drama.
How would you separate this film from other vampire films that you've seen?
Alfredson: I haven't seen any really. Well, I've seen some when I was a kid on television, but I haven't studied vampire films specifically before working with this.
So you never saw 'The Lost Boys'?
Alfredson: No. I haven't seen that.
'Twilight' is a vampire film coming out next month and I think this is an adult version of that. Have you heard of that film or read those novels?
Alfredson: No. I don't know anything about it.
Were there any moments of in the film that you had to leave out of the final cut that we might see later?
Alfredson: No. It's basically what it was designed as from the beginning. A big difference between the novel and the film is that the character Hakan, the grownup who's living together with Eli, in the book he's an outspoken pedophile, but that was a very big thing to leave out and it's very, very hard to have such a theme on film, I think. You have to take a big responsibility for such a theme and we didn't want to let the film be about that.
How much did these kids have to really suffer in the weather?
Alfredson: Well, it was very cold. Some of the scenes are made in a super cool studio so that it would be a little easier to keep them warmed, but that was a big problem when we made the film. They were very brave and very decisive.
Did they do most of their stunts, except for Eli who's obviously not going to jump off of a building?
Alfredson: Most of the stunts they did themselves.
The FX that you guys have are great. How much CGI did you use?
Alfredson: There is a lot of CGI in the film, but it's used with a very delicate hand. I find that everyone uses CGI they really push up the volume button to maximum. A car explodes and instead of a small explosion it'll explode for ten minutes without a reason really. So it's a fantastic thing to have the reach so that you can use CGI, but in this case we used it with very, very spare hands.
I thought the pool scene was incredible. It is the best scene in the film. I said while watching that you had to use some CGI in there.
Alfredson: Well, it's a very complicated scene.
But at the same time it doesn't look like you used CGI.
Alfredson: No. It has a very analog look. The film has a very analog look and we wanted it to look very analog. It's made on film and the lightening that you see is the lightening that we used. So there's no sort of making up CGI. It's just some details in each frame that we used that's CGI. Otherwise it's an old fashioned filmmaking hand.
Is there a back story for the boy and his father's relationship? We never seem to get into their relationship and understand it?
Alfredson: Yes. This came as a surprise to me, but in several screenings people have asked me if the father was a homosexual.
Right. I didn't want to say that, but it does appear like that.
Alfredson: Okay. It never entered my mind, but I think that's a cultural difference between the USA and Sweden. In Sweden we do come over to each other without –
I understand.
Alfredson: So that's a big difference, and if you live in the countryside people will walk over to each other and have a glass of vodka or whiskey or whatever. So that's not a big thing for Swedes. But it was a surprise to me that people though the was a homosexual. His father is an alcoholic and uses the alcohol before his son every time it's attempted. So that's the tragic back story and this is also a portrait of the author's own father who drank himself to death some years ago. It's a very autobiographical story.
How much research did you guys do on the bullies in order to pick the ones you did because they're really mean?
Alfredson: I have experienced being bullied and in the book that is very thoroughly described, how the bullies worked and looked and how they reacted and acted. So it was a very interesting theme to look into.
The film is left wide open for a sequel if it does well and it looks like it will do well. Do have another story for this if there was to be a sequel?
Alfredson: No. I'm not a sequel kind of person. I think I would do something rather different than this the next time that I do a film.
What is next for you then?
Alfredson: The next thing that I'm doing is a play at the Royal Dramatic Theater in Stockholm which will be a comedy for the stage.
It's been announced that they're doing an English version of this film. What are your thoughts on that?
Alfredson: I really don't know. I'll have to wait and see what they come up with. It's a little strange that someone else is doing the same material before it's even opened. It's kind of a strange feeling, but I mean the story contains a lot of levels, emotional levels and so maybe they've found something that I haven't seen and in that case it'll be interesting. But if they do a very commercialized version I would hate that.
Let The Right One In Opens limited on October 24th
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Tags: Let the Right One In, Text Interview |
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The pool scene
Commented By: Mattador on 2008-10-21 02:07:50
That pool scene is awesome...it also sticks out in my mind as the best in the whole film. Very cool!
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Interview with Tomas Alfredson
Commented By: Jim Rohner on 2008-10-22 17:11:59
Reading is for suckers. If you want to listen to an audio interview with Tomas Alfredson, visit Zoom In Online:
http://www.zoom-in.com/podcasts/on_the_circuit_let_the_right_one_in
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Stop the Twilight thing.
Commented By: Jenn on 2009-02-20 12:17:53
This book / film was absolutely nothing like Twilight, except that there was a vampire in the plot. Seriously? The comparison is so idiotic.
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I hate Americans!
Commented By: I'm British on 2009-05-20 14:39:20
Why do the Yanks have to remakes and spoil it?
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