The Night Crew returns from hiatus, with a double whammy of guests Jason Eisener and Andre Ovredal, whose films Hobo With A Shotgun and Trollhunter are quite well regarded 'round these parts. Plus the usual columns, news, and basic mayhemic behavior that is par for course.
Also, we are proud to run a special extra nugget of goodness with the following teaser article for this episodes extended interview with Mr. Ovredal, courtesy of The Night Crew's NYC contributor, Heather Buckley...read on!
Click the link below the text to listen to the entire show.
Troll Hunter is a faux-cinema-verite monster movie that centers around a group of students that are filming the Trolljegeren (Otto Jespersen) as he tracks down creatures that were merely the stuff of legend--until now. Inspired by his grandparent's tales of Norwegian folklore, director writer André Øvredal felt it important to track very close to the traditional Troll look, "The trolls are so vividly drawn in the Norwegian book of fairy tales," Øvredal went on to say, "(there is basically one book) and this reference is so strong all Norwegians expect trolls to look like that. If I had done any other version I would have been shot on the street I think." His sticking to tradition has garnered him a lot of fans from kids 10 and up, which sent him messages relaying they have seen the film 5 to 10 times, which he sees as an honor.
For the movement of the monsters, Øvredal drew inspiration from King Kong and Jurassic Park and was personally involved in the post-animation process. As for working with the animators, Øvredal mentions, "...You have to think of your animators as actors, because you have to talk to them, like they have to understand the psychology of the moment." His care and affection for these Trolls has certainly paid off and created a more gentle horror flick, but not without the scares and teeth, something more likes Gremlins. Lots of monsters, lots of mayhem, and an celebratory monster kid quality. Øvredal goes on to add, "I didn't want to get too gentle or too sweet, either, I had to find the middle ground, where kind of Jurassic Park lives, and I think that's also part of the appeal. It gives you opportunities to use humor one moment and then use horror at the next moment, because none of them are too extreme, and it's all within a sense of reality..."
And with every monster kid, Øvredal has a big heart for his creatures, "...I feel kind of sorry for the trolls, because, you know, they're just doing what they need to do, that even though there is a human aspect to them, they are mostly animals, and they're driven by their needs, like any animal. And when they attack humans, they don't really want to attack humans, but it's only when they're threatened by humans. They would probably go for our livestock, you know, our cows or whatever, out in the wilderness."
And a genre fan? You bet. He even named his dog Krull. But what he really appreciates about the genre is its ability to allow the audience to experience raw emotions, such as fear, in a safe environment. He even feels that fear is an "amazing emotion" because we rarely encounter it in our day-to-day lives. Some of his favorites fright flicks are Paranormal Activity, The Sixth Sense, The Omen and Poltergeist; features that he feels have a more psychological element then just physical scares.
But it was Spielberg that really sparked his interest in filmmaking. "I was so in love with Raiders of the Lost Ark, and then I realized that his (Spielberg) name was also attached to some other films like Back to the Future," Øvredal mentions, "or all kinds of films that he did not, in fact, direct, so I started to make these links, and then I would read that there was a composer there, a photographer, and the names keep popping up, and then I started realizing how this all works out, and I wanted to do it myself." And there is a bit of Spielberg's influence in Troll Hunter. A landscape overrun by giant CGI monster like Jurassic Park, the sense of adventure like an Indiana Jones film, and an enigmatic leading man like Indy, or Quint from Jaws.
Troll Hunter was shot without storyboards. The film's Line Producer, (? Trond G. Lockertsen), was instrumental in finding natural environments, which were perfect for the story's set pieces. As the crew went from location to location, the film became more of a road movie in Øvredal's final assessment. But is this little genre film reflective of Norwegian cinema's sensibilities? Øvredall tells us, "I think Norwegians, as well as myself, are so really grounded, and I think I can utilize that approach when I'm making a Hollywood film by having a very grounded, realistic view of things."
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