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Your new movie 8 Remains
- in a few words, what is it about?
8 Remains
tells the story of Talli, a young woman who, hurting from a trauma
in her past, falls for the wrong man. A serial killer. And in the moment of
her death she's thrown into a mirror world of sorts, where she has to
relive past events while being hunted by her killer.
How did the project come into being in the first place? I've
lived in Asia for quite a while. When I returned to Germany in 2011 I
planned to get into the local movie industry. But it was tough. When I got
in touch with author Laura Sommer we saw a win-win situation in combining
our work efforts. She had some money to invest and wanted to shoot a
teaser for a movie adaption of one of her books. I wanted to shoot a
feature film. Ultimately we put one of her stories, 8 Remains, on screen
using her funds as starting investment. What
can you tell us about 8 Remains'
writer Laura Sommer, and what was your collaboration like? Laura
Sommer has made a fantastic career as self-publishing novelist on Amazon.
She's crazy, in a good way. And I believe that's why we connected so well
:) We had a very limited amount of time when writing the script. We
brainstormed, she started adapting her story for the screen in German, and
I went on translating her work while she was still writing it, altering
the script in the process in mutual agreement with her. Then we gave the
result to screenwriter Wolf-Peter Arand who polished the script in the
small amount of time we had left until the start of principal photography. 8 Remains
is rather non-linear and associative in its narrative - so how hard (or
easy) was it to not literally lose the plot when bringing the script to
the screen?
I
believe I had a good sense of where we were in the story, where we came
from and where we were going, specifically during the shoot. But I think
oftentimes I literally was the only one on set. The question: "Where
are we? Is this real, or the dream world?" came quite often during
the shoot. And one small scene we messed up with Talli wearing the wrong
dress. Luckily we just had to redo three shots to make it work. Especially because of the film's rather
other-worldly storyline, to what extent could you actually identify with
Tally and her experiences? 8 Remains, in its making, has a touch of French impressionism. The
plot is oftentimes secondary to the emotions of the dream sequences. I
don't identify with Talli on a deep personal level, but with the
underlying emotions of all the events she has to go through, and went
through. I believe a lot of women find similar experiences in their past
which ultimately puts us (females) all in a same position of finding our
true inner voice and not be distracted by people around us telling us who
we should be or how we should behave. That said, that's true not
only for a lot of women, but for people in general. Do talk about
8 Remains'
approach to horror for a bit!
The
production of 8 Remains
is lying a bit in the past now, and I have done
another film since, called 3
Lives. And now recently The Curse of Hobbes House. After those three films, I believe that the classification of 8 Remains
as horror isn't really correct. It's actually a psychological
fantasy thriller. However, sales people usually tell you horror sells, and
that's what you should focus on as marketing angle. I actually came
to the conclusion that that's wrong and you really should invest time to
find your tribe. The wrong audience will leave disappointed. The right
audience will stay with you and will join you on the journey with your
next films. What can you tell us about
your key cast, and why exactly these people? Laura
Sommer was in touch with Maja-Celiné Probst and suggested her for the
lead role. When I spoke to her I knew that she's the one! I've worked with
Gregory B Waldis before in 2012 for a segment I shot for the multiple
director feature Trainstation. That was really fun and he proved a great
fit. They all jumped on board and were free at the time. A few words
about the shoot as such, and the on-set atmosphere? Shooting
8 Remains was one of the most enjoyable shoots I had. We got offered this
amazing castle a two-hour drive north of Berlin. There was no mobile
network, and we all had to stay in three holiday apartments and an old
dormitory for school trips. And that's how it felt, a great awesome school
trip of sorts, because we were so close together for the time of the
shoot. Everyone enjoyed it.
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Anything
you can tell us about audience and critical reception of 8 Remains?
8 Remains polarises. There's the audience who is willing to just let go of
the idea of a very stringent plot, sits back and enjoys the ride. Usually
those people like the film and its sublayers of meaning. However, a lot of
people were also asking plot related questions and would have liked a more
tangible world with more explanations of its workings.
Any future projects you'd like to share? My
latest project The Curse of Hobbes House just finished post production and
will be presented at the virtual market at Cannes this year in June. You
can check it out here:
http://thecurseofhobbeshouse.com Your/your
movie's website, Facebook, whatever else?
http://8remains.com (with
all the links where you can watch the film)
https://www.facebook.com/JBlockbusterMovies/
Anything else
you're dying to mention and I have merely forgotten to ask? We
started a blog with stories specifically designed for an audience, which
might enjoy our films:
http://theheroinetribe.com tells
awesome stories of female artists, filmmakers, scientists and more. Do
check it out! Thanks
for the interview!
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