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Tag archives for Hollywood

Darth Vader, Indiana Jones and Jesus Christ share one thing, Pernilla August

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An acting force to be reckoned with, Pernilla August. Photo: Mattias Ahlm/SR

The other day I went to another Q&A at Cinemateket. Remembering how interesting it was last time I made damn sure that I was going to grab a good seat for this one. Pernilla August is a Swedish acting legend. She’s the only one in the world that can say that she’s been Darth Vader’s mom, the mother of Indiana Jones and the mother of Jesus Christ. In 1992 she won the Best Actress award at Cannes Film Festival for her role in Bille August’s film, Best Intentions (Den goda viljan).

It’s very easy getting carried away when talking about the lovely Pernilla August because she truly has done so much impressive work. She’s done countless of plays including Hamlet and worked with most of the greats of Swedish directors. We’re talking Roy Andersson, Bo Widerberg and no other than Ingmar Bergman.

Now it’s her turn. She came to this Inside the Actors Studio inspired conversation with not only her smile and knowledge. She also brought her debut film as a director, Beyond (Svinalängorna). This film hasn’t premiered yet but has already picked up a lot of festival awards around the world including the Foreign Press Award in Hamburg and a Critics Award in Venice and now after seeing it I understand why.

Beyond is a really heavy drama about family with the soon to be Hollywood Noomi Rapace in the lead. The film is about a woman that finds out that her mother is dying but due to an upbringing where abuse and alcoholism was a daily thing she thinks she can just ignore it and go on with her life. Her husbands pushes her to go see her mom and soon all emotions come pouring out and her history that she has kept secret from her husband surfaces.

You can see what I mean about heavy, right? This is not a film you go see on a Saturday night with a date. You’ll be lucky if you even get a kiss. You’ll be too busy handing her tissues for tears. One thing Pernilla August has without a doubt picked up from her work in films is her composition. Every scene is very nicely framed and shot. The acting is just fantastic. Noomi Rapace really shows why she’s going to Hollywood and even the kid actors in this film are amazing.

The music however threw me off a little and there’s a little to much talking for me to really love it straight through. However, this wouldn’t stop me from going to see it again and as a debut film it’s scary how well made it is so bravo Pernilla August. Beyond hits Swedish movie theaters the 10th of December.

Chris Gardner - Film

November 13, 2010

Mr Hollywood – Hoyte van Hoytema

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PHOTO: Johan Bergmark

Inspired by Julien Bourgeois’s beautiful post about Ane Brun, a Swedish musican born outside of Sweden, I thought why not write about someone in Swedish film. The person I chose is a man whose parents must have really loved the name Hoyte because they named him that twice. Hoyte van Hoytema is a Swedish cinematographer whose career is a true success story.

Hoyte was born on the 4th of October 1971 in Horgen, Switzerland. He’s a son of an architect and he says that he was a really poor student in school and had to repeat a lot of the courses. When he was 17 years old he applied to the Dutch film school but did not get accepted. He then went to Poland and applied to film school in Lodz instead. In a Q&A with Stina Lundberg Dabrowski he said that the school in Lodz couldn’t afford new cameras. Everything was filmed on 35mm with old Arri cameras that the Germans brought during the war and because of the fact that those cameras made as much noise as coffee grinders that forced the students to put more focus on the image without relaying on sound. After 3 years Hoyte dropped out of school because of work. After some work in Holland and Poland he ended up in Norway where he met the producer Malte Forsell who brought Hoyte to Sweden for the production of  The Return of the Dancing Master (Danslärarens återkomst). Today Hoyte van Hoytema is considered being one of the best cinematographer in Swedish history and Hollywood is already knocking on his door.

It’s not by chance that the Swedish Institute says that the films and shows he has shot is some one the best of the last decade. After national and international successes with the mini series The Laser Man (Lasermannen) it didn’t take long until awards started raining on Hoyte. His remarkable work on the films Let the Right One In (Låt den rätte komma in) and The Girl (Flickan) landed him the Guldbagge Award (The Swedish Oscar) two years in a row for best cinematography. The Girl was considered by many being the best Swedish film of 2009 and Let the Right One In is on number 207 on IMDB’s top 250 films of all time.

No wonder Hollywood kept on knocking on his door until he opened. Later this year the world will be able to see Hoytes latest work in a film called The Fighter. A big Hollywood film directed by David O. Russell with big names like Mark Wahlberg, Christian Bale and Amy Adams. A funny remark Hoyte said about Hollywood was that he got annoyed sometimes. Due to union rules he is forced to work with two camera operators and that’s not his thing, he liked to be the guy handling the camera. The Fighter hits US theaters in december but the good people of Sweden will have to wait until February next year. Until then we Swedes can sit back, relax and go see Hoyte’s latest work in the Swedish film Bad Faith (Ond tro).

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2BlOPYsQQuM

Everybody remembers the directors but seldom remember the little guys but this little guy has a big future. See you at the Oscars soon enough Hoyte. You’ll be on the red carpet, I’ll be on my red couch. Want to trade?

Click here to see more of his body of work.

Chris Gardner - Film

November 7, 2010

Sweden the conqueror

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The author Carl Sandburg once said “Nothing happens unless first we dream”. The reason why I’m sharing this is not because of the fact that his parents were Swedish immigrants. And It’s not me trying to turn the film blog into a poetry corner either. My focus is on the word dream and when most people in the film business dream, what do they dream of? Hollywood of course! Sadly that’s basically the furthest away from poetry you can come. However, that hasn’t stopped a lot of Swedish actors and actresses one bit. Looking now at Sweden from a film point of view it’s hotter than ever (the weather however is not).

It’s now little over two weeks until Uppsala Short Film Festival (If you haven’t voted yet for your favourite short, do it now or forever hold your peace). I’m getting very excited and feel lucky that I get the opportunity to cover the festival once again. At the same time I’m mentally and physically preparing myself for those 8-10 hours a day I’ll be sitting down watching films and writing about them. Then, in the middle of my “training”, with Eye Of The Tiger playing in the background, I read that Daniel Craig is in Uppsala now. I told him to wait for me. I guess he didn’t care. We are so not best friends any longer. My ex best friend was here shooting the Hollywood version of The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (couldn’t find an English link).

Meanwhile our girl with the dragon tattoo, Noomi Rapace, is busy in Hollywood. Not only has she landed a role in the upcoming Sherlock Holmes 2 with Robert Downey Jr. and Jude Law, she is also on a short list of possible women for a Ridley Scott film.  And it’s not any Ridley Scott film. We are talking about a possible role in a new Alien movie. Apparently Ridley Scott wants to make a prequel to the other ones and she could be perfect for the role.

Staying on Noomi Rapace, her co-star from The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo, Michael Nyqvist has landed a role most boys only dream of. He will be the bad guy in the new Mission Impossible movie. His mission, if he chooses to accept, will be to try to kill Ethan Hunt, played by Tom Cruise. Lucky bastard.

Do I even have to bring up Alexander Skarsgård? He’s probably more known in the USA than Swedish meatballs. His roles in Generation Kill and True Blood has skyrocketed him to movie stardom. He is now shooting a film called Battleship. The project is directed by Peter Berg (Hancock, The Kingdom) and some of Skarsgård’s co-stars will be Liam Neeson and Rihanna(?).

If one young Skarsgård wasn’t enough in Hollywood, why not have two? His yonger brother, Gustaf Skarsgård, will be in the soon to be released The Way Back with Ed Harris and Colin Farrell. It’s directed by none other than Peter Weir (Truman Show).

I think I’m done name dropping for one night. I really think it’s great that so many Swedes are starting to conquer Hollywood. I just hope they brought a flag.

Chris Gardner - Film

October 8, 2010