25/08/2010

Trust Me [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile], the second feature film by Swedish director Johan Kling, who won multiple awards for his 2007 feature debut Darling [+see also:
trailer
film profile], was released domestically on August 20. The director spoke to Cineuropa from his home in Stockholm a few days before the film’s opening.

Cineuropa: Why did you choose to set your new film in the microcosm of an amateur theatre group, when nothing in the film really is about theatre?
Johan Kling: I wasn’t particularly interested in describing the theatre world. My intention was to focus on the relationships and interactions between the various characters. I just wanted a location that I liked and thought that this little back theatre in Stockholm had a lot of charm and felt very cosy.

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In Darling, your main female character wasn’t very sympathetic and here again, your characters cheat, lie and have major flaws…
I tend to be drawn to those characters that lie with their life. I find them fascinating and really fun to develop. They are people that you wouldn’t be attracted to in real life, yet when I write about them and take control of them they take on a different dimension.

Were you inspired by Woody Allen for a comedy drama about people’s games and misdeeds set in a sophisticated milieu?
I was actually inspired by Ingmar Bergman’s Smiles of a Summer Night. I wanted to use his airy summer farce, and give it another take. But Woody Allen is always an inspiration and I’ve watched his films a thousand times. His way of constructing stories and juxtaposing lives is always inspiring.

Did you intentionally cast an unknown face in the lead (Susanne Thorsson) and famous actors (Alexander and Gustav Skarsgård) as anti-heroes, and which characters did you personally like the most?
I used the ordinary procedure – a casting agency – to find Susanne Thorsson [who plays the theatre director]. It turned out that she was by far the best for her part. As for Alexander [who plays Susanne’s boyfriend] and Gustav Skarsgård [an introverted technician], they were also the best for their parts. I was just lucky that while I had some time off during the making of Trust Me, Alexander went on make films in Hollywood and became a big name. Michelle Meadows plays a diva in the film. She is one the characters that I like the most. Michael Segerström plays the landlord, a grumpy old man who is perhaps my alter ego!

Stockholm and jazzy music play key roles in establishing the mood in your films. Did you use the same DoP and composer as in Darling?
I do spend a lot of time on finding the right location and music. When I see a street with an angle that I like, I take a picture and file it in my image library. I used a new DoP, Jakob Ihre, and will probably use a different one for my next film. As for the music, I have a personal list of over a thousand songs that I like, and chose those that worked best for the film. I also had the established Swedish jazz musician Georg Riebel (who wrote the music for several Astrid Lindgren films) compose the music, and I used some of my personal compositions.

Trust Me was properly financed, unlike Darling. How did that influence your working conditions?
It was tough to work with a very tight budget on Darling. Here, we had adequate production organisation and a reasonable budget, which gave me much more freedom. I also enjoyed shooting in studios. This was my very first experience.

What’s next for you?
I’m preparing a big period piece, set in Stockholm in 1750. It will feature French philosopher Voltaire who was a friend to the queen of Sweden. In my film, I will write about a secret meeting between them. The film will be shot mostly in English. I’d like to have a big European cast for the project.