The Agency's Posts

David Letterman Retiring After 33 Years As Late Night Host: David Letterman is retiring in 2015 after 33 years as a late night host. Letterman announced....
Read More>

'Dom Hemingway' Review: Jude Law Shines: A temperamental, egotistical, British ex-con with a soft side for the daughter he left behind,....
Read More>

TV review: SURVIVING JACK: There is something both touching and irritating about Justin Halpern's dogged determination to....
Read More>

Sneak peek: The Rock becomes Hercules: "I was born to play this role," says the 6-foot-5 action star Sometimes special....
Read More>

Darren Aronofsky Calls 'Noah' The 'Least Biblical Film Ever Made': "Noah" director Darren Aronofsky and the movie's distributor, Paramount Pictures,....
Read More>

Pharrell Williams: 'My music is so much bigger than me, and what I am': Pharrell Williams wrote three of 2013's biggest tunes, and has made music with everyone from Daft....
Read More>

Iceland on film: a road trip around the 'Hollywood of the north': Another Day. Photograph: Snap Stills/Rex. Click on the magnifying glass to see Iceland's....
Read More>

Alec Baldwin and the fine art of becoming unfamous: The actor has become the latest celebrity to retire less than gracefully, joining Shia LaBeouf....
Read More>

Oscars Review: How Did Ellen DeGeneres Do As Host?: NEW YORK (AP) — With only a week to catch our breath after the lengthy cavalcade of....
Read More>

Oscars 2014: Gravity dominates, but 12 Years a Slave wins best film: Alfonso Cuarón's space thriller takes seven awards, but loses out to 12 Years a Slave....
Read More>

Seth Meyers and 'Late Night' premiere: Highest ratings in nine years: This "Late Night" thing might work out OK for Seth Meyers. The former "Weekend....
Read More>
For Iceland's Baltasar Kormakur, a desire to get in deep
Posted on: 09/18/12
Share/Save/Bookmark
 

TORONTO -- If you think directing a movie is hard, try doing it while you're swimming the backstroke.

That's how it went for Baltasar Kormakur, who shot his new Icelandic survival picture "The Deep" while he was on, and sometimes in, the water.

"I wanted to get shots looking at the actor head-on, and if you're in the boat you're looking down on him," Kormakur said during an interview at the Toronto International Film Festival, where his movie premiered. "So I got into the water with the camera and started doing the backstroke. I had to tie myself to him with a rope so he would stay in the frame."

That Ryan Lochte moment was hardly the only ocean-bound or other dangerous outdoor act that Kormakur -- best-known in the U.S. for Mark Wahlberg thriller "Contraband" -- undertook for the sake of his new Icelandic-language movie, which tells the true story of the lone survivor of a fishing-boat accident off the coast of Iceland's Westman Islands in 1984.

Kormakur also found himself swimming through crashing waves to rescue said actor (Olafur Darri Olafsson, playing the hero Gulli) after Olafsson got stranded on the rocks.

The director bought a boat with his own money because he had to sink it and, well, no one wants to lease you a boat you plan on sinking.

And he commissioned a helicopter pilot to fly him over the top of a volcano, getting as close as possible to the mouth so he could shoot into it.

"When the helicopter really started shaking," Kormakur said, making a trembling motion with his hands, "we knew we probably should fly out of there." (Insurance requirements on film productions, apparently, are more lax in Iceland.)

Kormakur didn't set out to become an extreme-sports auteur. But in crafting his tale of existential survival he wanted to avoid the artifice of many Hollywood movies in similar settings. So he said no to water tanks and green screens, and yes to putting on swimming trunks and doing the backstroke.

The real-world conditions also made for some uncertainty about the shooting schedule. A movie like "The Deep" needs a steady series of massive waves. And those are, well, kind of unpredictable. Kormakur became very acquainted with nautical weather reports.

The director was motivated to make “The Deep” because the Westman incident is an iconic moment in his country’s history -- everyone over the age of 35 remembers it -- and ran counter to the usual assumptions about heroism.  "Here was a guy who would not seem like a hero and didn't want to be one -- he was a little overweight, he was drunk a lot, he didn't seem to be the one who would survive." (The second half of the movie explores the human consequences of that survival as Gulli returns to shore.)

Even Kormakur's land-bound efforts were fraught. To research the film he wanted to interview many of the people familiar with the story. But that group included families of the victims, some of whom were resentful at Gulli for surviving and all of whom still carried around some grief (think Paul Greengrass making "United 93").

Kormakur has a rugged thoughtfulness -- with his salt-and-pepper beard, he looks like Viggo Mortensen if Mortensen were a sea captain -- and appreciates the kind of wisdom that comes from grappling with the outdoors. He spends two weeks every summer leading a small group of friends into the Icelandic wilderness with little but horses and some basic supplies to keep them company.

"What makes me really excited is when it's just you and the elements, and no one packed sandwiches and you can’t go home to Mommy and you just have to deal with the loneliness," he said, Icelandically.

Kormakur has had a strange career even by international-director standards.

Coming from a nation of barely 300,000 people, he started out making offbeat slacker comedies like the indie darling "101 Reykjavik." He branched out to thrillers with well-regarded foreign-language pieces like "Jar City." Then he made the jump to Hollywood, as he helmed the Central American drug thriller  "Contraband" and was signed by the same manager who represents Oscar-winner Mark Boal.

Kormakur said he wants to continue pursuing a career in the North Atlantic as well as in Hollywood. He just finished shooting "2 Guns," a crime thriller with Wahlberg and Denzel Washington, which he will edit as "The Deep" rolls out around the world. "The Deep" is seeking distribution in the U.S.; despite the unfamiliarity of the tale, agents hope the survival story and the spectacle will be a selling point.

Kormakur, meanwhile, said he feels there’s a universality to his story. “It’s about what makes someone survive when there’s no reason he should. I can't imagine anyt

COMMENTS
Be the first to post a comment!


Post A Comment:




  • It's 2020! Start booking roles in commercials, fashion, films, theater and more with The Agency Online!

  • NEW WORKSHOP with Barbara Barna & Sean De Simone!

    Hi Everyone and Happy Summer! Sean at Sean De Simone casting and Barbara Barna are teaming up for a super informative and fun Hosting for Home Shopping workshop. A great opportunity for established or experienced TV Hosts and Experts interested in learning how to get noticed and how to get in....
  • MASTERCLASS W. Robin Carus & David John Madore

    A Special Offer for the Agency Community, from one of our favorite NYC Casting Directors! EMAIL FacetheMusicWithUs@gmail.com Or Eventbrite To Sign Up! Class Size is Limited.
  • Don't Fall Into The Comparison Trap

    Hi Everyone! As the second installment in an ongoing series of features by the Agency's amazing community, here's some sage advice from our own Regina Rockensies; a humble (& awesome)veteran we've had the pleasure of working with for a long time. Have an excellent week! : ) - The Agency....
  • One Model's Agreement

    Hi Everyone! As the first piece in an ongoing series of original articles by the Agency community, here's a short reflection on some of the values of professional acting & modeling that we can all keep in mind for our next casting. Good luck on your castings &shoots this week! : ) -....




 
home       castings&news       privacy policy       terms and conditions      contact us      browser tips
Official PayPal Seal