Hannes Holm’s film A MAN CALLED OVE is nominated for EUROPEAN COMEDY 2016 and
for the EFA PEOPLE’S CHOICE AWARD 2016 and its main actor Rolf Lassgård is nominated for EUROPEAN ACTOR 2016. The director talks about his motivation for making the film, the importance of humour, and Rolf Lassgård laughing inside his head.
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Can you briefly describe what your film is about?
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What got you interested in the bestselling novel and what was the main challenge in adapting it?
I think one of the most important tools as a director for me is the personal motivation for the project. As I usually write my own stories, it was important to find out what my personal relation to this story was. I read it in one night and when the morning sun came up I was convinced I found it! It was a thing about my parents. How they met? How they fell in love. What they said to each other, etc. etc. All the lovely things they did before we children came and ruined their paradise!
When I was a boy and it was raining – which it usually does in Sweden – I could sit for hours and look at the black & white pictures of my young parents in the family album. The pictures were nice but silent – now I could give them sound!
The challenge? Well, as the novel already was a bestseller in Sweden, the challenge was to do a better movie than all the movies booklovers already had in their heads, all those opinions of what Ove should look like, the cat, the car, Parvaneh and so on.
How would you define the humour of your film? How did you find the right tone?
Humour in life is essential for me. I was a bit afraid that the novel contained too much humour and was surprised it did not. I think the trick is to reduce humour so you start to long for it … Too much humour can hurt the emotions and too little can make a story static. Don’t seek the humour but, when you find it, treat it with care! Keep this in mind and you will find humour the second you pick up the camera!
How did you find your cast? And how do you work with your actors?
It was important to find a skilful actor as Ove and it was also important to create him as a man of flesh and blood. In short, you have to believe Ove really exists! Therefore we didn’t make a joke out of him. I started to think about Rolf Lassgård on the second day of my screenwriting and from that day he helped me throughout the whole writing period. He was in my head, laughing, crying and shouting, as stubborn old men do. But, of course, Mr Lassgård wasn’t aware of this.
I don’t really direct the actors on set. I put most of my effort as a director before the shooting days. One of the most important moments for me is when I choose the actor. After that moment I really believe she or he will do a perfect job without my help! I can be there and discuss a complex dialogue, look at the costume or have a funny conversation about the character. But on set my role is very close to the audience’s role. I just sit by the monitor and enjoy what I see …
Comedy is not always easy to translate to other languages and cultures, even within Europe. Why does it work with your film?
Having worked a lot with comedy in Sweden I know something about it. The odd thing is that the ordinary falling on banana-peel humour doesn’t travel – unless you’re a genius like Charlie Chaplin or Mr Bean. It’s more often the dialogue-based humour that travels, for example the Coen brothers or Woody Allen. And if you put some black humour into the stew, you may even get some laughs in some other countries. But to be honest, the real trick is the story. If you are true to your story, the humour will be no problem on any continent.