Ruben Ostlund has described the “tough shoot” of The Entertainment System Is Down as he edits the film on a laptop on a Croatian island.
As well as key cast including Keanu Reeves, Kirsten Dunst, Daniel Bruhl, Nicholas Braun, Tobias Menzies and Julie Delpy, the film includes 150 extras. All of these background artists had to remain in the same seat for continuity. Ostlund says that some of them appear in the film for longer than several named cast, despite the extras not having any dialogue.
“It was a tough shoot, because we’re going to the same set every day, and with so many people in every shot,” said Ostlund.
The film takes place aboard a long-distance flight, on which the back-seat video screens stop working for the majority of passengers.
Ostlund and producers Erik Hemmendorff and Philippe Bober purchased a retired Boeing 747 plane, which they dismantled, shipped to Hungary and reassembled in a Budapest studio for the shoot.
One solution to the challenge of shooting in the confined space of an airplane was using what Ostlund described as a “robot”. This was a pre-programmable mechanical arm, manoeuvred via a PlayStation controller, that could reach into spaces too tight for both the camera and operator at the same time.
The director says he had employed the technology before, but has greatly increased its use for this film. “They’re starting to make them quite small, so you can use them in very narrow spaces,” said Ostlund, who worked closely with cinematographer Fredrik Wenzel on programming the kit. “This robot helped us a lot.”
He added that “technically and production-wise, everything worked very well”. The film shot from January until May across roughly 70 shoot days.
“Unique place”
Ostlund is now in the edit while he participates in the five-day Croatian film meeting Slano Film Days, taking place in the coastal town of Slano. He has been staying on the nearby island of Lopud, editing the film from his laptop in an open room atop a sunlit tower. “What helps me edit is I know my family is enjoying themselves,” laughed Ostlund. “I can sit anywhere that is calm and work.”
The filmmaker describes Slano Film Days, an initiative of the Sarajevo Film Festival, as “a unique place” that benefits its emerging filmmakers from the region.
“For the students that are here – the actors, directors and cinematographers – it’s a great way of approaching anyone and being able to talk to anyone,” said Ostlund, who has returned to Slano for its second edition, having also attended last year’s inaugural event.
This year Ostlund has given a masterclass, will host another session with German actor Bruhl, and has held individual meetings with the 14 regional talents.
“It’s very friendly, there are no hierarchies,” said Ostlund, who believes founder Mirsad Purivatra has achieved his goal of conversation over competition. “It’s a unique place – a lot of festivals will say they want to create this, but here they actually manage it.”
Plane sailing
A two-time Palme d’Or winner with his last two films The Square and Triangle Of Sadness, Ostlund hopes The Entertainment System Is Down will become his sixth of seven features to launch on the Croisette, and reiterated his desire to cause “the biggest walkout in the history of Cannes Film Festival”, via a long-take scene in which a young girl must go for 15 minutes without using the family iPad.
Earlier this year, Swedish filmmaker Ostlund was critical of a speech made by the country’s cultural minister Parisa Liljestrand at the opening night of Goteborg Film Festival, for which Ostlund is president. He also called the country’s cultural policy “embarrassingly uneducated”.
Since then, a report about how to revitalise the Swedish film industry, led by director of culture in the Greater Stockholm Metropolitan Area Eva Bergquist, was published in March, based on an inquiry for which Ostlund was one of several experts.
“A problem for Sweden and Europe in general is the state-funded system,” said Ostlund in Slano. “Which is great for freedom of expression but bad in that as soon as we get money from the state, we are economically safe, so you don’t have to push all the way to reach the audience – and we have a bit less of a connection with them.
“In the US, if they don’t sell tickets, they go bankrupt,” he said. “We have to give cinema owners an event they can sell to the audience. We have to consider ourselves more like a live act today.”
Bober’s Coproduction Office is handling world sales on The Entertainment System Is Down, with A24 acquiring US rights last year. Slano Film Days runs until Saturday, June 21.
No comments yet