Tomas AlfredsonDirector Tomas Alfredson’s Let the
Right One In has been the talk of the film-festival circuit for
monthsAdapted by screenwriter John Ajvide
Lindqvist from his novel, the film already is set for an American
remake, at the hands of Cloverfieldhard to imagine anything Hollywood capturing the unsettling stillness
of Hoyte van Hoytema’s cinematography, or the delicate, sad tone
that Alfredson establishes, which makes the inevitable flashes of
carnage all the more powerful and, yet, all resolves in a nearly
transcendent poignance.
Paste caught up with Alfredson,
who was in Stockholm, this week.
Paste: What were you
thinking about when you approached the material?Alfredson: The book is like 400
pages, so we had to leave a lot of things out. I tried to concentrate
on the love story, because I felt that was the most moving part of
it. I haven’t made any horror films before, so everything was quite
new to me. So my way to come into this material was coming in from
telling a love story.
Paste: That’s a good
thing you were fresh to it.Alfredson: Yeah, maybe.
Paste: We’ve all seen
these stories before, it’s how you find original ways to
reinterpret them. I thought you found some subtle ways to do that.
For instance, when Eli comes into Oskar’s house without following
proper vampire etiquette, because Oskar insists on seeing what
happens. And then she starts hemorrhaging through her skin. It’s
like this huge gesture of affection.Alfredson: That’s also an
invention from John. This is obviously some revolutionary thing in
the vampire world. That was just one of those bleeding things, among
the others.
Paste: What was it about
the book that made you think it could be a film?Alfredson: The very
unsentimental approach to it was the most heartbreaking part of it,
and the part that really shook me when I read it. It’s so
sentimental by not being sentimental. And then it is of course it is
a very unique and original approach with these kind of supernatural
things and the very natural things. This original blend, for me it
was quite new.
Paste: The supernatural
seeps in very gradually …Alfredson: The big horror for me
was to make it work. To believe in this landscape, this atmosphere,
and to make this deal with the audience: This really could happen in
your suburb.
Paste: The cinematography
was amazing: The still, icy landscape. The sense of isolation. Even
when people are together it feels like the wolves are lurking.Alfredson: It’s a very
typical Stockholm suburb. Sweden was kept out of the second World
War, and we were very wealthy in the ‘50s and ‘60s, and we had a
lot of money to do some strange building projects. They called it
social engineering. The architecture is very specific for Swedes from
this specific era. The look of it is very Swedish for Swedes. I also
think the more specific you are, the more universal you get. I don’t
understand why it is like that. I suppose that suburbia is a very
good environment for making something scary. You’re very close to
everyone, and everyone is there behind the curtains, but still it is
very quiet.
Paste: In the city, you
have your guard up. If something violent or unusual happens, it’s
expected. But suburbia, that’s where all the real terror happens.Alfredson: Or in the shower.
Paste: I read an
interview that mentioned you had looked at a lot of paintings to
develop your visual concept.Alfredson: We studied a lot of
Renaissance painters when we were prepping. Mostly, Hans Holbein, who
was painting the royal British court n the mid-1500s. He’s using
eyes in a very interesting way. Te portrayed person is not looking on
the spectator, but is looking a little beside the spectator, and that
is very spooky. We also looked at Raffaello (Raphael) for the color
and lighting purposes. So we used a painting by Raffaello, from the
Vatican, to have a color guide. He uses gray in a very interesting
way, as if it was white. Because we have so much white in the film
from the snow we have to find some way to communicate all this hard
white light. So he helped us a lot. If you don’t know which way to
turn, you can always ask the masters.