jantje friese interview

", If all goes according to plan, fans have many more episodes to look forward to. I was like, Wow, its such a cool concept. I think we we focused on the stuff where we just personally felt it adds to the overall mystery and we need to deliver the ending. You know if something is urgent or not important. Some of it, we knew. Jantje Friese Actually, the idea and the spark for it happened years ago. There were some really tough choices to be made, especially in the in the editing room. FrieseThat was the whole point of the show. "And it helped us see that we can trust our instincts, and there are people out there that are actually interested in our voice and what we have to say and how [we] tell stories.". In the next phase I actually put it in pen. Then one day, I told myself: Lets forget about what theyre saying and listen to how theyre saying it. People write stories about the relationships between Aleksander and Regina, and stuff like that. The entire first season was filmed at the Dark Bay LED studio on the Studio Babelsberg lot outside Berlin. "It's a huge dining room, but it's actually just four pillars and a couple of tables and a couple of extras. "It's definitely an association that a lot of people have," Friese says. When the series was first revealed, early reports described the genre as horror, but Friese says that's not really accurate. Odar says there were two reasons why they opted to use this new technology, which has been used previously on shows such as Disney+'s The Mandalorian. Friese: There was supposed to be a scene in season two that got cut out. When we started with the show, obviously we werent sure whether we were going to get any audience because its just such an unusual narrative, said Friese. Do I actually have free will? Subscribe for full access to The Hollywood Reporter. Was this scene always part of the plan or was it something that developed in the writing? The thriller follows a forensics agent desperate for answers after finding out shes an identical triplet. Theres a picture with three worlds in it. The Hollywood Reporter is a part of Penske Media Corporation. In a time where new genre television content feels rare and must be savored at all costs, one specific rabid fandom has a show to sell you on: Dark, Netflixs German time travel thriller from creators Baran bo Odar and Jantje Friese. You can only stand here. bo Odar: We dont have bad ideas. If a door was on the left side, it would then be on the right side in the other world. Jantje Friese and Baran bo Odar, who also created the streamer's hit 'Dark, are back with another meta mystery, this time set on a migrant steamer at the turn of 19th century. We already have ideas for a second and third season on 1899, and it gets complicated. America So She Could Breastfeed Privately, Michael J. But you keep checking: Is it still working with the theme or do you need to shift that a bit? What kind of symbols do you use? How did the script work did you write in German and then have things translated? You're crossing into a new century, stepping from something that feels old school to something new the future. The past shapes you and everything that happens.. A scene from Netflixs 1899 in the Dark Bay LED Volume studio at Studio Babelsberg, Willie Nelson Turns 90: Keith Richards Joins Hollywood Bowl Bash, R.M.N. 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You can change anything. Get The Latest IndieWire Alerts And Newsletters Delivered Directly To Your Inbox. Interview edited and condensed for clarity. Related ' Odar said in a recent interview with IndieWire. Thats where we basically put the groundwork, going for deterministic time travel rules. And then something thats quite important for series, especially compared to movies, is the whole world-building process. Science and religion clashed a lot. They have to realize that, yes, we suffer and we have pain and desires, but we two are not so important that we must exist so someone else cant be happy. 'Dark' final season: here's what happens at the end of the Netflix time travel thriller. Get The Latest IndieWire Alerts And Newsletters Delivered Directly To Your Inbox. It was not the new stuff that we added throughout the second season that was the hardest thing to tackle, it was really being true to where we wanted to go in the end.. Everything happens constantly in loops. But where they're going isn't to a different time period; she clicks a device and suggests they're going to a different world. All this we sort of incorporated into our story. "We prepped a year to get there, because it is a beast that you have to understand. Stuff like that always happens. It's a highly rewarding if not particularly easy viewing experience, being at times hilariously confusing, especially if you're not a German speaker and are busy reading subtitles while new faces appear on screen. Dark creators Baran bo Odar and Jantje Friese's highly-anticipated latest Netflix series 1899 has dropped an extended trailer, gifting more clues. And Prometheus, obviously, is also a little wink to the ending of Season 1. Its a very long and also very complicated process. It's Me, Margaret' to 'R.M.N. Friese:There are always three key elements. The other thing was really, What is German? What can we put out in the world apart from the Second World War which I still think is also in Dark, even though were not in the timeline. More scientific-oriented thinking started [influencing society] while you still had very religious beliefs [also prevalent], and those two things pulled on each other, old and new. But were not going to solve every riddle because sometimes its funnier [that way]. Is the final season truly the final season, or will the cycle continue, as it does ad infinitum within the context of the story? Go Behind the Cutting-Edge Technology of 1899. Could bruiseless avocados, sugarcane plastic and carbon-capturing concrete actually exist in real life? And more of your Drive to Survive questions, answered. How did the actors react to working in this new virtual space? But thats what we learned: So okay, what do we have to put in the background so it glues these things together? See how the filmmakers used 'Volume' to create a story at sea. So where does the show go in Season 3? Succession Reveals Logan Roys Successor: Who Is in Charge of Waystar Royco? As we learn quickly in Season 3, the worlds are very similar but also slightly different, but time-travel is still in play and the other Martha and her world are still progressing toward the same world-shattering apocalypse that happened in Jonas' world. Friese knows the reason for his injury and eye patch, but wouldn't reveal what happened. There are actually two things. It takes 60 seconds to spin and its a huge turntable. Making a splash: A deep dive into the live-action Little Mermaid with a new generation's Ariel. Were moving through a story, and we want to know how it will be resolved in the end. Theyd shoot in one direction on the first day, and then basically turn the whole set around overnight and shoot the other direction. ", Friese says she was bothered by this for the first few months actively working on the scripts for 1899, but, "At some point, we just said, 'Let's shake it off.' At first, they were like, Really? I think the two concepts needed two different kinds of storytelling. And I think, especially as a filmmaker, you love creating illusion. How can I get over always reacting in the same patterns to certain situations? You will never know the answer. I have an answer, but its very personal. But of course, the number is also very magical: 1899. WithDark, the story is really so much about time, about using something linear and then making lots of knots, throwing it at the audience and getting them to figure out how to untangle it back into a more linear logic. And as we go through the process, the ideas can shift and move into a different position. "I would say it's a drama mystery show, or maybe a mystery thriller. Friese: I think its a relief for them compared to green screen, just because you can actually look at something. No, we just forget them immediately. Friese said, That was the centerpiece of it all. That was the initial plan. "We worked on a database where every scene is broken down under certain circumstances. So for all the fans out there: Sorry, there wont be any characters fromDarksuddenly appearing on the ship. By the end of the second season, the timeline of Dark has become more of a time-web, with certain characters now able to hop back and forth through time without adhering to the 33-years rule, while other characters discover that certain people they meet are actually their own future selves. Thats how we appreciatedLost, and completely got lost in that mythology, Googling everything about these numbers and trying to find out what does it mean?. Netflix series 1899 was shot entirely on a virtual LED Volume production stage at Studio Babelsberg. Is it because it was a time of confrontation between technology and tradition? If you dont know where youre going, you can just write whatever. The quote in the song from Emily Dickinsons poem, in the beginning, is really about experiencing all this weird shit going through your brain. If you're ready, you can also read our series finale recap and explainer. That was one of the cornerstones to developing the third season. It could be a crying smiley face, or it could be a winking smiley face. If you leave enough open for people to pour their own creativity into it in that way, it lives. The series ends with a dinner party in the origin world. So you have 999. Much to the disappointment of diehards who might venture to Berlin in the hopes of visiting the shows most pivotal location, the Winden cave doesnt actually exist. Related And also why would they like weird German-language things? In the end, the whole language thing was much easier than we all thought it would be in the beginning. When Jantje Frieseand her partner Baran bo Odar created their German-language science fiction series "Dark" for Netflix, they had no idea that it would become an international hit. Theres just an underrepresentation of the different European cultures, the different narratives from around the world. "To create worlds you need to create patterns, and the best way to create patterns is by using symbols," he said. bo Odar:Another good example is the word ambitious. Multinational immigrants traveling from the old continent to the new encounter a nightmarish riddle aboard a second ship adrift on the open sea. Its what we love about this thing. It's really a long, long process. From the creators of Dark, the mystery-thriller will melt your mind. In Season 3, the seventh episode is where we basically fill in all those last puzzle pieces. Usually, the foreground is the actor and then the background is what you have on the LED volume screen. Published Jan 26, 2023 There was much more to untangled in the criminally cancelled show. Because Im a very traditional filmmaker; I like to give the actors a lot of space and not limit them by saying, We just have this angle. "And obviously, this will only happen if enough people watch, but the way that we approached development and how season 1 is ending, you kind of want to have another one. Fortunately the similarities between some of the older and younger actors are so uncanny that often other clues arent necessary, and occasionally, some viewers are convinced that one actor has just been aged up using makeup and prosthetics such as in the case of Adult Ulrich (Oliver Masucci) and Elderly Ulrich (Winfried Glatzeder). Do you view it as a happy ending? From Barbie to The Flash, Here Are the Movies That Made the Biggest Impact at CinemaCon. Doors that used to be on the left side, were on the right side, Odar said. 2023 The Hollywood Reporter, LLC. But it also means props-wise, you have to change a lot of things like books and bookshelves. Lets look at them as music instruments. Thats why we decided against showing it. But in English, it means something positive. How do I free myself from my reactions to certain impulses? [Editors Note: The following contains spoilers for Seasons 1 and 2 of Dark.]. So, in moving forward, lets assume you have watched all of Dark. Its been quite a process getting to here. bo Odar:Yeah, they really didnt understand each other. The casting director did a fantastic job. We thought it better to shift. 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Still, there are enough locations that do exist, exteriors that even when dismantled were the site of many memories for those who worked on Dark. Its understandable that even Odar didnt want to give up the show right away. Friese compared it to the Season 1 episode that first travels to the 1950s and the Season 2 episode that revisits the day of Michael's death. "And then after the third season of Dark, there was this huge pressure on our shoulders, because everyone has expectations, and everyone kind of either wants to go on the same ride or kind of the same ride. Jantje Friese: 1899 is special because it's very topical - in 1899 people had a lot of racial prejudice, class prejudice, gender prejudice and so on. The season weaves together not only five or six different time periods, but also a second version of those time periods, and goes back even further in time and more years along the way. Through three seasons of Dark very little made. Mysteries about characters allegiances or motives are hard to separate from their ties to family fates. While the closing chapter features answers to some of those questions, the episode before that is the one that holds the key to more than a few loose ends that have been lingering for fans of the show. The 50 greatest TV and movie detectives of all time. When the crew decides to board the Prometheus, things take a horrific, and decidedly weird, turn. What did you learn using the new tech? Because Dark travels back and forth in time, dropping in on the same Winden residents at different ages in 33-year cycles, casting children, adults, and older versions of those characters is essential to sell the outlandish storytelling. Sorry Dark fans, no time-travel wormholes here. So theres always a tone in the end, which all mean something different. We werent 100 percent convinced that we would get people [away] from the second screen and actually take the time and investment to watch whats going on. Naturally, that's by design, and is something fans should look out for as they watch. But I dont want to fill those gaps. Odar:Every episode [when] someone wakes up, you hear almost like a computer voice. Even a camera is a tool for me, I love to play around with it, or with a lens. According to Friese, creating the mythology of one of their shows is a long, painstaking process. 2023 IndieWire Media, LLC. They said the most complicated thing was actually the logistics, scheduling when you can shoot what, how to get sets in and out and the reverse shots, all those sorts of things. And then we try to find a world of symbols that all ties into our theme," she says. This series, like Dark, is a huge mystery, a mystery wrapped in an enigma. It definitely has a new look: Not like green screen but also not the same as a classic set, something very much its own thing. I think its a very individual thing. Our idea was always to do Greek tragedy below it even though its a sci-fi show, a mystery show, in its core, its really about human relationships and how fucked up they can be.. Friese: I dont know. There were a lot of [directions] we knew we wanted to go, but didnt necessarily know at which points in the narration we would address them. But this is a big, new toy and not a lot of people have used it yet. There were lots of right-wing ideas bubbling up. Related I used the wrong hand! (Laughs.) In Season 1, one of the biggest revelations once time travel is introduced is that teenager Jonas (Louis Hofmann) realizes that the young boy Mikkel (Daan Lennard Liebrenz) who disappears from Winden in 2019, has actually gone back in time to 1986 where he then met and eventually married Jonas mother. Old Ines (Angela Winkler) in actual life has a mole, so you put that on younger Ines when you tried to make them match.. And he's not just talking major landscapes, but also more intimate set pieces, too. The passengers of the Kerberos encounter the biggest mystery of their lives. What stylistically are you going for with this show? "In every season there is what I always call a bridge. Having watched the first six episodes [of1899], it appears to be a bit less complicated thanDark. All Rights Reserved. It was such an interesting challenge. There are a lot of symbols throughout, a lot of referencing systems in terms of religion, mythology.. But of course, movies likeThe ShiningorAlien, where you have a contained situation like a ship or hotel where people are stuck and they cant escape it, that creepy feeling of corridors and how much you can see or not see, that was definitely a major influence visually. Copyright 2023 Meredith Corporation. They would go, God damn it! In the Eliott Sumner version we use in the title sequence, the line that features so prominently is feed your head. That was such an important phrase for the entire show that it felt like the absolute right fit. We thought: We really want to take a look at Europe, just take it, put it on a ship, in a confined space, with lots of ocean around, where you cant escape, and have like a little bit of an experiment, almost like a laboratory experiment. If youre in that core group, and youve figured it out, you should be proud of yourself, its an awesome experience. If you want to have an authentic performance, its just better when actors perform in their own language. Sign up for THR news straight to your inbox every day. If they are right-handed, they had to act with their left-hand, though it would appear as though they are right-handed. Make sure to check outEW's Fall TV Preview cover story as well as all of our2022 Fall TV Preview content, releasing over 22 days through Sept. 29. Do you have a huge board on the wall with red yarn linking up various elements? Hannah reveals shes thinking about Jonas as a name for her unborn child. It never happened.'" They have something almost like emoticons at the end of every sentence, in order to understand how that sentence is meant. For me, its a very happy ending, realizing its not just about you all of the time. But what happened on that ship? No, I didn't,'" he said. Now I can spoil it: There is already a hint in Episode 1 when everyone is raising their teacup at the same moment. How difficult was it for you, Baran, given that I assume you dont speak all, what, 10-12 languages your actors do? It was really fun. The entire script was in English, but everything was dual dialogue. Honestly, the most difficult people to find were women [older than middle age]. We wanted to make sure we got there. We wanted it to be something that everyone can relate to: dinner with family and friends. As you know with Dark, you dont have the straightforward narrative where you can go from one thing to the next. The international cast worked on one of the biggest virtual stages in the world. Subscribe for full access to The Hollywood Reporter. I think thats awesome. In the middle, there may be some ideas that are more loosely thrown in. That was the biggest structural issue: when do we reveal what? The success of that show enabled Odar and Friese to tell the story they wanted to tell over three mind-boggling seasons, and also provided a bit of a blessing and a curse when it came time to work on 1899. Were just consumed 24 hours a day and never take the time to sit down and just think, oh, I am. With1899, because were on a ship, and its constantly moving, the camera is too. The reoccurring triangle symbol itself represents the element earth. Its the same with Blade Runner, and how there are still people thinking Harrison Ford is not a replicant; where Im thinking, How can you think hes not a replicant? Thats the beauty of that story, that theres a question amrk. One doesnt need to actually understand how or why something happens on Dark although thats a bonus but just learning the end result of some of these time travel hijinks is entertainment in itself. Dark: Here Are 8 Easter Eggs You Might Have Missed Amidst All Those Time Travel Shenanigans Sign Up: Stay on top of the latest breaking film and TV news! In the series, a boy goes missing in the small German town of Winden, and as the series unspools, viewers learn that secrets, time travel, and a metaphysical battle between good and evil are behind that mystery. There are all of these images, and even in dialogue, hints that give it away. Sign up for THR news straight to your inbox every day, Inside the business of TV with breaking news, expert analysis and showrunner interviews. Baran bo Odar and Jantje Friese are pulling back the veil on their new puzzle box show. 1899 Cast: Set Sail for Multilingual Mystery, 1899 Poster Hints at Series Big Mystery, All Aboard: The Mysterious 1899 Trailer Is Here, The 1899 Teaser Will Rock the Boat and Your World, 1899 Star Andreas Pietschmann Reveals the Series Visionary Stage Tech, How Emily Beecham Untangled the Mystery of 1899, How Composer Ben Frost Conjured the 1899 Score in the Belly of an Actual Ship, The Opening Sequence of 1899 Charts a Course for Mystery, New Thriller 1899 Sets Sail in November, So, What *Did* Tully Do to Kate? Friese: Kerberos, for example, is a computer authentication protocol. Weve heard people say its perfect timing because the issues in 1899 are very present today.
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