 STELLAN
ON ACCEPTING THE ROLE:
"I have known her [director
Maria Sødahl] for 25 years. I have done
five films with her husband [Hans Petter Moland] as a director and our
families know each other so I was familiar with the story. But then she
sent me a fantastic, beautiful synopsis. I think it was two or three
pages or something and I got very enthusiastic immediately. Because what
it said was that she is not indulging in her own story, she has enough
distance to see the comic side of it, the tragic side of it, the
helplessness of the characters. It was actually really human and funny
and interesting, just in two pages. So that is how I got into it."
FROM
THE DIRECTOR:
"They’re an odd couple. She’s feisty
and petite. He’s tall and phlegmatic. But that oddness brings out a lot
of energy and chemistry between them. They would find humor in some of
the human inadequacy and absurd situations depicted in the film."
She continues, "As far as Stellan Skarsgård is concerned, he is both a
friend and a great actor who luckily found the script exciting. It is
inspiring that an experienced actor like him finds it intriguing joining
a mixed cast of both professionals and amateurs – children and actual
doctors in the story’s health staff. As a director, I also find this
combination both risky and exciting"
PRODUCTION
NOTES & PHOTOS:
Filming began in the film city of Trollhättan, Sweden
on February 1, 2019. The apartment was
entirely built in a 350 square meters studio in Trollhättan.
Media event in February when filming began:
MOVIE
STILLS
Toronto
International Film Festival - September 7 & 8, 2019
REVIEWS
"The maturity of the writer-director's
gaze and the highly personal nature of material drawn from her own
difficult experience bring an affecting gravitas to that most
over-trafficked of subgenres, the cancer movie. Factor in two layered
performances of penetrating emotional acuity from Andrea Braein Hovig
and Stellan Skarsgård and you have a
melancholy but highly satisfying adult drama." ...David
Rooney, The Hollywood Reporter
"Hope provides its own union, a warm gathering of Scandinavian
artists, with Sweden’s Skarsgård and Norway’s Hovig both excelling under
Norwegian director Maria Sødahl’s attentive care. Their swings of
emotion – from surly silences to tender handholding to frantic, almost
hostile lovemaking – are all painfully real and carefully captured."
...Stephen Whitty, Screen Daily
"Hovig and Skarsgård are masterful in their dynamic, providing
near-documentary levels of believability to their characters. The dance
between acceptance of the vagaries of fate and that even more complex
emotion which gives the film its title pulls the characters apart,
making for some moving and often harrowing moments that feel firmly
rooted in reality." ...Jason Gorber, Slash Film
"Hovig and Skarsgård give complex performances as two largely kind,
professionally ambitious people in a difficult situation. You really
believe they’ve built a family together, with all the joys and
sacrifices that entails." ...Alex Heeney, Seventh Row
"It’s not easy to make a film about a life-threatening illness
that is as rich and joyous as this one can be, perfectly balanced at
other times by the very real stakes. Hovig and Skarsgård are both
excellent, their rapport speaking of years of cohabitation and habit.
The children, young and old, are equally solid, their pain driving
Anya’s determination to survive at all costs. By the end, no matter the
outcome, we recognize that we have spent time in the company of people
worth knowing, and of a director who values our time spent watching her
story." ...Christopher Llewellyn Reed. Hammer to Nail
"Hovig is more than capable to take us on her character's journey and
delivers a breathtaking performance. Skarsgård's
solemn delivery pairs beautifully with Hovig's. It's through his tender
approach and his support of Anja that we have some emotional
foundation." ...Quelle Movies
|
Maria
Sødahl
