Martin Koolhoven: "One time in his life a film director should make a war movie."

In 1999, Martin Koolhoven made his breakthrough with the many times awarded Telefilm Suzy Q. Oorlogswinter (Winter in Wartime) is his seventh feature film. He directed Amnesia, De grot, Het zuiden, Het schnitzelparadijs, Knetter en'n beetje verliefd. Koolhoven: "I wanted to make a 17 grand emotional moving film about a boy during the war. A boy who likes to become an adult. But when this finally happens, you wonder if he’s so pleased about this."

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Q: Why did you want to make a film of Winter in Wartime?

"Once in his life a director should dare to make a war movie. I find it interesting when a new generation of Dutch filmmakers looks back at the time of war. I guess they’ll have another point of view. I remembered the book Oorlogswinter (Winter in Wartime) reading it when I was still a boy. In the summer of 2002 during a holiday in Norway I read it again. I do practise this more often, re-reading or watching a book or film which made a great impression on me before. Sometimes it’s a disappointment, but sometimes it’s a chance. I read Oorlogswinter during one night. The next day I called Els Vandervorst and asked her to find out about the rights."

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Q: What is the power of attraction of a war movie?

"Sharp-edged situations are interesting for feature films. In recent Netherlands or Dutch history W.W. 2 is the ideal background for a fascinating film. I’d like to tell good stories that are just grand, with a mythical or tragical quality to it. Just like the western genre is enlarged. In Holland it’s like this: If you don’t want to create a fantasy world, you will come across W.W. 2. The good thing about a war movie is that it has the ‘smell’ of realism and you’re able to do something more with it.“

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Q: What did you like best about the book?

"The first time the adventure and the tension. As a boy, this really impressed me. It’s also the book’s double meaning: Terlouw wrote it to tell to the youth how terrible the Second World War had been.  But afterwards, the people I spoke to about it seemed to remember it especially as a thrilling boys’ book. I also liked the fact that it takes place in winter. Of course this is a figurative reason, but I really wanted to make a film in the snow. I wanted to show the ‘Hunger Winter’ of 1944 like I never saw before in movies."

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Q: There’s a big difference in between the book and film. Some characters have disappeared and emotions are accentuated. The book is quite elaborate. In the film less dialogue is spoken. How come you made this choice?

"When watching Netherlands historical films, one – the viewer - remains distant. This is caused by the style and linguistic usage. You do believe it all happened, but are not able to get closer. To me, it seems to be some strange law in The Netherlands to shoot historical drama in an old fashioned way. I wanted to do it differently, in your face. A modern working method, different from the usual stuff. In this way the film becomes more urgent. The snow also helps. Oorlogswinter (Winter in Wartime) visually does not refer to any other war movie. Everything that reminded me of old war movies had to go. I chose for an intermediate language. Not too popular, but not outdated either. Matured and outdated words were on my infecting list. For instance when Michiel says to his father: “Do I have to be slimy to them too?' it’s probably no linguistic usage of the 1940’s, but it’s possible. In this way you’ll get the feeling of contemporary storytelling and not a history lesson. I’ve constantly deleted dialogues. As a filmmaker I’d like to tell stories visually. This is a recent method of working. You are pulled into the film by all these elements – the camera, language, music – and get involved in the events."

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Q: Why are you hardly focusing on the historical background?

"Because I think the viewers already know about it. Including young people. The person who buys a ticket has already been reading about the film and enters the movie theatre with background information about W.W. 2, the resistance and the Hunger Winter of 1944. I don’t want to explain anything the public already knows. When uncle Ben brings a fish home, you see Michiels reaction: For the first time in a long time he eats something like that. This doesn’t have to be told explicitly. I find it more important to share the emotion with the boy; to be touched by his story. That’s what film is about. More than any other art form, film draws you closer to a person or character. You witness what he’s witnessing. Which makes you – I think – a richer human being."

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Q: What’s the films main theme?

"The loss of innocence. The boy’s life experience is growing fast. In the beginning of the film he wants to become an adult, in the end he’s an adult, but it’s the question if he’s so pleased about it. To me, it’s an interesting connection. Other than the book, which deals more with taking responsibility. This is also in the film, but the main theme is growing up and the loss of innocence.”

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Q: The screenplay is written by Paul Jan Nelissen, Mieke de Jong and yourself. Why three writers?

"We were writing the script for some time, but I thought some things were not placed right. For instance I was not pleased with Michiel’s parents. Their chracters were still in outline. When Mieke joined us, everything went rapidly. The characters became more alive and Mieke’s writing style was adapting well to the atmosphere I had in mind. The ending remained a problem. Especially the last confrontation did not work well on paper. It did though after improvisation with the actors. During the shooting I was finally able to work on the construction just before the confrontation.”

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Q: The film is about Michiel, the main character. What kind of boy did you have in mind?

"A boy in his puberty, but still young enough to show innocence. You have to believe that Michiel in the beginning of the film still is able to play with his friend and at the end dares to make harsh decisions. During the casting I saw many boys who were just too old or too young. It’s very special that during shooting period things occur very fast. At the beginning of the shooting Martijn was still a boy, but during the shooting he is – just like Michiel - grown physically and mentally. We made use of that."

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Q: How did you find Martijn?

"For Michiel’s role we tested hundreds of boys. The main character had to be him self opposite disciplined trained actors. I have decided on the rest of the cast after we had chosen for Martijn. They had to fit him. When Michiel came to the casting, he did not have experience yet. He just had joined a Rotterdam youth theatre group and followed lessons for two months. Yet he was the one. He was very good in improvisation. And didn’t show any shame. This is very important for film and very special for a boy his age. Yet I was not convinced completely, because he had trouble getting angry. Then Elisabeth and Rebecca of the casting team have practised with him in order to get him angry and take the emotion with him for his scenes. They succeeded well. When they showed me the results, I was very surprised. Then I worked with him and was convinced.”

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Q: Did you reserve other candidates?

"No, no once got any closer. That’s why we asked Martijn again and again. This was nerve racking for him of course. I’m very pleased with Martijn. He follows directions quickly, so he improved during shooting. Martijn is an intelligent, sensitive and spontaneous guy. That’s what I was looking for. Someone to look straight through. You see what he’s thinking and feeling."

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Q: You did have other actors in mind before?

"Yes, for most films, this time Anneke Blok only. The other actors I chose during casting. Fortunately I got a free choice from the producers, it was not necessary to choose for publicity or commercial reasons. The story and the boy are performing the main roles. To cast brand names for supporting roles does not make sense. I simply chose for the best actors. We did cast Jamie Campbell Bower in the UK. He turned out to be the best. And it’s fun of course that he was on the set with Tim Burton and Johnny Depp of Sweeney Todd. Soon he will be seen in RocknRolla by Madonna's husband Guy Ritchie."

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Q: The acting of all actors is excellent. Do you use a special method?

"No, there are more reasons for that, I think. The main reason is they’re all very good actors. They’re no amateurs I see to performing very well. But I’ll help them though. For instance with the script.  These are interesting roles and strong scenes, which provoke actors to get the best out of themselves using quiet play, because I deleted a lot from dialogues. During rehearsals I talk with them especially. About the way I regard a role, what I like, which direction I want to go, what the scène is about. On the set I’m honest and like to give very straight directions. And in the editing room Job and I are selecting the best takes.”

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Q: Martijn is an amateur though.

"He is not experienced, but has a lot of talent and quickly apprehends directions. He didn’t have any problem with emotional scenes which is good. He also is able to watch well. Even actors with ten years of experience have trouble with this. He did a certain scene shot on a bike in which he had to look in a certain direction without any effort. This was important, since we filmed him very close, in order to be able to draw closer, get nearer to his character."

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Q: …The main direction for cinematographer Guido van Gennep?

"My idea always was to shoot two takes: Michiel close, followed by what he is seeing. But in that way you are keeping a film ‘small’. For instance the execution scene to me had to be a grand and breathtaking scene, like an ‘Italian’ scene. These two styles are miles apart, so we had to search how to get them together. Guido and I both love spaghetti westerns. By Sergio Leone, but also by Sergio Corbucci and others. They succeeded in combining a sloppy hand held style with hyper stylized, opera like scenes. So we spoke a lot about how to do this. It’s impossible to introduce some strong slow motion scene half way. You’ll have to introduce it earlier. I’m very pleased I shot this film with Guido. It was for the second time, after Het Schnitzelparadijs. We often had different ideas. This was causing friction, but it also brought in interesting solutions."

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Q: What kind of ideas you had in mind about the look?

"It’s a film about loss of innocence. Which shows in the art direction and costumes. I told production designer Floris Vos that it mattered that everything was fitting historically right, but that it was important as well to search within the reality we intended. No use of the brownish colours of most World War movies, but adding a fresh feeling instead. The snow landscape helped. And the light interiors, like the mayor’s home. I made already six films with Floris. I talk with him in a conceptual way. I’ll leave the completion to him, because I fully trust him."

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Q: Why did you shoot in Lithuania?

"I wanted to have snow and the landscape has to look like Holland. We found it in eastern  Lithuania, at the Russian border. An area that has been drained and therefore with its pastures reminding Holland a lot. We almost shot half of the movie there and the other part in Holland itself.”

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Q: What was filming in Lithuania like?

"Strange. You’re noticing how it is to work in an ex-communist country, it’s another mentality. The size of the crew was gigantic. There were drivers to drive drivers. In Holland we’re used to work with a small crew but there, some hundred men were constantly around me. Even during a simple scene where Michiel is walking through the woods. There were crew members for the heating, people who took care of the horses, shit diggers. And they were even working with less people they are used to!  During the communist era there was a lively film industry. It collapsed, but now Russian and American productions are shot there. In a studio I saw photos of Thekla Reuten and Rutger Hauer."

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Q: How did you succeed in approaching Pino Donaggio?

"I’m a fan of his music since I was a teenager when I first heard his music in Brian de Palma’s films. He brought elegance, class and romance in a harsh thriller Dressed to Kill. The theme for the striptease in Body Double sounds very ‘eighties’ now, but I thought it was great and still works. Later I discovered he also composed the music for Don't Look Now and the films by Dario Argento. And he’s also the composer of You Don't Have To Say You Love Me, sold eighty million times in performances by a.o. Elvis Presley and Dusty Springfield. Though I still like the original version he sings the best, Io che non vivo. I like the lyric and pathos of Pino Donaggio. For that, one has to originate from the land of opera. Only the Italians know how to create an emotion by using just a few tones. I was searching for this feeling for Winter in Wartime. It’s incredible that we were able to convince him. He told me which directors he had to cancel lately since he’s so busy. Big names. I just sent him the screenplay and he liked it. During our first meeting I told him what I wanted with the music. The whole film is about the boy, the theme is losing innocence. I had the idea to perform the theme musically by a boys soprano. He really liked the idea and. This was his inspiration for the soundtrack. It was really great to hear some of the music for the first time. I recognized it as real Pino Donaggio-music, but at the same time it suits my film perfectly."
 
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