Eskil Vogt on “The Innocents”, auteur cinema and “The worst person in the great race of the world

innocent, Set in a semi-desert, with countless high-rise apartments, it follows four lonely children who encounter a summer, as well as the fascinating forces of the mind, with deadly consequences. The horror film went viral in Cannes last year and hit the state last weekend via IFC Midnight after a limited number of new directors / new films digitally and in theaters. This is from the late Norwegian Eskil Vogt, who was a shepherd until recently The worst person in the world! Which he co-wrote with director Joachim Trier for his stellar series, which includes Oscar nominations for Best Original Screenplay and Best International Film.

Vogt is drawn to complex characters whose inner lives aren’t always visible on the surface. in his first film BlindPremiere at Sundance in 2014, the writer, who loses his sight, becomes a sophisticated and fascinating fantasy bubble. He spoke to Deadline about how fatherhood inspired the idea. innocent, excellent child actors and reflections on the evolution of an arthouse film in an evolving landscape. (His comments have been slightly edited for clarity.)

DEADLINE: Why is the film focused on children, especially those with supernatural powers?

ESKIL VOGT: I think it was fatherhood, becoming a father. I have never felt much nostalgia for my childhood. I was happy to grow up. I have friends who constantly remind me of childhood as if this part of their life was so important, it was just a stone of constant control and it never was for me. But when I became a father, I became interested in childhood again and remembered that it was a radically different experience from that of an adult. Everything is different, how you feel about things, how you experience things, your conception of time is different. As I looked at them, I remembered, I shot myself, I breathed the feeling of being a child. And it will disappear instantly because it is impossible to keep it because you lose it. You’re not like that anymore. And I thought, “I wonder, can I do something with this mysterious world from my childhood?”

DEADLINE: Child actors are introduced. One character in a pair of older siblings is portrayed as having severe autism, which is an interesting choice. Can you talk about why?

VOGT: Autism was a little unexpected. I was already working on this childhood idea, then I read an article by a Norwegian writer about his autistic son who had some sort of regressive autism he had never heard of. His son developed into a normal child through language and communication at the age of three or four, then lost his tongue and retreated into this autistic bladder. I was completely devastated by this because I was a parent too and I felt like it was a horror movie. He stayed with me for a long time and I said he could be part of my movie. I make a film about the closed world of childhood. It was perfect, because there was a very complex dynamic between the sisters, which required more attention from the parents and the possibility of cruel treatment of the brothers, which is a very normal impulse. While this is a supernatural story, I could tell a story that really moved me. I could have told this story in the movie, but in a better way.

As for the actors, someone said to me, “I’ve seen good guys act before, but it’s usually one role, there are four in this movie.” I didn’t think that way. Maybe if I had done it before, I wouldn’t have done it.

DEADLINE: The autistic boy turns out to be the strongest of the four, right up to the end.

VOGT: Yes, finally, back to where it was. But us and her and we will never see it the same way.

DEADLINE: the worst person in the world It was special, especially for its strong theatrical perspective. This is not the case with many arthouse films, as the industry tries to win back its traditional audience. How do you look at it?

VOGT: The same is true here, but some countries are ahead of the United States in Norway, when cinemas first opened in October without restrictions, it was the best October in ten years in cinema. (Then everything stopped again due to the new restrictions.) I think the right film will reveal people. Seeing a movie in the cinema is like nothing else and I think when people come back they realize it. They have the luxury of not focusing on anything else for two hours. So I hope so. And maybe this is a new world where we don’t need to make movies that make all the money in a theatrical rush. Because you have a theatricality and then you go in streaming. What is good. Maybe even more people would have streamed something because it was in theaters. I love movies and I love the theatrical experience and I don’t think it will ever go away. For arthouse theaters it can be a question of moving away from the usual activities.

DEADLINE: Any new projects?

VOGT: not a thing. It was a hit, such a small hit that it was a movie that came out in all countries at the same time, and they asked me to do the press and it was really cool because people care. And the case of the Oscars. But writing takes a long time. Everyone, including people who can even finance a movie, is asked to ask, ‘What have you got? Do you have any plans?’ He had to have three stages under his arm. “Let’s see when I finally write something, if people forget about me.”