63rd Monte-Carlo Television Festival Winners Talk - Little Did I Know
Winners of the prestigious Golden Nymph Awards were announced during the closing ceremony of the 63rd Monte-Carlo Television Festival in the Salles Des Princes theater on Tuesday, June 18. Laureates were selected from 18 nominated programs from 11 countries across the Fiction and News & Documentaries Categories.
The Golden Nymph for Best Film went to Swedish title Little Did I Know, produced by Bigster for Viaplay. The movie tells the story of Petra (played by Alexandra Rapaport), who is in her 50s, and is forced to re-evaluate her life when her husband asks for a divorce. Meanwhile, young Petra (played by newcomer Ella Hammarsten Liedberg) embarks on finding true love. The two women's journeys of self-discovery span different life stages, offering a hopeful yet painful view on love.
TVBIZZ's Yako Molhov had the chance to talk to the two leads in the movie: Alexandra Rapaport and Ella Hammarsten Liedberg and to Martina Haag, who is the writer and the director of the movie which is based on two of her books: “Det är något som inte stämmer” and “Livet går så fort. Och så långsamt”. Haag announced during the Festival that Viaplay Content Distribution has sold the movie to Australia (SBS), Croatia (Pickbox), Basque Spain (EITB), Indonesia (Mola) and Latin America (DMD).
Talking about the development of the movie, Haag shared that the film script which she wrote together with Peter Arrhenius was based on her two books: “Det är något som inte stämmer” and “Livet går så fort. Och så långsamt”. The author said that "when I was in a divorce, I was looking for something to hold on to in literature, for guidance - that it is going to be better, you will not always feel like this but I discovered I had to write this book myself, and then I did the movie". Little Did I Know is Haag's directorial debut and she shared that she was very nervous, she had never directed anything before so she had to be sure that she had the best actors in Sweden for help and all the people working on the movie with her were very professional. "I had the best team around me to lean (onto) as in the beginning, during the first days I wasn't sure if I should say 'silence, action'. I've done a lot of lead roles, as an actor, myself and I've written scripts before so this was the next step". Ella Hammarsten Liedberg, who plays the role of young Petra, added that "this is one of your strengths, that you have been on our side, you have been acting yourself so you know what is nice to hear, how to cooperate because you know our perspective as well". Haag added that it was really important for her that the feelings are authentic in the movie, as a director she prefers to give instructions to actors privately because the reactions are better if they don't know what is going to happen. Haag went for a movie rather than a series when adapting her books because "if you are going to cook a broth, you put vegetables, water, you cook them together and I wanted to do this broth as strong as possible, if you do a series it could be very, very watery broth". She also shared that before starting shooting the movie (which was shot two years ago), she did a 'sketch' movie - took the whole script, the actors gathered in a room, without props, shooting the whole film and in editing she was looking at the film before they have started shooting it, deciding which parts she should keep and which she should drop. The 'sketch' movie took place during the pandemic so whoever was at the office had to play a role which led to funny situations and this proved very helpful for the actual movie afterwards. This also saved money and arguing and overtime.
Regarding the structure of the movie, which relies on flashbacks, Haag shared that she loved going between the different time periods because "you become the Lego parts of your childhood, because the grownup Petra is tumbling, falling through space because she doesn't want to give her kids what she grew up in, it is easy to be a 15-year old and say 'I will never be like my parents' and then cut to you being exactly like this. The message I would like to give to people is 'yes, it can be very hard sometimes' when you are in a crisis but you are becoming a better person, you will have a better life afterwards - without crisis you are very boring. If it wasn't for this crisis, I would never have been here". The writer also talked about the feedback for the movie, sharing that she has received so many letters from people who are in a divorce and just the day before a woman told her that she has saved her life with her book as this was the only thing that could give her some hope and guidance.
Rapaport and Liedberg shared that they didn't have discussions on how to play the same character, trusting Haag's vision on making Petra different in the different periods of her life, the two of them sharing similarities and being connected anyway. Rapaport found young Petra very rebellious, trying to be a good girl when growing up and has lost that rebellion with time. Liedberg added that they trusted Haag's vision since "you were both me and her (Rapaport) in some way, in your own life". In terms of bringing their own ideas and suggestions to the characters, the two actresses shared that Haag welcomed all ideas, nuances, a really good director wants to bring the own experiences of the actors, pour it into the film, Haag was always open to discussions.
Liedberg played in the movie together with her parents: Jessica Liedberg and Gustaf Hammarsten. The young actress shared that it was both fun and weird - "on one hand I was more comfortable in the scenes with my mother but sometimes I had to control, don't laugh, don't think of your mother". She added that her first acting job was when her dad was in 'Christmas Calendar' and she was an extra and she thought to herself "this is so fun", she saw the whole team working, the process which opened her eyes to acting. She later had small roles but at one point focused more on music, gave up on acting a little bit but this opportunity reopened her eyes - "I want this". Liedberg commented on her role that she got the script when she was 15 and she could relate to young Petra, "it was also hard because you have to connect, you have to go to the dark places inside of yourself, try to remember and bring back all the hard things you have been through, to painful emotions, you have to focus to reenact them".
Haag also shared that she has other books in the making and she would like to continue directing movies, joking that "this is not the last time you are meeting me".
TVBIZZ's Yako Molhov had the chance to talk to the two leads in the movie: Alexandra Rapaport and Ella Hammarsten Liedberg and to Martina Haag, who is the writer and the director of the movie which is based on two of her books: “Det är något som inte stämmer” and “Livet går så fort. Och så långsamt”. Haag announced during the Festival that Viaplay Content Distribution has sold the movie to Australia (SBS), Croatia (Pickbox), Basque Spain (EITB), Indonesia (Mola) and Latin America (DMD).
Talking about the development of the movie, Haag shared that the film script which she wrote together with Peter Arrhenius was based on her two books: “Det är något som inte stämmer” and “Livet går så fort. Och så långsamt”. The author said that "when I was in a divorce, I was looking for something to hold on to in literature, for guidance - that it is going to be better, you will not always feel like this but I discovered I had to write this book myself, and then I did the movie". Little Did I Know is Haag's directorial debut and she shared that she was very nervous, she had never directed anything before so she had to be sure that she had the best actors in Sweden for help and all the people working on the movie with her were very professional. "I had the best team around me to lean (onto) as in the beginning, during the first days I wasn't sure if I should say 'silence, action'. I've done a lot of lead roles, as an actor, myself and I've written scripts before so this was the next step". Ella Hammarsten Liedberg, who plays the role of young Petra, added that "this is one of your strengths, that you have been on our side, you have been acting yourself so you know what is nice to hear, how to cooperate because you know our perspective as well". Haag added that it was really important for her that the feelings are authentic in the movie, as a director she prefers to give instructions to actors privately because the reactions are better if they don't know what is going to happen. Haag went for a movie rather than a series when adapting her books because "if you are going to cook a broth, you put vegetables, water, you cook them together and I wanted to do this broth as strong as possible, if you do a series it could be very, very watery broth". She also shared that before starting shooting the movie (which was shot two years ago), she did a 'sketch' movie - took the whole script, the actors gathered in a room, without props, shooting the whole film and in editing she was looking at the film before they have started shooting it, deciding which parts she should keep and which she should drop. The 'sketch' movie took place during the pandemic so whoever was at the office had to play a role which led to funny situations and this proved very helpful for the actual movie afterwards. This also saved money and arguing and overtime.
Regarding the structure of the movie, which relies on flashbacks, Haag shared that she loved going between the different time periods because "you become the Lego parts of your childhood, because the grownup Petra is tumbling, falling through space because she doesn't want to give her kids what she grew up in, it is easy to be a 15-year old and say 'I will never be like my parents' and then cut to you being exactly like this. The message I would like to give to people is 'yes, it can be very hard sometimes' when you are in a crisis but you are becoming a better person, you will have a better life afterwards - without crisis you are very boring. If it wasn't for this crisis, I would never have been here". The writer also talked about the feedback for the movie, sharing that she has received so many letters from people who are in a divorce and just the day before a woman told her that she has saved her life with her book as this was the only thing that could give her some hope and guidance.
Rapaport and Liedberg shared that they didn't have discussions on how to play the same character, trusting Haag's vision on making Petra different in the different periods of her life, the two of them sharing similarities and being connected anyway. Rapaport found young Petra very rebellious, trying to be a good girl when growing up and has lost that rebellion with time. Liedberg added that they trusted Haag's vision since "you were both me and her (Rapaport) in some way, in your own life". In terms of bringing their own ideas and suggestions to the characters, the two actresses shared that Haag welcomed all ideas, nuances, a really good director wants to bring the own experiences of the actors, pour it into the film, Haag was always open to discussions.
Liedberg played in the movie together with her parents: Jessica Liedberg and Gustaf Hammarsten. The young actress shared that it was both fun and weird - "on one hand I was more comfortable in the scenes with my mother but sometimes I had to control, don't laugh, don't think of your mother". She added that her first acting job was when her dad was in 'Christmas Calendar' and she was an extra and she thought to herself "this is so fun", she saw the whole team working, the process which opened her eyes to acting. She later had small roles but at one point focused more on music, gave up on acting a little bit but this opportunity reopened her eyes - "I want this". Liedberg commented on her role that she got the script when she was 15 and she could relate to young Petra, "it was also hard because you have to connect, you have to go to the dark places inside of yourself, try to remember and bring back all the hard things you have been through, to painful emotions, you have to focus to reenact them".
Haag also shared that she has other books in the making and she would like to continue directing movies, joking that "this is not the last time you are meeting me".
