Studios, is getting another shot at an adaptation from Netflix. 1899 also has a unique sound because, fitting with the theme of Europe you were talking about, you decided to have all your actors speak in their native languages. This series, like Dark, is a huge mystery, a mystery wrapped in an enigma. Odar:Thats the purest geometrical form you use to create all the other forms. Im in there with a recording of violins theres also some guy using an arc welder in the next cabin.. But what happened on that ship? Related In terms of the working process, what was good for us was to talk to the people who worked onThe Mandalorian and find out how they did it. The same people laugh, cry, they get born, they die just fundamental human stuff. In the present, hes now Jonas father, who coexists in the same time period with young Mikkel. But those limitations are actually amazing, because its still a tool to create illusion. Thats where we basically put the groundwork, going for deterministic time travel rules. Jantje Friese: We wanted to introduce the parallel world in the second season. If seeing an entire reality flipped in the last season of Dark seemed jarring, know that it felt just as dissonant to the people helping to bring it to life. Odar and Friese both speak English and German, with a smattering of Spanish (him) and French (her), but the scripts called for everything from English to Cantonese to Danish, and more. 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. 'Dark': Creators Jantje Friese and Baran bo Odar - IndieWire If you just compare the first season ofDarkwith the first season of1899, I think theyre similarly complex. Friese and bo Odar spoke to The Hollywood Reporter about how the European refugee crisis inspired the show, designing meta-puzzles for hard-core fans and why Volume technology represents a new era in visual effects. Baran bo Odar & Jantje Friese | Netflix Dark Season 1 Exclusive Interview Friese: I completely agree. Chris Emil Janssen/Action Press/Shutterstock, Bo and I met in film school and since Day One, we were convinced that it was possible to tell local stories coming out of Germany that could hit an audience anywhere, Friese said. You know it by the emotional state, how they are addressing you, their body language and everything. What were the biggest challenges in establishing the parallel world? Jantje Friese was born in 1977 in Marburg, Germany. The passengers of the Kerberos encounter the biggest mystery of their lives. It feels quite right and satisfactory. America So She Could Breastfeed Privately, Michael J. So with every project we did, we, we always had that in mind that one day we want to reach a global audience., After the 2014 film Who Am I No System Is Safe, a techno thriller thats been compared to Fight Club and Mr. Odar promises another "very interesting, weird theme" to 1899, but can't reveal what it is. The Film Industry Lost Some Titans This Year What Happens Now? What did you learn using the new tech? Science and religion clashed a lot. He almost reveals what happens before hes interrupted. And. And I dont want to spoil the meaning of that yet. Friese: It was absolutely the perfect amount. "I think I personally read probably one hundred books or so over the course of the three seasons, and not only on the science stuff behind it, but also philosophical pieces, a lot of spiritual writing," Friese said. No one is just evil because they want to be; everyone is reacting to their own hurts and wounds. "We've dedicated our past years to deciphering human behavior and trying to find out why people also do very bad things. How do people cope with situations when theyre not able to speak the same language? Thats what triggered the process. . Insane. Speaking how we think French people would speak. "I gave that to a couple of actors and they all had the same experience. But the mid-ground, the thing in between, thats what actually glues these two layers together, and its the most important part of the whole process. Friese wouldnt drop any spoilers not even saying how Season 3 will differ from the first two cycles but gave a few clues as to the faces viewers can expect. ", It's kind of funny, given that it's basically a quantum theory lesson told entirely in German, that the show has become so popular. Interview edited and condensed for clarity. "We always work with symbols and objects, and we always have usually one specific object that is tied to one character. A mysterious journey unfolds for a group of London migrs as they sail toward New York. How difficult was it for you, Baran, given that I assume you dont speak all, what, 10-12 languages your actors do? Obviously, we were fighting for our own characters to to be heard, but then you just have to make choices.. It was a very, very odd time, but also great to know the fans just embraced what youve done so much. ", Triangular symbols, such as those used in alchemy to denote the four elements, have popped up in the promo materials for the show so far. [Friese laughs] I played weird music the entire day and it became this very weird experience for everyone. Dark creators Baran bo Odar and Jantje Friese's highly-anticipated latest Netflix series 1899 has dropped an extended trailer, gifting more clues. According to Friese, creating the mythology of one of their shows is a long, painstaking process. In the first season, he had it bandaged up, and in Season 2, he has an blackened eyepatch fitted into one lens of his glasses. Those visual changes are built on the foundation of a braided narrative that stretches out across all three seasons of Dark. Ideas planted early in the series run return as the show moves toward its poignant ending. Was it always your intention to introduce multiple worlds from the outset? And what I just found so interesting about that, or what became even more clear to me, is that through language youre actually expressing culture. The two resulting timelines are more than just metaphorical reflections of each other. Thats why we decided against showing it. Friese: There was supposed to be a scene in season two that got cut out. Fox Says Battle With Parkinsons Disease Keeps Getting Tougher: Im Not Going to Be 80, TV Premiere Dates 2022: The Complete Guide, Broadcast TV Unscripted Scorecard 2022: Whats New, Renewed and Canceled, TV Pilots 2022: The Complete Broadcast Guide, The Definitive Voice of Entertainment News. 2023 IndieWire Media, LLC. They would go, God damn it! "It's definitely an association that a lot of people have," Friese says. 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. At first, they were like, Really? Friese: Some people have already found a lot of the imagery and paintings we used [throughout the series]. InDark, we wanted the images to be almost like still photography, which is why we have these very blocked shots, very much like photos. What kind of trigger words do you use? We can see that even if you dont really understand what words are being spoken, you understand what the other person is trying to communicate. Odar:We mirrored the image in the camera. I was so miserable because somehow youre really more prepared for failure then success I guess. Friese:Oh, absolutely. What resonates with a lot of viewers is this feeling that we also sometimes have: do we matter? Do you wish there were more than three seasons to explore the story? Its both hopeful and ominous at the same time. Sign up here for our weekly Streamail newsletter to get streaming recommendations delivered straight to your inbox. As with every character in Dark, when youre sure you know who the villain is or whos doing the bad thing, you should be open for what made them that way because. To mirror the world we know, we could either do that by rebuilding all of the sets. There were lots of right-wing ideas bubbling up. I think the two concepts needed two different kinds of storytelling. So, but Im not going to tell you whether were going to or not.. 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. Related What we learned was that using the Volume studio, the mid-ground is everything. 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. "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.". I put a lot of thought into it: What kind of information and when do you explain certain rules? How do I free myself from my reactions to certain impulses? And Odar has a bit of advice to viewers: "We do love to play with genres and expectations. Do you have a huge board on the wall with red yarn linking up various elements? But in the end, it turned out to be way easier than we thought, because theres a sort of universal language, without words, going on while youre communicating with someone. In terms of how long 1899 might run, Friese says the pair are trying their best to make it a multi-season show, but notes that "it depends on the viewers", as well as Netflix. I was like, Wow, its such a cool concept. Even 24 frames per second, creating motion from still frames, thats the first illusion you create as a filmmaker. You can never give a satisfying answer. the prospect of diving into another twisty metaverse from the minds of Dark creators Jantje Friese and Baran bo Odar likely comes with equal measures of excitement and trepidation. Jantje Friese: They think they know how this works but they don't. They are still human. Stuff like that always happens. There are so many ideas and concepts out in the world, said Friese. Get The Latest IndieWire Alerts And Newsletters Delivered Directly To Your Inbox. At first, you think everything is possible, but its not. "We do love challenges," Odar says with a laugh. It's just the camera trick. Friese and Odar are coy when asked about it. You might have an answer, and its very personal. 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. When you see them in life and flesh, they dont look that much alike. Everything happens constantly in loops. "But there are also things that are quite different in terms of atmosphere and tonality, but also pacing and more action-y stuff happening. So, you would have the English dialogue on the left side and then the translated dialogue for that character in their language on the right side. 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 following interview discusses Season 3 of the Netflix . What other Easter eggs did you plant throughout the season? A key part of any ending is knowing the right cutoff point. Also the same as we did in Season 2 where we put a little bit focus on different characters like Claudia and Egon, were going to do the same in Season 3 and call some people up that had smaller parts. So theres always a tone in the end, which all mean something different. We asked creators Jantje Friese and Baran bo Odar as many of those questions as we could. 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. The actors had to act like they are in a mirrored world. So you have 999. 'Tyll' Series From Dark & 1899 Creators: Everything We Know Friese and Odar have been otherwise tight-lipped aboutthe series so far, buta teaser revealsall of the cryptic clues, strange symbols, and dark imagery fans of their work will recognize. So every riddle we put in there, we feel we have to solve it, she said. Mind still blown by that out-of-this-world ending to1899? The former show, after all, spawned a worldwide cult following of fans eager to untangle Dark's knots, and the idea for 1899 first sprung up after Dark's first season. 1899 Season 2: Rosalie Craig Reveals What Was in Store for Virginia We also decided to shoot that scene on the very, very last shooting day. "If you don't look at the narrative chronologically, but you pick out single characters and just look at their character arcs, it becomes a lot easier," Friese said. Letting all of that go, for me, feels very satisfying. Some will in Episode 1 understand its a simulation. Another part of the series that was touted when it was first announced was that 1899 would not be entirely in German, like Dark, nor would it be in any one language. Wllers eye isnt just a mystery, but one of the running jokes that makes Dark so rich. But in English, it means something positive. The ultimate example of that is Season 2s epic revelation that police chief Charlottes (Karoline Eichhorn) mother is actually her daughter Elisabeth (Carlotta von Falkenhayn) through more time travel shenanigans. And he's not just talking major landscapes, but also more intimate set pieces, too. I love that theres so much fan fiction out there. bo Odar:When we spoke to the guys behindThe Mandalorian, we asked them what worked and what was really complicated. Even if the hair color is lighter or if they have freckles, then that kind of a hint. Jantje Friese - IMDb Jock Zonfrillo, Chef and MasterChef Australia Judge, Dies at 46, Succession Star Reacts to That Kill List, Talks Golden Parachutes and Kendall Roys Ascension. We wanted to make sure we got there. Robot, earned critical acclaim and three German movie awards, Netflix approached the duo to adapt the film into a series. What was the original spark? But you can create huge worlds with it." En route, they encounter a mysterious second ship, the Prometheus, which has been missing for months, adrift on the open sea. Then one day, I told myself: Lets forget about what theyre saying and listen to how theyre saying it. We always think we have to answer everything. And then something thats quite important for series, especially compared to movies, is the whole world-building process. Jantje Friese and Baran bo Odar have earned patience. It isnt just a big green screen where you have to imagine a ship in your head, but you actually see the waves, you actually see the ship. 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? 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. Baran bo Odar and Jantje Friese are absolute geniuses and have created an epic sci-fi story for smart people.they did not dumb it down at all even in the final season.the fact that this was an original idea and not based on a book etc gets them even more kudos.it's also obvious that they planned this entire story from the beginning and Do you first have the themes and then drop in characters and develop the mystery out of that or do you have the puzzle first and then see how the characters and themes fit into that? But were not going to solve every riddle because sometimes its funnier [that way]. "Because there are so many layers of science philosophy and metaphysics and spiritual stuff, and it was quite interesting to see that they are all actually talking about the same thing, just from different angles. When you work with time travel, you basically have to decide on one concept. I used the wrong hand! (Laughs.) Friese: Kerberos, for example, is a computer authentication protocol. The 25 Saddest TV Character Deaths of This Century, According to Variety, about 90 percent of Darks audience comes from outside of Germany, and after the release of Season 1 in December 2017, Parrot Analytics noted that the show actually increased its viewership in its second week, mimicking the word-of-mouth viewership success of Stranger Things and Maniac., Its something you hope for, but it actually hit us really hard, said Friese. We said, this is a determined world, or it's based on determinism. Friese:Our scripts look like Frankenstein monsters. It was something to give to the actors. "I would say culturally, there's a lot of difference between German Europe and India. Subscribe for full access to The Hollywood Reporter. I makes it very difficult.. It takes 60 seconds to spin and its a huge turntable. It's Me, Margaret' to 'R.M.N. There were some really tough choices to be made, especially in the in the editing room. Your past is always pushing you into the direction you're going, while at the same time the future is pulling you. Friese credits casting director Simone Br for the series uncanny casting coups. In the first season ofDark we still had stuff on the walls, but no one ever looked at it. Whats the fundament of it all? We really wanted to get every culture, all the languages, right and not have people speaking in clichs. . Others were like: This has so many more complicated puzzle pieces, what are you guys doing? "We hate green screen, always did. Were going to see a bit more about grown Ulrich, she said. It never happened.'" You have to change the titles on them and mirror them. We added a glitch to it. I went back three days after the end of shooting because I was really not feeling well, to be honest. Two weeks after the release of Season 1, I was on Twitter honestly 24 hours a day. Theres just an underrepresentation of the different European cultures, the different narratives from around the world. I think thats awesome. We have three age groups, and once you find one, then everything needs to relate to that person. That's how we laid it out as a plan, and let's see if the world agrees.". When Jantje Friese and 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. Thats where plot structure goes. Weve talked to a lot of people whove had the opportunity to see the first six episodes, and its kind of half and half. Get a behind-the-scenes look at the new mystery-thriller series. The thriller follows a forensics agent desperate for answers after finding out shes an identical triplet. The Best 36 LGBTQ Movies and TV Shows Streaming on Netflix Right Now Also, we actually thought about putting some of the stuff thats now in Season 3 into Season 2, but then decided to move it backwards. There are all of these images, and even in dialogue, hints that give it away. While we still mourn the 1899 premature cancellation, star Rosalie Craig reveals showrunners Jantje. Thats crazy because that like, usually you have to look for for nose [physiology] because thats the most [obvious] pointing thing.. Is that aMatrixreference? One may be desperate to see the world the duo has created for 1899, the teams new Netflix series, but could also be slightly worried their brain might not be able to handle it. We planted it everywhere, but no one saw it yet. Then you start putting characters into that idea, but they might feel a bit one-dimensional, so you get some ideas for the plot and you work it in. How did the script work did you write in German and then have things translated? "I don't know if that's a German thing. Influencers: Profiles of a Partnership 2022, How to Pitch Stories and Articles to IndieWire, Where to Watch This Week's New Movies, from 'Are You There God? We already have so many timelines; revamping them for other timelines and then building them for the mirroring? You have to open doors with your left hand. Thats already in minute 10, 11. 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. We had old material that was actually a different story a couple of years back, she said. Friese: Also, we love objects that have multiple meanings. All Rights Reserved. Per the official synopsis, what they will find on board will turn their passage to the promised land into a horrifying nightmare. We had a lot of photography from really weird people with very strange lighting setups that created a very interesting isolation of the figures in the images. After 26 episodes and three seasons of one of the best Netflix Originals to date, there are a few remnants of Dark that remain. This Article is related to: Television and tagged Dark, Jantje Friese, Netflix, TV Interviews. 1899 Netflix TV Show Creators Interview - The Hollywood Reporter Dark Season 1 and 2 are currently streaming on Netflix. Just opening Final Draft took like five minutes because of all those script notes. Dark Duo Jantje Friese and Baran bo Odar Add Volume to Their Process Thats the fun of it. 2023 The Hollywood Reporter, LLC. Anything else would have felt like stretching it unnecessarily and making it more complicated on a narrative level. You just trying to be flexible, to really allow the process to surprise you while youre going through it, but still kind of knowing where youre sailing to. 'Dark' Co-Creator Talks Season 3 Plans, Casting - IndieWire It's Me, Margaret' to 'R.M.N.' Friese and Odar said that they were able to keep the raincoat, the St. Christopher necklace, and the recreation of the Rubens painting The Fall of the Damned thats the centerpiece of Adams Sic Mundus hall. Friese: Yes. I personally feel that a lot of very great philosophers came out of from German history. Do you already have the world of 1899 built out in your mind for the potential next two seasons? And every dialogue portion had a script note. Were hinting at that in the first season all the time that its a circle. This interview has been edited for length and clarity. The ending, knowing where youre going is one thing, but then finding the ways to get there is really a whole different challenge, said Friese. And then the pandemic happens, the show was supposed to be shot in a very traditional way, where we would have gone to a water tank and we would have built ship set pieces and traveled to other countries to shoot scenes there and stuff like that," he says. So I think its really fascinating because this is just the start. Weve heard people say its perfect timing because the issues in 1899 are very present today. '1899' First Interviews: Netflix & 'Dark' Creators - Deadline And thus, fans of this science fiction series can be found discussing Nietzsche and other philosophers, trying to unlock the shows themes of free will and fate, alongside the physics of time travel. Some of it was something that we developed throughout the process. Odar:Every episode [when] someone wakes up, you hear almost like a computer voice. Very simple things like opening a door, you have to do it with your left hand. To be honest, we had them all in these pods; they couldnt move. Others will take more time because they might think its about the Bermuda Triangle or whatever. Sign up for THR news straight to your inbox every day. I stick to a very weird process, which is that everything needs to fit into a book of [a certain] size. That was the initial plan. And if you ever tried that for one day, it is really weird and awkward.. When women turn 40, their career dies down unfortunately. 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. Was that deliberate? "India just picked up that show a couple of months ago, and now it's really huge in India," Odar said. 1899, which made the TIFF Primetime Program So it was finding out which puzzle pieces need to go in there so that we have the feeling of the characters really going full circle. And then we try to find a world of symbols that all ties into our theme," she says. Odar adds, "But is it the right one? Was this scene always part of the plan or was it something that developed in the writing? When you write, how do you plot things out? In other [projects] weve done before, we dont like to end on a dot. If a door was on the left side, it would then be on the right side in the other world. They always knew where it would go, but they recently watched the last episode in the cinema and they were like, oh my God!, Odar: We dont play with the audience and treat them as fools and idiots; rather, the opposite. We really try to be very true to our core audience, which just loves puzzles but also knows every code and every cultural reference. Like if one stone starts to roll, and hits another and that ends up leading to the First World War. Dozens of questions swirling around your brain about what actually happened? Jantje Friese and Baran bo Odar's latest mindbender 1899 has recently dropped on Netflix, and with it has come a swathe of comparisons to their previous endeavor, Dark.Even putting aside the duo . bo Odar: We dont have bad ideas. Speaking as someone with a German wife who doesnt get irony, Id love to have an emoticon to end my sentences. Like letting go of some love affair.. One is theme, the other is character and the other is plot. Interviews with leading film and TV creators about their process and craft.
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