Ruben Östlund wanted couples to go see Turist and hold each other's hands, but hoped that the woman would slowly let go of her husband's hand during the filming. Did you have the same goal?

- No, but I like the idea of ​​couples going to see the film and having a very in-depth and intense discussion afterwards. I hope that everything goes well but that it should spur conversation, says Julia Louis Dreyfus, who plays the mother and wife Billie in Downhill. She is joined by her co-worker Will Ferrell who plays her real husband Pete.

- Yeah, if it inspires discussion then that's a great thing, says Ferrell.

The American nuclear family uses a skiing holiday in the Austrian Alps as therapy for a marriage that seems stuck. When an avalanche is about to wipe out the luxury hotel's outdoor dining, Pete flips and leaves the family to their fate. It goes without saying that the avalanche has been controlled, and Pete loops back to the table, powdered as a father, husband and rescuer in distress.

That may be the difference between Swedes and Americans, after all, Östlund had a Bergmansk idea that he wanted to increase divorce statistics in the same spirit as Scenes from a Marriage.

- Yes, says Will Ferrell, laughing.

"Hopefully, the film leads to debate"

Director duo Jim Rash and Nat Faxon (best known as scriptwriter for The Descendants) have worked on a script also written by Succession creator Jessie Armstrong. The duo also says that Downhill had a purpose other than breaking up marriage.

- Hopefully, the film leads to a debate afterwards, which questions whether you really know the person you are with, and whether you know yourself and what you had done in the same scenario. Hopefully you won't let go of your partner's hand completely, but it will lead to a conversation, says Nat Faxon.

The US has an even stronger culture around "the male hero". What would you say is specifically American with this version?

- To start with, we have Americans in Europe, so we get a direct "fish out of water" stock through it, explains Jim Rash. Holidays are a universally vulnerable place for most people. I think Ruben said Americans are much more verbal and dissatisfied when something goes wrong, and yes we are very quick to complain and have that element.

Bad criticism after the premiere

Ruben Östlund's original showed how the narrow masculine ideal and the petty-bourgeois nuclear family are fragile card houses for nature's original forces. Similar themes are found in Downhill, but the American version has taken some liberties with the original. Something that got many critics to watch the movie after the premiere of Sundance.

You got pretty mixed reviews and that's expected when you do a remake but how do you feel when they (such as Hollywood Reporter) call Downhill a "commercial turnaround" of the original?

- I don't necessarily agree with it, says Julia Louis Dreyfus.

- I mean, of course the goal is that everyone should love the film, but I actually think we made a "riff" on the original, and taken it to another place. It has an American consciousness, we have opened some of the cast in a way that feels appropriate. I love the end product and I am very happy that Ruben was there too.

- Yes, it's a little "damned if you do, damned if you don't," Will Ferrell fills in.

- There is no need to do a remake that follows the original box by box, with the same tone, why do it? So even though it sticks to many of the same themes, it is a totally different movie than the original.

I responded that you (Will Ferrell) were easier to like than Johannes Bah Kunkhe's cast in the original. Do you think Downhill is more forgiving of Pete?

- I ... I do not think so. Of course, his initial reaction is the same as in the original. It's still pretty shitty what he does.

- Yes, but it's not black and white. And it was very conscious on our part. We wanted it to be a little gray. The idea that a good person can still do something terrible and that we are all capable of making really bad choices. Then the question then becomes "how do we reconcile with that, how do we recover from those moments?". That's what the movie is about, says Julia Louis Dreyfus.

Footnote: After the interview was done, the Swedish premiere of Downhill was canceled. It is unclear when and if the film will receive a Swedish premiere.