On March 6, TT Ruben Östlund interviewed on the recording site for the upcoming movie Triangle of sadness.
"It's less stressful than it usually is, for the first time in my working life I can enjoy," he said.
Shortly afterwards, Hollywood star Woody Harrelson would have come to the recording in Trollhättan. In May and June, it was intended that production would go to Greece to record scenes on an island.
- We closed down March 26 and then it has been completely shut down for three months. Then we didn't know if Woody was coming or if we would ever be ready, says film producer Erik Hemmendorff.
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Erik Hemmendorff was persuaded by telephone to convince American airport staff to let Woody Harrelson go to Sweden. Photo: Richard Veldre / SVTGot to persuade airport staffAssistants, production staff and visiting journalists have visors or mouth protectors - all except Ruben Östlund, who reportedly already had corona. He is also in a noticeable good mood. After shooting on the Greece scenes and producer Erik Hemmedorff managed to persuade US airport personnel to let Woody Harrelson fly between the US and Europe, production is back on track.
Harrelson has been in Sweden for a couple of weeks. Journalists on site may not ask private questions and not questions about the corona - perhaps because at the beginning of the pandemic, Harrelson shared material that 5G masts would be linked to the spread of infection in social media.
According to Ruben Östlund, it was a scene with an eight-minute long Marxist fire speech that got Harrelson to accept the role.
- He (the character) is dissatisfied with the capitalist system and imperialism in some countries, namely the United States. There is a number about it that I liked.
How it was written or the political content?
- Both.
"Absolutely unique style"Woody Harrelson, however, knew Ruben Östlund before when his agent asked him to look at The square.
- After ten minutes I called him and said "why do you want me to watch this movie, it's lousy", but he said "hold out for a while". I'm so glad I got that advice, because I kept watching and I thought, "this guy is amazing, what a director". It's a totally unique style.
In September, the film team aims to go to Greece. Planned premiere is next year.
See interviews with Woody Harrelson and Erik Hemmendorff in the clip.