Under The Mountain: Interview with director Jonathan King
Jonathan King is the director of Under The Mountain. He's had recent critical success with Black Sheep.
tvnz.co.nz-So how did you get involved?
Jonathan King - Well I got involved when Matt
Grainger did (who also wrote and produced) When I first met Matt he
was writing an adaptation of Under The Mountain and for various
reasons that didn't get made at that stage and we ended up working
together on a film called The Tattooist. When I made Black Sheep he
was kind of my sounding board for the script and when we
finished that, it was like what shall we do next? Let's have a
go at Under The Mountain - we decided as it was a story I loved
when I was a kid and we both felt could be a really great movie as
it's classic NZ with a huge following here and we thought it could
be big overseas too.
tvnz.co.nz-Is it daunting to get to do
something so beloved?
Jonathan King- We saw it as a challenge rather
than a danger and what became quickly apparent was there was so
much good will so that everybody else who got involved
helped. Principally one of those who was involved at an early
stage was Richard Taylor from WETA workshop, who'd known the
story from when he was young and he said whatever I can do to help
get it made, I will do. And he was really true to his word through
both the making of the film and with some financial challenges, he
completely stuck with us through thick and thin. Really all the
crew who came onboard. it felt like because people had a personal
stake in this story and what it meant to them, it felt like we were
getting amazing work from them because they wanted to be part of it
and went the extra mile to be part of Under The Mountain - so the
benefits far outweighed any of the dangers I guess.
tvnz.co.nz -WETA were quite involved from the start
weren't they - turning around concept art and that must be quite
pleasing as a director?
Jonathan King
Well yeah and I had such a great
relationship with them on Black Sheep; But one of the very first
things we did when we started working on the script was to get some
concept art of images that we saw in the film as that was stuff
we'd show people. Then as we developed the script further, more
concept art and creature designs came too - so that was a process
we got going as early as we could and fed all that stuff into the
script and the visual world as well.
tvnz.co.nz - Is it fair to say you're truer to the book
than the TV series?
Jonathan King
Well we definitely saw ourselves as
adapting the book rather than the TV Series and I haven't seen that
since 1981 so I don't really remember too much of it - we've been
very true to some aspects of the book and it's an inspiration from
which we've flown from. There are some key differences really but
they're true and respectful to the book - and as far as I know we
have the blessing of the author too who read the script - but he's
not seen it yet; we gave him the option but he said he wanted to
wait until the premiere so he has confidence in what we're doing.
He visited the set and saw one day of filming - it's been so long
since he wrote the book and the film's come to life so long after
that so I think he's kind of bemused that it's taken off.
tvnz.co.nz -Was it conscious decision to stay
away from CGI and use more prosthetics?
Jonathan King- It was- partly budgetary but
also a creative decision. Black Sheep was 99% visual effects and
maybe only a dozen digital tweaks and this film has more than 150
digital shots in it - because there are only some things you can do
digitally but my instinct is to try and do things practically. I
think audiences connect better with something they're seeing in the
frame - as well as the actors - but I think audiences are affected
in a different way than digitally - we get used to seeing a
lot of that stuff on international films - sometimes it's good,
sometimes it's not so good - Hollywood can do it easily.
tvnz.co.nz -When creatures were unveiled were people
frightened? In the behind the scenes film (watch the
Under The Mountain behind the scenes
featurette here
) you're wiping slime all
over a lot of them?
Jonathan King-
It was amazing to actually bring
something like that which works and to bring it into the room too -
and it looks quite cool because they were glistening in the light
and they're awesome. The slime thing was a lot of fun and we wanted
to have a lot of slime on it - on my last film I was always asking
for more blood and on the last day WETA gave me this blood squirter
with a little brass plaque saying "More Blood" - so for this film
it was one saying More Slime all the time - I'd be in there
glooping it up.
tvnz.co.nz-How did you go for casting? You've
taken on some new actors for the roles ?
Jonathan King- I think we knew pretty much that
the twins were going to be unknowns so we did a very big casting
nationwide and we were looking long and hard around the country -
and in fact Tom and Sophie emerged quite quickly out of the pack
and we tried callbakcs with different combinations - but it was
clear to us early on they were the right ones for the part. And
then Leon, we weren't exactly sure where he came from - but he was
so terrific in the part you can't imagine anyone else in the role.
As for Oliver Driver, in a funny way, he came in reasonably late in
the piece but again, seems obvious in retrospect - Mr Wilberforce
in the book is described as being very tall and we kind of had this
idea that Mr Wilberforce is an alien disguised as an old man so
maybe it could be a younger actor in old man creeatuire make up and
then when we decided that we were going to make that creature make
up, then Oliver was an obvious choice - as I'd had such a great
experience working with him on Black Sheep.
tvnz.co.nz - You've created a boogeyman for 21st century
- the shot of him staring at the twins from the lake will terrify
some kids...
Jonathan King - That's such an iconic moment from
the story - this figure kind of glaring from the distance and
sniffing the hair is ugh - so we're really pleased in how that
works.
tvnz.co.nz-Auckland and the New Zealand scenery
plays a big part in this film?
Jonathan King - Yeah we definitely saw Auckland as
a big character in the film and we'd be very careful whenever we
framed Auckland in the film, they're not just scenic cutaways.
We wanted it to be telling a story such as how Rangitoto looms over
Auckland and how the mountains crop up out of the houses. As we
were getting ready to make the film, you get kind of used to
Rangitoto being there but you start to realize how this thing looks
the same from wherever you are and has this amazing presence - many
have seen it but few have been there so it's neat to make it play
in the film like it does.
tvnz.co.nz -
It's your second time in
Toronto (Under The Mountain premiered here earlier this
year)
Jonathan King - Yeah which was amazing - a lot
younger audience for this than with Black Sheep and Sam Neill saw
it for the first time there as well and enjoyed it - so it was
great to see it with an audience of kids who knew nothing of the
source material but just sort of responded well to the film and
jumped and laughed in the right places.
tvnz.co.nz -Do you think it's a film New
Zealand audiences can enjoy a little more than international
audiences?
Jonathan King - Possibly in a different way - they
don't need to know New Zealand or know about the genesis of the
story - but I guess hopefully there's a satisfaction in a story you
know being told in a new and a exciting way - it's quite cool to
have stories you know being given back to you in a different way -
we wanted to be aware New Zealanders may be aware of the story and
give them a fresh version of it.
tvnz.co.nz -What's next?
Jonathan King - I don't actually know - I've got a
few things I'm starting to get going - but I honestly am not sure -
I want to keep making films in new Zealand and I'd love to keep
making films with a New Zealand aspect to them but
perhaps also a fantastic aspect or a way of seeing new Zealand that
you've not seen before. I think I'll defeintely stay in the
fantastic realm - you know be it with a scary element or a horror
element, or an unusual element - but at the moment I don't want to
make a real life kitchen sink drama - that kind of thing doesn't
appeal.
tvnz.co.nz -What have you loved this
year?
Jonathan King - I've seen a couple of fantastic
things in some festivals I've been to recently - I saw film called
Sauna (which has been released on DVD in NZ) which is a sort of
ghost film and one of the best ones I've seen in years; I saw
horror movie called House of the devil which is amazingly scary ;
very cool, very cheap American film; I've seen the Informant -
which is really great with Matt Damon - and Melanie Lynskey is very
good in it as well. The Imaginarium of Dr Parnassus was
kind of bonkers but I loved it - it's very Terry Gilliam. I'd love
to make a film like Sauna to be honest.
tvnz.co.nz
-What are your hopes for
Under The Mountain?
Jonathan King-
I want them to go! Our biggest
ambitions for the film is for it to play like those overseas summer
blockbuster - which has almost been realized - a really
exciting scary adventure because that was when the book came out a
little after star wars when I was a kid what was so awesome about
it was it was wow, it's a fantastic scary adventure, set in the
country where we live in - so we always wanted the film to do that
- so for it beng released by Disney in the summer, in the school
holidays , is exactly positioning it where we think it would . And
we would love for kids to go along and embrace it - well, both kids
and older people who know it. It's all about That sense of your
time as a kid and having too much time on your hands and mucking
about and wondering what is going on with that creepy old house,
it's that feeling that old movies kind of used to give - it'd be
great if we could pass on some of that.
GO BEHIND THE SCENES OF UNDER THE MOUNTAIN HERE!
WATCH THE TRAILER FOR UNDER THE MOUNTAIN HERE!
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