Back to the canvas you had, the film goes back and forth between Iraq and Alaska. How was it shooting in such different climates?
We had this time limit to shoot during North American snow weather. We had initially scouted in Morrocco for the Iraq War sequences and then we scouted Alberta and shot in Alberta. Then we went back to Morocco at the end of the shoot, which is awesome because we were sitting -36 Celsius temperature, going to a hot dessert was welcoming. We actually wrapped out production with four days in Morocco. We had Alexander Skarsgård sitting on top of a Humvee just enjoying the sun, he had people offering him all these things like water or a shade, and he was like “Nah, I’m just soaking it all up.” [laughs]
And all of this was due to Netflix, which were with you since every step of the way with this movie. I can’t imagine a big studio movie greenlighting this project and the budget that it entails.
Oh yeah, it’s a Netflix Original film from when we cast it, to greenlight it, they were there the whole time to run the show and yeah, that’s why I couldn’t pass up this project. It’s such an anomaly, such a unique piece, to be handed and I definitely have my fair share of submissions. It’s amazing to work with them on something so bold, and so different at the same time. Netflix supported it, they don’t need the four-quadrant movies. They don’t need to compliment the genres or certain kinds of films they already have in their platform. They want to expand on different stuff. They need more variety and the fact that their model doesn’t rely upon traditional foreign sales or “being profitable” on each film. They don’t define profit by box-office, they define it by whether the viewer is engaged, that’s their goal. Sometimes they do very standard romantic comedies, big-budget sci-fi, and for me, they let me do a niche film with a very robust budget, which is something you rarely see these days. The creative freedom they give you and the support, notes they give you are very helpful to the process.
Did Macon write the screenplay before you were set to direct it?
No, actually he was given the novel by his agent and Macon gave me the novel and we were kind of faking it. Macon called his agent and said he loved the book, I loved the book, that I wanted to direct it, and how can we attach ourselves to this material? Then my agent put me on hold for a minute, a minute and a half, and then he said you’re attached to direct it and he’s attached to write. Then we took it out and sold it. Macon cut and bred it for my style. He knows me so well as a director and as a collaborator, he was always writing it with me in mind, and he set out that way and pitched it that way. It was pretty seamless in that regard.
It is quite interesting to see you tackle somebody else’s screenplay. I thought that maybe the experience you had with “True Detective” would have soured you in taking other people’s work.
I never considered myself the writer of the crew. As a kid, I was sort of a visual director and I loved working with my friend and telling stories. My aspirations were to direct, but given the traditions of the business and my inability to break through traditional means, I had to self-generate material that I could direct. The way I’ve written in the past, it was just practical with that aforementioned budgetary feeling on it. I would love to hone my craft and be a director that could use other people’s scripts. It’s easier to now bounce back and forth, that’s how I want to navigate the business but I will self-generate to keep my name out there in the business.
Do you feel like you were not given that with “True Detective,” you can totally say no comment, I was just very much looking forward to that. You seemed like a good match for that series.
Whatever happened on “True Detective” I will use as fuel and it will turn out to be a very positive experience in my career.
“Hold the Dark” hits Netflix on September 28.