Back in 2017, it was reported that Greta Gerwig had signed on to star in Mia Hansen-Løve’s new drama, “Bergman Island.” The film quickly gained buzz and was one of our most anticipated features when it was expected to debut in 2019. However, as Hansen-Løve recently explained, a sudden change in casting led to an extended filming schedule for “Bergman Island,” as it took years to complete before finally debuting at this year’s Cannes Film Festival.
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Speaking in Deadline’s recent digital issue, Hansen-Løve talked about the unusual experience of filming “Bergman Island” and how an abrupt change in casting presented a unique challenge for the filmmaker.
“Well, we were supposed to shoot the whole film in 2018 with Greta Gerwig , and very shortly before we shot she had to drop out because she was going to direct ‘Little Women,'” explained Hansen-Løve. “It happened really quickly, and we were already there with my team, so we decided to shoot a part of the film that we could film without her, in order to not lose the other actors. But then I needed extra time to rethink the film without her, so that’s why we had to cut the shoot into two parts. It actually turned out to be a happy experience because I enjoyed being in Faro so much that I was quite happy to be able to go back there the next year.”
Obviously, Hansen-Løve doesn’t blame Gerwig for the departure and there doesn’t seem to be any sort of hard feelings about the casting change. However, it’s interesting to see a film like this experience such a challenge, which seems to have ultimately benefitted the production overall.
One of the benefits of shooting in two parts with a gap in-between is the addition of Tim Roth to the cast. According to the filmmaker, during the break between production times, she came to the conclusion that Roth would be perfect for the role, primarily due to his performance in “Made in Britain.”
“Tim [Roth] arrived later on,” Hansen-Løve said. “At first, I could only think of an American actor for that part. We shot over two years, so for the first year, Tim wasn’t part of the cast. We didn’t know who was going to be in the part, which was a bit awkward, but also interesting. And while I was waiting to shoot the second part of the film, I thought of Tim.”
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She continued, “I had seen him in many films, of course, but to me, he will always be the actor in Alan Clarke’s film, ‘Made In Britain.’ I was interested in his fragility which sounds surprising. But to me, there is something about that in his presence. Although he plays a lot of tough guys in very masculine types of films, I could see something else in him that was a little bit opposite to that.”
Now, after an incredibly long production cycle, Hansen-Løve is ready to premiere “Bergman Island” at this year’s Cannes Film Festival.