It’s been an incredible nine months for Ruben Östlund. The Swedish filmmaker took home the Palme d’Or at the 2017 Cannes Film Festival for his thought provoking satire “The Square.” The Claes Bang, Elisabeth Olsen and Dominic West film then took seven awards at the 2017 European Film Awards including Best Film. And, unlike Östlund’s critically acclaimed “Force Majeure,” “The Square” earned an Academy Award nomination for Best Foreign Language Film last month.
With Academy members in the middle of voting for this year’s winners we jumped on the phone with to catch up with Östlund as he was drove through the streets of Manhattan.
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Gregory Ellwood: Hey Rueben, how are you doing?
Rueben Östlund: I’m very good, thank you. I’m in the car here though, if our connection drops.
No worries, so now that it’s been a couple of weeks have you had time to reflect on the nomination?
The thing is with the Oscars is that it has such an impact on all people that are outside the film industry. Everybody knows about it. There’s a lot of people that are super happy for you, and that is just great. For me, what it means is that you get the acknowledgment and you also get attention to the content of the film. That is really the good thing with these prizes is that suddenly the content of the film is going to get more attention and more people watch the films, hopefully. Things like that. That is just super. That is just fantastic. Of course, as a director, it’s a how do you say? An ego stroke, I would say.
Elisabeth Olsen and Claes Bang try to fit into “The Square” [Interview]
You’ve had a long journey on this film. You’ve been on the awards’ circuit for months and at all sorts of different film festivals and awards shows. Is there one moment of the whole experience so far that immediately comes to mind?
Well, I must say the night when we won the Palme d’Or, and it was like this super hectic thing. Of course, afterwards, when you are walking around at the party, things like that, but then 3:00 in the morning, me and my wife, we are sitting at the balcony and it’s just the two of us. We are having a glass of wine together and we are not saying anything anymore, we’re just smiling. To sit together with her, see how it’s starting to get lighter and brighter again and the sun is coming up? That was just beautiful.
That’s something you definitely won’t forget. How long ago did you actually even start even thinking about The Square? How many years ago did you think about even making this movie?
It started actually in 2011, when I was making a film called “Play.” [A friend and I] came up with the idea of creating this symbolic place where we are reminded of our role as fellow human beings. Actually, the idea of this, what do you say? The monistic traffic sign, that was the starting point of the film. Then in 2014, we were invited to make an art exhibition based on this idea. Then I started to write the script. I would say that in 2011 it started. Now, the Square [art installation] actually exists now in three different cities in Sweden. They built it permanently in three different cities. That is also something quite beautiful, that something is happening also outside the cinema.
Did any of them pop up after? Were they always in the works, or did any of them pop up recently? What’s the story behind that?
One of them was built after Cannes.
For your next project, is it something you’ve been quietly working or is it something that just sort of comes to you when it comes to you?
I would say that I have written with three years in between my films, and so even if I’ve had the idea in my head before, it will be three years of working with the next project. I only work with one idea at a time. I’m not able to work with two ideas or two feature films at a time. I’m like a director that really needs to concentrate only on one project at a time.
Do you know what you’re doing next, or is it still kind of gestating in your head?
Yeah, I know what I’m doing next. The title of the project is “Triangle of Sadness.” A triangle of sadness is when you have these triangle wrinkles in between the eyebrows, because you have had a lot of conflict in your life. “Don’t worry, you can fix that with Botox in 15 minutes.” The feature film is taking place in the fashion industry and the beauty industry.