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June 2018

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www.postmagazine.com 10 POST JUNE 2018 DIRECTOR'S CHAIR altasar Kormákur seems to be obsessed with sea-faring tales, which is hardly surprising as the Icelandic director and producer was born in Reykjavik, and grew up sur- rounded by the ocean. He first made a name for himself with his 2000 fea- ture film 101 Reykjavik, which he wrote, directed, acted in and produced, and which became an international hit and earned the Discovery Award at the Toronto International Film Festival. Since then he's made films both local and international, including The Sea, A Little Trip to Heaven, Jar City, White Night Wedding (which were all successful in Iceland and won numerous internation- al awards), and The Deep, the tragic real-life story of the lone survivor of a capsized fishing boat off the frigid Icelandic coast, which premiered at the 2012 Toronto International Film Festival and was shortlisted for the foreign lan- guage Academy Award. Kormákur has also directed and produced several features, which have nothing to do with the ocean, including the hit epic adventure Everest, which grossed over $203 million worldwide, actioner Contraband, starring Mark Wahlberg, and the action-comedy 2 Guns, which starred Denzel Washington and Wahlberg, and grossed over $131 million worldwide. Now, he's headed back to sea again with Adrift, a harrowing survival story starring Shailene Woodley (the Divergent films) and Sam Claflin (The Hunger Games films). Based on the inspiring true story of two sailors who set out to journey across the ocean from Tahiti to San Diego, it charts the ill-fated voyage of Tami Oldham (Woodley) and Richard Sharp (Claflin) who unwittingly sail directly into one of the most catastrophic hurricanes in recorded history. In the aftermath of the storm, Tami awakens to find Richard badly injured and their boat in ruins. With no hope for rescue, Tami must find the strength and determi- nation to save herself and Richard in a story about the resilience of the hu- man spirit and the transcendent power of love. Here, in an exclusive interview with Post, Kormakur, who was still fine-tun- ing VFX on the eve of its release this month, talked about making the film and his love of post. What sort of film did you set out to make? "I loved the fact that it was this true survival story with a woman as the hero, and women have always faced the same problems as men in dealing with extreme elements and so on, but their stories are not told that often for some reason. And for an extreme survival story, it also had a bit more levity as it's also this beautiful love story, and I always wanted to tell one but could never find the right one. And this was real, not some rom-com. And love can be the best of times and the worst of times, and this had all that. And I loved that it was all set at sea, as I love the water. I used to sail competitively when I was younger and I thought, 'This is great! I can sail and make a film at the same time. It's perfect for me!'" Jim Cameron famously said after Titanic, "Never, ever shoot on water." Didn't you get the memo? "No, I didn't, and my first film was shot at sea — in really cold water — and I just keep doing it, although at least we shot this in Fiji so it was warm water. I'm getting old so I make it easier for myself now." (Laughs) What were the main technical challenges in pulling it all together? "Obviously, the big thing was shoot- ing at sea, and from the start I made it clear I was going to shoot on the ocean as much as possible. And post was a big part of that because for me, it's always there to augment the reality. I want to build on the reality, not cre- ate it in post — and it's impossible to totally fake the ocean through a whole film, however brilliant all the VFX are. It always seems a bit unreal and cartoon- ish to me. So on this, we stayed out at sea for six weeks, and doing that also bleeds into the actors and their perfor- mances. It changes the way you move and breathe — everything." BALTASAR KORMÁKUR ON ADRIFT BY IAIN BLAIR THE CHALLENGES OF SHOOTING AT SEA B Adri was shot on location in Fiji. Director Kormakur (right) on set with DP Richardson.

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