What got you interested in film making?
I first got interested in film making when I changed a short story which I had sold to a literature magazine in Iceland for 5000 kronur into a short film script which I sold for 200.000 kronur. I never had thought of films until then.
What film makers have influenced you most?
Probably the Czech film director Jiri Kaiser.
And how?
He beat me up in a pub so badly that I didn’t go out of my apartment for a month. That was the month I wrote the script for Bitter Coffee.
How did you put together such an international cast?
The Prague I know is pretty international, I hang around all kinds of nationalities here, except Icelanders. There aren’t many of them here, but then again there aren´t many of them in Iceland either.
A part of this film revolves around how a trip strains the relationships between these people. What kind of logistical problems did you run into travelling with an entire film crew?
We ran into all kinds of problems, catastrophic weather, the worst flood in the history of this country, the worst mood in the history of this director, arguments, debts, no money, no food, but we finished the film and we are all extremely proud of it.
What are you doing in Prague these days?
At the moment I’m drinking coffee and thinking about how to get 50 million kronur to do my next project.
Why did you decide to shoot this film in the Czech Republic, and how does the film world in eastern Europe differ from western Europe?
The main difference is that it is situated a bit more to the east on the map. I can’t see any other difference after I got over the language barrier.
Any future projects on the table?
Yes, on my table there´s coffee, water, a pack of cigarettes, an ashtray and a computer, displaying the script of my next film about a bitter youngster who is going to make his first film. It is a comedy, based on my experience of making the last film. You see, I’m so egocentric that I´m not interested in telling any story other than my own. I hope the film after that will be about a famous and filthy rich filmmaker, based on my experience of making my second film…
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