Katja Von Garnier Interview, Director Blood and Chocolate

MoviesOnline had a chance to sit down and talk to Katja Von Garnier and her brand new film Blood & Chocolate. "Blood and Chocolate” marks KATJA RIEMANN’s (Astrid) third film with Katja von Garnier, after the 1993 film "Abgeschminkt! (Making Up)” and 1997’s "Bandits.” In addition to her prolific acting career in both the German and international film industry, Riemann is also the author of several successful children’s books as well as a recording artist. She currently resides in Berlin. 

Katja: What do you mean?

MoviesOnline: Over the past ten years.

Katja: In relation to Germany or in general? Ah, in relation to Germany. I know, I know.

MoviesOnline: Where are you? What’s going on?

Katja: What’s going on? Where am I? Granted, between Bandits and Iron Jaw I took a lot of time [off] which had to do with having to adjust to living in Hollywood, trying not to be seduced by what they want someone to do, which is what I think is right for what I want to do. Especially when you’re from a different country I think it’s important not to be seduced into being streamlined into their way. It took some time to know what not to do, what to pick, and there was fear about what I would do next and then Iron Jaws which was a dream project to work with and to work with Hilary and with amazing people and now this is the first feature. It’s exciting.

MoviesOnline: So you’re getting back into the arena?

Katja: As far as I’m concerned, I never left the arena.

MoviesOnline: I thought maybe you were thinking ‘I’m a mom now.’

Katja: I am a mom now. (laughs)

MoviesOnline: I know you are, but directing is not outside of your life.

Katja: No, no, no. Absolutely not. I haven’t been out of the arena. I’ve been focusing, developing stuff, there was something in between that I almost did and then didn’t do. Yes, I’m a mom and I love being a mom. I’m trying to do everything.

MoviesOnline: It’s refreshing to see a female director doing a movie which is traditionally a male genre and this film is also far more romantic. Did you take it because of that? Were you aware that you were breaking into a traditionally male arena?

MoviesOnline: Were you very involved in the effects then, watching to make sure that it was a graceful rather than a grotesque transformation?

Katja: Oh absolutely. My storyboard artists and I came up with the idea of the leap and then I was very active in first of all how we’re going to shoot it. My husband directed the second unit and he was shooting the plates for it. And then it was a variety of meetings with the visual effects people who wanted to express themselves for the transformations. It was more challenging to say to them, ‘No, we don’t need all that much because the end result is perfect. The end result as a wolf is nature, it’s not a creature, so calm down.’ (laughs) There’s not much that’s needed because we lined them up already and we just needed a little bit of a beautiful transitional aspect.

MoviesOnline: So what’s the wolf connection? There seems to be a little bit more to the story than just Romeo and Juliet with wolves.

Katja: I read a lot of Native American lore about wolves and the symbolism of wolves and I exposed the actors to that because I wanted them to take on those characteristics. I wanted the people who would play the loup garoux to learn from the wolves and we brought the wolves in and we had them study the animals and just be with them and get to know them and for the actors, for instance, Hugh who had wolves jump on him, and they had to be with them so they would not be afraid because they are much more afraid of us than we are of them. We are very afraid of them as you can tell. I could talk forever about the wolves. There was an interest for me also, whenever they appear, to first show a glimpse of their grace and their beauty and then yes, there’s a viciousness and they can rip someone’s arm off and they occasionally do, but at first when they land, they run through the forest and you see, you get some moments of ‘wow, wow.’ These animals are amazing even though yes, of course, in our film, they can also be scary.

MoviesOnline: Did someone bring you the novel that this film is based on or did you find it yourself?

Katja: The movie was based on the novel and they had developed the script before I came on [board] and there were actually other incarnations. Another director was on and it never worked out and then when it became available again, they thought of me because they had liked Bandits and they sent it to me and I responded.

MoviesOnline: So you read the book when they sent it to you?

Katja: I read the book after I came on [board]. I accepted the project without knowing the book. I’d read the script.

MoviesOnline: Did you change anything about the script?

Katja: Well when I read the script, you could do this with it. You could do a comic book creature film with it or you could do more of a character driven, mythological film and I wanted to do that. And then I sort of talked to them to find out if they would be open to this other direction. In our first conversation, they said, ‘Oh, there’s the potential to do something more elegant’ and then I thought ‘Okay, great, I can do that’ and then we went for it.

MoviesOnline: Is that the perfect situation to direct a movie and have your husband as a second unit director?

Katja: I think so (laughs) because then we can all go and we brought our dog. We actually bought a car in Germany to be able to bring our dog and then the whole family, we moved to Romania. He was working there and I was working there and it was great. It’s the same roof but everybody has their own little bubble within the one big bubble so I think it’s optimal. It’s great.

MoviesOnline: Did you dog visit with the wolves?

Katja: No, he didn’t like Romania. There are so many stray dogs on the side of the road in little packs.

MoviesOnline: There are strong legends and it’s such an old country and that area that you shot it in looked like a perfect backdrop to the story. Did you ever actually meet anybody who said they saw a werewolf?

Katja: No, I didn’t but what’s fascinating about Romania is that they are descendents from the Romans and they have this she wolf statue with Romulus and Remus. It’s in every city and the wolf is the symbol of their country. So it’s very intrinsic to their culture. Plus there are a lot of buildings that were half built and then abandoned and so that whole idea of a once glorious culture is very fitting.

MoviesOnline: What do you like about Romania?

Katja: I would say the people. I liked the people because we met incredibly sweet people, a lot of warmth, and wonderful people. We had many great people who were part of our crew.

MoviesOnline: What was the most challenging aspect of directing the film?

Katja: The scope on one level and also we had a very physical production. We had 6-day weeks which are tough for a director because the seventh day when you should really rest, you prepare for the next week and at some point you go, ‘F*ck, this is f*cking exhausting.’ But it’s amazing and I love it.

MoviesOnline: Do you work in Germany any more? I was wondering how that plays out as a director. When Bandits and Abgeschminkt! came out, you were celebrated as one of the hot young directors to watch and then 8 years went by. I’m wondering within the industry if it’s difficult to get back on track.

Katja: We will see when we do press in Germany what’s going to happen because we haven’t brought the film to Germany yet. And then with Iron Jaw, it was a different type of release, but we’ll see. When Iron Jaw was developed, it was nominated for a Golden Globe and Germany was happy about that and then when Angelica Huston got that, that was great. So we’ll see. I don’t know. We live here. I’d love to ideally bridge both worlds. I see myself hopefully as a goalist who is true to my European sensibility but at the same time use what’s great about American filmmaking sort of to combine that.

MoviesOnline: Can you elaborate on that a little bit? What’s different about American filmmaking?

Katja: The pace, a certain kind of storytelling. I’m still learning that too.

MoviesOnline: Can you talk a little bit about casting and why you chose Agnes (Bruckner) and Olivier (Martinez) especially?

Katja: When Gary Lucchesi and I met him, we came out of the meeting thinking that he’s like a wolf and apart from his looks and his beautiful eyes that are like a wolf’s, he’s a very strong spirit, very much like a wild animal and he brought a lot of that spirit to the film. He had a lot of great ideas and he was very much capable of putting himself into the shoes or the perspective of an animal. You know, being hunted by men, that’s how you approach it and it was great. He totally got that.

MoviesOnline: What made you think of him as being like a wolf?

Katja: I would say his spirit, his strong spirit. You can’t tame him.

MoviesOnline: How did you sense his strong spirit before you cast him?

Katja: It was in the meeting. It was in the meeting that we both just sensed it, the producer and I.

MoviesOnline: What about Agnes?

Katja: Agnes came to the casting. When she spoke, she was very charismatic and I think she also got it when I said, ‘now do this scene as a wolf.’ Some of the other actors before her thought I’d lost my marbles, but Agnes thought that was so cool. I really liked her as a person too. We kind of clicked as people. She’s so funny not in the cast necessarily, but when we were shooting we had a great time. There was something about her also when I watched Blue Car which is – I don’t know if you’re familiar with that film but it went to Sundance and it got her first attention when she was 16. She turned 20 when she did our film. She’s way mature beyond her age. She did Blue Car and I watched Blue Car and there was something about her there that I saw this sense of leadership that she hasn’t really claimed and that is in Vivian. You know in our story there’s this prophecy about this girl who’s supposed to be the leader and I really saw the potential for that in Agnes and it was an important aspect for me and I also think it’s something that she has but hasn’t really claimed yet. That was very Vivian to me.

MoviesOnline: You also had Katja Riemann and Jasmin Tabatabai and Jutta Hoffman. Are you guys still pretty close?

Katja: Very close. You know Katja is … I’m godmother to her child and she’s godmother to my child. I’m godmother to Jasmin’s child. These are all actors that were in my German film, Bandits. One of them performed in the club in the green dress. She has the absinthe colored dress. She wrote the song for the film. And Katja Riemann is an actress I’ve worked with several times. And Hugh, by the way, was also a big deal. We were chasing Hugh like nothing. I mean he came to the audition and we were all like, ‘oh God, he has to be Aiden.’ It took some convincing and I was so happy when he said yes because he has this intelligence and also this sense of wonderment – a very unusual combination apart from being beautiful.

MoviesOnline: How did you sell it to him?

Katja: We worked on the script and improved the part and then sent it to him again. He played hard to get. (laughs)

MoviesOnline: So your son is now five years old?

Katja: Five in February.

MoviesOnline: Do you teach him German?

Katja: Oh yes, that’s his first language.

MoviesOnline: Does he go to school yet?

Katja: Yes, he goes to pre-school. We travel so much. He had a great time in Romania. He lost his English completely because he was hanging out with his German cousin in Romania. And it was so cute. You know how we had free running in the film, all this extreme sport when they sort of jump and bounce off the walls? I thought that was a great aesthetic for the stunts in our film. It was actually our cameraman’s idea. And so we did all the stunt training, the free running training with the actors and we actually had a free runner that we cast as one of our pack members, you know, Kirby. He’s one of The Five. He’s one of the actors who really does it. That’s what he does. And then at home the kids would sometimes come by on stage and watch the rehearsals of that and the training of that. Now the living room in the home we had in Romania was a parkour, you know, a free running parkour and then I always had to do this [mimics filming with camera] so they would do the parkour and jump off the table and down the sofa and they just loved it.

MoviesOnline: You named your son Merlin. Do you have a knack for the supernatural, you know, the realms that are beyond our banal, everyday world?

Katja: In that case, I just loved the name. But yes. (laughs) No, I really just loved the name. We had preferences. When he came out, he just… We were holding off on the last decision and then we looked at him and that’s what he looked like.

MoviesOnline: Are there plans for a sequel? The film seems to keeps it open ended.

Blood & Chocolate Clip: What Have you Done?

Blood & Chocolate Trailer 2

Blood & Chocolate Clip: Werewolf!

Blood & Chocolate Clip: Run!!

Blood & Chocolate Clip: Prophecy

Blood & Chocolate Clip: Please!

Blood & Chocolate Clip: They Fall?

Blood & Chocolate Clip: Eyes

Blood & Chocolate Trailer

Katja: I don’t know. We’ve really tried to come up with the best ending for this film. The producers never said, ‘ah, you know, it really has to work for a sequel.’ It will happen if it’s right and if not, not. Sure, you could start a film in Paris and the pack summons her because they need her and she’s the leader. You could but we haven’t formed any plans.

MoviesOnline: You mentioned it took time to get used to living in Hollywood. What exactly do you mean by that?

Katja: In Germany we grow up with American culture. We think we’re so alike. But we’re not. It’s very different. There’s so many things here that are between the lines that are not being said that you still have to understand what the hell people mean. For instance, you can’t say no. People just don’t say no. You know, you buy a suitcase and you go into the store and there’s a red suitcase and you say, ‘Do you have it in blue.’ ‘We only have it in red.’ ‘Do you have it in blue?’ ‘We only have it in red.’ ‘Do you have it in black?’ ‘We only have it in red.’ You can’t get a ‘no’ out of them. It’s kind of great because it’s positive but coming from Germany where they love ‘no,’ it takes some adjusting. In fact, it’s their favorite word. ‘Can you do it?’ ‘No!’ (laughs)

MoviesOnline: Do you enjoy that more or are you more of the straightforward type? Did you adapt to that?

Katja: You know both have their pros and cons. Let me just say that. There are things I miss about Germany and I go back frequently and there’s stuff that I love… I love living here and I love going back to Germany. I love being able to travel to both places and live both places although I do live here now and I enjoy it. There are things that I love about it and it feels right for me right now and there’s stuff that I don’t like about it and that’s true for Germany as well, but it feels right for the moment.

MoviesOnline: You have another project pending that’s in the works, "Probable Future,’ can you talk a little about that?

Katja: Well it’s a project I have in development. It’s based on a book by Ellis Hoffman and there’s some other things I’m working on but I’m not sure what the next thing is going to be.

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