In an interview, director Baltasar Kormákur talks about the movie Beast and answer various exciting questions. From working with Idris Elba, shooting in the vast expanses of Africa, to conveying a very important message about Nature, let us find out what Baltasar has to say.
Baltasar is a well known Icelandic actor, film director and film producer. He has directed some interesting titles like 101 Reykjavík, Everest, The Sea, A Little Trip to Heaven, Contraband, and more.
About the early days
The talk begins with the time when he got a call from the producer about this movie. The mention of Africa and Idris Elba made the premise sound great. And when the lion was introduced into the story, it got the Beast director all excited about doing the movie.
The Story of Best made it more Exciting
When Baltasar read the story, he found it to be a perfectly fine story which he can play with. Sure, the story is not plot heavy and has a very clean journey. But this means it gave the director to put his touch in the movie.
Moreover, there was nothing about Africa that would keep him away from this movie.
Working with the actors was a feat
Baltasar calls Idris Elba one hell of a movie star with a huge charisma. His on-screen presence brings soulfulness to the movie. Idris perfectly portrays the role in the movie, where on one side he is fighting to keep his girls alive and on the other side, he is fighting to keep himself alive.
Talking about the daughters, Iyana and Leah both play their roles as expected. The director remembers auditioning so many young girl and find these two “diamonds”.
He also recalls working with Sharlto Copley, a South African actor, who also plays his role magnificently representing Africa.
How was Shooting ‘Beast’ in Africa
Baltasar says shooting in Africa was incredible. He talks that he had the challenge of creating a baseline of reality of Africa with the baseline of the movie script. The director went from Namibia to Mozambique to find locations for the shoot and then back to Cape Town. Nevertheless, he enjoyed shooting in Africa very much.
Challenges with filming a Lion that wasn’t
The director says that presenting a real lion was a huge challenge. This would not have been possible a few years back with the realism with which it can be presented today.
They had to see footages of how lions behave, how they attack, and then put all that in a shot. It was priority to not only understand the gravity of the shot but also the gravity of the lion to portray everything perfectly.
The character of Idris was raised in a lion farm, so they had to know everything about lions to make the reactions and scenes as real as possible.
The Important Message
The reporter asks if the movie conveys any message. About this, the director has to say that Beast has an important message, that is to respect nature. He adds, we can’t blame nature for our troubles, but what we do in nature. We take their (lion’s) lands, poach them, and in the end they are going to strike back. For example, see the climate, we can’t blame tsunami. Its a course of action that doesn’t start there.
The Interview
You can view this short but interesting interview below: