In the case of 'The Deep,' because of the people involved, the talent and the real lives of people who died, I wanted to make the most honest film I could. And sometimes that's the best way to go: Just make the best version of the film you can.
If you make a film too American, it won't travel. It will have no life outside of its own country.
When I write and develop things myself, I might work for a while on a script from a book, and then I go back and read the book and go back into it to see if I lost something: is there something there?
I have no problems with remakes, and I think it's interesting. I mean, coming from the theater, we've been remaking 'Hamlet' for a hundred years, so it's no problem to me at all. A good story can be told in many different ways in different places; I just think it's interesting.
For me, the source material can come from anywhere. It can be a poem, it can be a dream, it can be a movie, as long as the end part of it is interesting - that's what it's about for me.
The thing about Iceland is that we are trapped there anyway, all of us. We have been trapped there for thousands of years.
I consider myself more a European director who is from Iceland than an Icelandic director.
Real acting is about giving people an insight into a person, letting the audience in.
Sometimes those big bloated superhero movies take themselves too seriously compared to the material they were based on. Am I going to listen to psychoanalysis from someone with a mask?
When 'Iron Man' came out, I said, 'Oh - they are trying to have some fun.' It was a relief because every superhero movie had become so damn serious. Some people love that, but for me, it's a weird thing to watch. A man with a cape can have fun, but I won't listen to a lecture from him.
