This is huge to me, he beams.
Ive made films since as long as I can remember.
I tried many different things in art painting, poetry, and photography but filmmaking somehow clicked with me.
Vic Carmen Sonne in Magnus von Horn’s ‘The Girl With The Needle’The Match Factory
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Here he discussesThe Girl With the Needle…
DEADLINE: How did this film come about?
I moved to Poland for film school, and I stayed.
Magnus von HornJuan Naharro/Getty Images
I have a wife and family there.
Thats how it began and thats how Denmark came into the picture.
Its nice to direct in languages that are not my own.
DEADLINE: What was the inspiration?
I began to think, How much do we want a better life?
And what price are we prepared to pay for that?
A lot of these themes came up that interested me.
Its very personal to me, but Im happy to speak about it.
DEADLINE: What happened?
VON HORN:My wife was pregnant with a terminally ill foetus and we went through an abortion.
This was something that deeply affected me and also this project.
VON HORN:What we went through sent us on a an emotional journey beyond politics.
I felt regret and doubt even if I knew we had done the right thing.
I have always been pro-choice, I support abortion.
This is one of the main topics of the film.
DEADLINE: What was behind the decision to shoot in black and white?
That was a big challenge.
And I also think its completely a way for us to push the fairy tale aspect of the film.
Its not a world that is entirely based on facts.
Its notexactlywhat Copenhagen in that time looked like.
DEADLINE: How did you find Vic Carmen Sonne, who plays Karoline?
VON HORN:I met Karoline maybe two years before we started production.
I have a fear of never finding my main actress, and I found her very quickly.
She has a visual effect on me that just makes me believe she comes from that time.
I can put her in front of the camera, in those options, and she works perfectly.
She was also very helpful later.
DEADLINE:Its a very different role for Trine Dyrholm.
How did you get her involved?
Id approached when the script wasnt really ready, and she said, No, its too early.
This time, she agreed.
The first time we met, we were having lunch, and we were talking about the script.
I could see that she that she was curious about the character.
She took up a toothpick and started frantically playing with a tooth.
It was like she was giving me a little taste of what she could do with this character.
She didntsayas much, but I could feel it.
Shes sort of fearless, in a way that is necessary.
To go into darkness or be unsympathetic, shes not scared of that.
DEADLINE: Its interesting that we dont really find out what her characters motivations are… Theyre still there, in a way.
But what this character does is not something I want to defend, on a certain level.
Im also not going to pretend, or try, to find the reasons for her behavior.
For me, it was important that shes a kind of a devil.
