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Like These (2007). during shooting, director and actor had had a row
and had briefly fallen out. remembering this spat was what prompted
van groeningen to give him the role in the new feature. ‘that is who the
father in The Misfortunates has to be. he’s the guy who everybody likes
but who all of a sudden changes. this should shock you. this guy has
these fits of aggression that come out of nothing. that also creates this
tension between father and son which is at the heart of the movie.’
ENJOyABLE AND ExHAUSTINg
van groeningen has various trusted collaborators who’ve worked on all
his features. these include cinematographer ruben impens, editor nico
leunen and producer dirk impens. ‘the producer is maybe the biggest
collaborator because he is really there from a to Z. he’s in at the start of
the scriptwriting and, of course, on the shoot, the post-production and
the releasing,’ the director reflects on dirk impens.
van groeningen begins his movies with a clear artistic vision but still
wants and expects input from his colleagues. ‘collaboration is the key
word in filmmaking... i like to say that i don’t exactly know where i will end
but i know where i want to go.’
during the build-up to The Misfortunates, dop ruben impens was
present at rehearsals. the editor, nico leunen, was then heavily involved
in creating the look of the film, which is shot on digital and combines
both grainy-looking colour and some black and white sequences.
this was an enjoyable, if exhausting, film to make. the director and crew