Afternoon, geeks. I had the pleasure of speaking with Anders Walter yesterday, director of I KILL GIANTS. I got some interesting insight on what happened behind the scenes of the film and learned a bit about the intentions of it.
I KILL GIANTS is out in theaters now! If you haven’t seen it yet, you should!
Big Eyes:
Good morning, Mr. Walter, thank you very much for speaking with me today. I loved your movie I KILL GIANTS, Barbara’s hardship was very relatable, and film itself was quite moving... What was it that made you decide to share this story with the world?
Walter:
...The screenplay got to me before I knew it was based on source material. I just a got the screenplay by my kin and felt very deeply for the story, maybe I should say I felt very deeply in love with the character named Barbara. She was such a special and unique character, and I felt a lot of empathy for her. And I wanted to tell her story.
Big Eyes:
Do you feel like you relate to Barbara?
Walter:
No, not really. Some of my short films prior to doing this also deals with how kids or preteenagers have this ability to create imaginary worlds, or parallel worlds, where they used those worlds as a source of--you know, to ease pain, or to escape certain traumatic things in life and that I recognize… It’s something that got me very emotional. And I felt it was important to convey these things in a way you really take the kid serious and to bring a certain emotional depth to that story… It’s beautiful how kids can go into this world, and create these beautiful worlds, at least for themselves in order to go through this process of grief. BUT, with I KILL GIANTS, obviously the interesting aspect was that here we have a girl that takes it too far. It becomes a story about how she has to open up to other human beings before she can come out on the other side. I think it’s beautiful premise that we have to--in order for us to move on in life, we have to open up to other human beings… and in that relationship we’re able to come back to life. I can’t really go into detail how it ends, because it is a guessing game throughout the movie.
Big Eyes:
Yeah, you don’t want to give away the end. And for sure, if an adult were to do the same thing she did, they’d probably put her away.
Walter:
*laughs*
Big Eyes:
I guess people don’t really take children’s emotions seriously as they should?
Walter:
Maybe as a parent, you do. But kids, I have two kids. I think kids tend to have a language to express themselves. So sometimes it’s difficult for the grownups around kids to really understand. If kids are suffering, or if kids are in pain. Because it’s not all kids who verbally open [up]... My own two kids all of a sudden do open up and you get very surprised.
Big Eyes:
It’s like there’s a whole person in there!
Walter:
Yes. You really have to show them attention in that regard, and be aware about these things. Because if not, we risk that they go around with crazy things by themselves for too long, and it becomes a negative effect in their life. Of course, kids are our future and healthy kids are preferable for our future. *laughs* Mentally healthy kids.
Big Eyes:
Is the audience you are trying to reach: kids who you feel that need to learn to be more open, or maybe for the adults that need to listen to the kids more?
Walter:
I don’t really think about it in that way. Obviously, when you are trying to find a niche for a film like I KILL GIANTS, people keep asking me who is this film for?
Big Eyes:
It could be everybody.
Walter:
Yes, for me: everybody. But you can’t say that. I tried to say that in the first couple of meetings where we were trying to finance the film. I’m like “yeah, this is for everybody! Everybody loves a great story and loves to be moved and inspired by a story that deals with the human potential in some degree”… and I KILL GIANTS is very powerful in that sense. Who is it for? Is it a teenage film? Is it for girls because it’s an all female cast?
Big Eyes:
I think that if you can reach everyone, if everyone can take a little piece from it, I think that’s great!
Walter:
Yeah, I really hope so. Hope that there are different elements from the film that can inspire different ages and that people can get different things from the film depending on where they are in life.
Big Eyes:
So I noticed that you’ve used very particular colors throughout the film, there’s a lot of rich greens and magentas. Was there a particular reason for that?
Walter:
We did shoot this film in Ireland, and not Long Island. …We shot this around Dublin, and a lot of the film takes place in nature… and I was expecting so much gray weather, because it was in October, and September, and normally it’s gray and rainy in Ireland in those two months but we got a lot of sun. Not knowing that we would get a lot of sun, I planned then to do a lot of contrast between the outdoor and the grayness that I expected for the outdoor. I worked the warmer colors in the house and the school, but then all of a sudden we found ourselves with beautiful sunsets and just fantastic weather in Ireland and then all of a sudden we got this warmer tone that you can’t quite plan for because you never know what nature’s gonna give you on the daily. I think, looking back now, it does bring a good tone to the film. I’m very pleased with the way the whole thing played out… As a filmmaker: you can only plan for certain things. Shooting a film where 50% takes place outdoor, there are definitely things we can’t do much about in terms of weather.
Big Eyes:
It came out looking great, I loved it. What was it like working with Mr. [Joe] Kelly and Mr. [J.M. Ken] Niimura?
Walter:
I didn’t work with Ken Niimura that much. Ken was on the set for a week just hanging out. Joe, of course, being the screenwriter--not only for the graphic novel, but for the film. Joe and I worked closely, very close... Joe and I would actually go out together and pitch the film. Joe stayed on as a tremendous help throughout the process. Not so much as we shot the film, but in pre-production, we would have a good dialogue… Often he would come with a great insight into the material for obvious reasons… and really helped to move the film in the right direction. He’s such a gentleman, it never really felt like he was trespassing, and I think he felt the same about me. After he did come on board as this director who wanted to dictate everything else--I was really open to having a dialogue with him, also because it was a very personal story for him. And I know that the graphic novel is a very personal piece of work for him and Ken. They feel precious about it. So I really approached this with tremendous respect for him and Ken and the book.
Thanks a lot to Mr. Walter for speaking with me, it was a pleasure, and I hope I get to do it again in the future. I already said it in this article once, if you haven't seen I KILL GIANTS, you should! Wheels wrote a great review on it.
~Big Eyes
