We spoke with Jantje Friese and Baran bo Odar, the creative duo behind a fantastic odyssey with influences from ‘Lost’ or ‘The Shining’
Almost five years ago now ‘dark’, Serie really shrouded in darkness, took the public by surprise fond of mystery puzzles and/or multi-layered family dramas. Although his aesthetic suggested it, it was not the German answer to ‘Stranger things’, but something more joyfully complicated: a gruesome yet romantic immersion into the folds of space and time with a view to eternalism, a philosophical current according to which the future already exists and all points in time are connected.
After the success of its first season, Netflix signed its creators, screenwriter Jantje Friese and director Baran bo Odar, to create exclusive series and projects. The first result of the deal is ‘1899’ (Thursday, the 17th), capable of blowing heads like its predecessor while breaking hearts. We could define it as a camera version of ‘Dark’: practically all of its action takes place in the confines of a steamship, the Kerberos (start guessing about the name), which transports European emigrants from London to New York in the throes of the 19th century. Behind the reappearance of a ship that disappeared months ago, its route deviates into the unknown.
“It is true that it is more intimate, perhaps due to the landscape of the action, an enclosed space from which people cannot escape“, says Friese in an interview by video call. At his side, his partner cites influences such as ‘Alien: the eighth passenger’ or ‘The Shining’, “in which we find a contained situation from which people cannot emerge and begin to lose your mind”. They also talk about an “anti-influence”: ‘Titanic’. “We didn’t want anyone to think about that movie, about the romance and the brilliance. That’s why we decided on such a black ship. If The Cure had a ship, this would be it! [risas]”.
‘Lost’ on a ship
Of the almost two thousand people who travel on the Kerberos, sixteen are the ones that really interest Odar and Friese. Two very specifically: the English doctor Maura Franklin (Emily Beecham), followed closely by the tortured captain of the ship, Eyk (Andreas Pietschmann, the Stranger from ‘Dark’). But they also care about the fate of the sad wife (Mathilde Ollivier) of a lieutenant (Jonas Bloquet), or that priest (José Pimentão) with a brother who is not celibate (the Valencian Miguel Bernardeau, revealed with ‘Elite’). Each episode delves into the particular history of a characterWhat are they running from and where do they want to go?
Characters on the run from themselves who find their bones in a mysterious cage: ‘1899’ could also be defined as the nautical version of ‘Lost’. Odar and Friese celebrate the comparison. Says the first: “To us, Damon Lindelof and everyone who was involved in it are masters of what they do. We were one of those viewers trying to delve into mythology and symbols; there were secrets hidden everywhere.” As in the ABC classic, in the end the important thing is the characters: “We can touch on unusual concepts, but we are interested in the reality of our creations, closely following how they go through that experience,” says Friese.
At the origin of everything is something very real: “The refugee crisis that Europe is experiencing, in which each nation is working in a different way and with which we are witnessing the rapid disintegration of the Europe we knew,” says Friese. Through the fantastic adventure they wonder what unites us and what divides usor lament the division that fear generates.
Another starting point was a photo found during the research phase: a man standing on the deck of a ship, hammer at the ready, his white shirt stained with blood. “We had no idea where the image came from, or who captured it,” says Friese. “From it we asked ourselves questions that gave rise to history: how did that man end up there? What happened on that boat? Why is it stained with blood? What was he running from? Where is he going? That was the beginning of a process that took us to a completely different place than we imagined”.
productive limitations
The series was announced in November 2018, a year before the first news about the pandemic. The plan was to shoot as much as possible in real locations, reproduce the ship at least in part, and use a water tank. “Then the virus came,” recalls Friese. “And for a short period of time, we thought there would be no show. Making a pan-European series in the middle of a pandemic was impossible“.
They found a difficult but productive solution in the technology known as Volume: a combination of a wall of LED screens with real stages, these elevated on a rotating base in the case of ‘1899’, all to accommodate recording from different angles. Method popularized by ‘The Mandalorian’, whose filming, on the other hand, they could not visit: the United States had closed the borders to flights from Europe and they had to settle for listening to the podcast of the series. “It took quite a while for us to master the technique,” admits Friese. To which Odar adds: “But after three seasons of ‘Dark’, doing the same thing again wouldn’t have been exciting. We wanted to learn something new. Not knowing what was going to happen actually filled us with energy.”
The future of ‘1899’ now depends on the favor of the public. “The first season ends with questions, with some answers, but also questions,” Friese advises with a smile. “Our plan is to do three seasons. Extending a mystery beyond that is always complicated.” Three seasons: precisely Lindelof’s original plan for ‘Lost’.