Face to Face with... Tomas Jonsgården

Swedish director Tomas Jonsgarden’s powerful new short film, Want To See Something? is based on a short story by the late American author Raymond Carver. Filmed entirely at night, it explores friendships shattered by a painful incident long ago.

Here Jonsgarden tells us about his motivation for the project, the challenges of the shoot and his insomnia antidote. Check out an excerpt from the film above and watch the full version here.

What made you decide to adapt Want To See Something into a film and how did you develop the script?

A friend suggested that I check out Raymond Carver’s work. His opinion was that we shared the same aesthetic and artistic train of thought and assumed that I would connect with Carver’s writing. He was right. I read Carver’s work and I was flabbergasted by how good it was. I felt a strong emotional affinity to Carver’s voice and his way of making everything appear unassuming and everyday like but at the same time so special and interesting. Despite his portrayal of the United States during the 60s and 70s it’s easy to relate to the characters and their complex relations. The human nature and the relations between people are universal and highly current today.

There was one story in particular that caught my attention and that was Want To See Something? I remember I thought it had such a dramatic and beautiful atmosphere with many interesting layers. Since the original story is designed as a literary piece I’ve made some necessary changes to fit the format of film. In its original form the story has no beginning and end. It’s just a fragment, a slice of something bigger. I wanted to give the story a beginning and end. A big part of the original story is the main character’s inner thoughts. I felt that I wanted to change that and instead let the actors express and radiate their inner thoughts to screen.

In the end there were quite a lot of changes in the final adaptation. Prose and film are different mediums and you have to consider what works in telling a story in pictures versus in words. But I was always keen on keeping Carver’s unique universe. I think most of the original dialogue is still there.

What are the themes that the film explores?

Human relations. How we as human beings relate to each other, that’s what the story is really about. It’s this complexity in the human nature that is so fascinating. On the surface this is a simple story that unfolds and turns into something darker. There’s underlying regret, anxiety and sorrow coming up to the surface. Something terrible has happened that has torn apart the relations between the neighbours and good old friends. We may keep living our lives like nothing’s happened but sometimes it’s good to stop and reflect on how we really feel, and maybe do something about it.

Were there any issues with getting permission to make the film?

I wrote a letter to Carver’s widow, Tess Gallagher, who’s the owner of the Carver Estate now. I told her about my intention that I wanted to make a short film of WTSS? and she gave me her blessing. I know that Magnus (my producer) had quite a lot of paperwork to go through with the Estate but there was never an issue.

Did you encounter any unexpected challenges during shooting?

I have promised myself to never make a film that takes place entirely in night exteriors again. It’s quite challenging when there’s nothing but pitch black. It’s very time consuming with the lighting and hard to get it right especially when there are no natural light sources around to motivate the existence of it. We had to make the ambience light appear as if it was coming from the moon. Also, at night everyone’s tired and everything goes much slower and you have to deal with a lot of technicalities when all you want is to focus on the performance of the actors.

Apparently the film’s been well received at some festivals. Can you elaborate on that?

I travel around on the festival circuit (when I can find the time) and get to meet people and talk about the film and it’s really inspiring and fun. I like the fact that the film travels around the globe and finds its audience.

This is your debut as a drama director. What did you learn?

I learned how much I love making films. In a longer format you get the chance to take off as a director and develop characters that you rarely are able to in commercials. In commercials you’re looking for short moments - a look, or a move or something like that. In a longer drama you spend more time on each shot and the consequence of that is that the whole scene must work and be as strong as possible.

I also learned how important it is with the chemistry between characters in a film, how they affect each other and the meaning of a main role and a supporting role. They need to compliment each other to make a perfect whole.

A good thing that I brought with me from the advertising is the conceptual thinking. The core idea needs to shine through in every single molecule in the project – to the poster, opening title etc.

What do you do when you can’t sleep?

When I’m not out hunting slugs in my backyard I probably lie in my bed listening to podcasts from Swedish public service radio. Often there’s a documentary running in my headphones at night.