Its been quite a process getting to here. That was actually very difficult to have a big enough pool of women to choose from, which I thought was quite sad.. According to Friese, creating the mythology of one of their shows is a long, painstaking process. "I gave that to a couple of actors and they all had the same experience. "We worked on a database where every scene is broken down under certain circumstances. We always think we have to answer everything. John Mulaney's New Netflix Special Is a Critical Reminder About Celebrity [Editors Note: The following contains spoilers for Seasons 1 and 2 of Dark.]. What resonates with a lot of viewers is this feeling that we also sometimes have: do we matter? It takes 60 seconds to spin and its a huge turntable. For two or four weeks I was completely lost to the world.. Sign up for our Email Newsletters here. 'Dark' final season: here's what happens at the end of the Netflix time travel thriller. When Jantje Friese and her partner Baran bo Odar created their German-language science fiction series Dark for Netflix, they had no idea that it would become an international hit. I think the two concepts needed two different kinds of storytelling. But of course, the number is also very magical: 1899. "And then after the third season of Dark, there was this huge pressure on our shoulders, because everyone has expectations, and everyone kind of either wants to go on the same ride or kind of the same ride. Friese: We didnt want to copy exactly the way we structured things inDark. The setting is a migrant steamship bound from Europe to New York, filled with immigrants all running away from something, none of whom, we quickly realize, are quite what they seem. At the same time, the refugee crisis was happening in Europe [around 2015/2016] and it was a very unstable phase. Some of it, we knew. Whats the space in which youre telling your story? See how the filmmakers used 'Volume' to create a story at sea. The entire first season was filmed at the Dark Bay LED studio on the Studio Babelsberg lot outside Berlin. That was very fun. If you turn that upside down, its 666, the number of the beast, so its magical too. Its not the kind of story that can be reworked and improvised on the fly with each passing group of episodes, as Friese can attest. Narratives or stories are always about human behavior and human connection. Do you have a huge board on the wall with red yarn linking up various elements? What we learned was that using the Volume studio, the mid-ground is everything. Interviews with leading film and TV creators about their process and craft. In the middle, there may be some ideas that are more loosely thrown in. All this we sort of incorporated into our story. The Hollywood Reporter is a part of Penske Media Corporation. Michael (Sebastian Rudolph) is Michael. bo OdarBut lets not forget thatDarkwas three seasons. Poguelandia is not quite the paradise the Pogues hoped. En route, they encounter a mysterious second ship, the Prometheus, which has been missing for months, adrift on the open sea. "Because there are so many layers of science philosophy and metaphysics and spiritual stuff, and it was quite interesting to see that they are all actually talking about the same thing, just from different angles. Ahead, EW sat down with the creators to pick their brains about all of that and solve the mysteries of what viewers can ultimately expect when 1899 drops on Netflix on Nov. 17. (Laughs.) Subscribe for full access to The Hollywood Reporter. It was such an interesting challenge. Then if you know something about simulation or content creation in that space, maybe youdo understand what that means in our context. Like letting go of some love affair.. We put a lot of effort into getting things right. Friese: I completely agree. ", Her partner feels differently though. And the older they get, it gets worse, said Friese. Jantje Friese: What we really liked about 1899, not 1898 or 1897, is that it's on a threshold. It was something to give to the actors. By the end of the second season, the timeline of Dark has become more of a time-web, with certain characters now able to hop back and forth through time without adhering to the 33-years rule, while other characters discover that certain people they meet are actually their own future selves. Dark Duo Jantje Friese and Baran bo Odar Add Volume to Their Process Halle Bailey, Melissa McCarthy, and director Rob Marshall share the tale behind making their underwater musical with a groundbreaking Disney princess. We can see that even if you dont really understand what words are being spoken, you understand what the other person is trying to communicate. Now I can spoil it: There is already a hint in Episode 1 when everyone is raising their teacup at the same moment. Teases Friese, "There's definitely a core theme in the center of 1899, as well, and it's basically looking at that core theme through a narrative, but it's not time travel. As for fans of. Wheres he going? Friese compared it to the Season 1 episode that first travels to the 1950s and the Season 2 episode that revisits the day of Michael's death. In every season there is what I always call a bridge episode, because to me its like the bridge in a song Friese said. Even 24 frames per second, creating motion from still frames, thats the first illusion you create as a filmmaker. From Barbie to The Flash, Here Are the Movies That Made the Biggest Impact at CinemaCon. I love her! said Friese. ", Someone at Netflix mentioned the volume tech, and Odar and Friese were very impressed by how it looked. It's really awkward for us, this huge success, we always question it. And more of your Drive to Survive questions, answered. The song White Rabbit plays over the opening credits. Season 1 was tricky enough, but midway through the second season you may find yourself needing to construct a character yarn board on your wall to remember everything that's happened, who the various actors are depicting at various intervals along the timeline, and when any given scene is taking place. Ling Yi has a digital glitch in her arm, so clearly its something digital [at work on the ship]. I makes it very difficult.. If you want to have an authentic performance, its just better when actors perform in their own language. All Rights Reserved. America So She Could Breastfeed Privately, Michael J. How did the actors react to working in this new virtual space? What happened in that period is that modernism clashed with old beliefs. bo Odar:Thats a message to Final Draft: Work on that script notes function. One may be desperate to see the world the duo has created for 1899, the teams new Netflix series, but could also be slightly worried their brain might not be able to handle it. Can we change anything? Doubtlessly, you have questions on your mind, about the two new worlds introduced in the final season, how the Dark production team put the parallel universe into reality, what Jonas and Marthas final sacrifice meant, the logic behind the final dinner scene, and most importantly this: is there more to the story? You can try that for a day, and its really awkward to do if youre not left-handed. "I think we created a very small world, to be honest, on Dark. All Rights Reserved. The Film Industry Lost Some Titans This Year What Happens Now? It never happened.'" Jantje Friese: They think they know how this works but they don't. They are still human. You're crossing into a new century, stepping from something that feels old school to something new the future. "We prepped a year to get there, because it is a beast that you have to understand. I need 360 degrees. Thats when the idea came to use a turntable so you can swap things in easily. Were going back and forth. The two resulting timelines are more than just metaphorical reflections of each other. The former show, after all, spawned a worldwide cult following of fans eager to untangle Dark's knots, and the idea for 1899 first sprung up after Dark's first season. It felt like unified Europe was slowly breaking apart, like every country was doing its own thing. And though he believes it's the way of the future of filmmaking, Odar stresses that it was still a ton of work. Creators Baran bo Odar Jantje Friese Stars Emily Beecham Aneurin Barnard Andreas Pietschmann See production, box office & company info Watch on Netflix S1 with subscription Add to Watchlist Do you first have the themes and then drop in characters and develop the mystery out of that or do you have the puzzle first and then see how the characters and themes fit into that? Note: This article contains major spoilers up through Dark's Season 2 finale, and some mild spoilers for Season 3. Is that aMatrixreference? That was the big question. Friese and Odar are coy when asked about it. The following interview discusses Season 3 of the Netflix . Those were a key reference. One reference we did not use, and not because we dont like the film, because we loved it when it came out, wasTitanic. Could bruiseless avocados, sugarcane plastic and carbon-capturing concrete actually exist in real life? Obviously, we were fighting for our own characters to to be heard, but then you just have to make choices.. Others were like: This has so many more complicated puzzle pieces, what are you guys doing? Because Im a very traditional filmmaker; I like to give the actors a lot of space and not limit them by saying, We just have this angle. They have to realize that, yes, we suffer and we have pain and desires, but we two are not so important that we must exist so someone else cant be happy. When Netflix was looking for the first German show, there were two things happening. "But there are also things that are quite different in terms of atmosphere and tonality, but also pacing and more action-y stuff happening. Netflix was even kind enough to share a 10-minute catch-up video in the week ahead of the final season's release. Jantje Friese and Baran bo Odar discuss what they kept from set and the difficulty of letting go once filming on the series ended. They always knew where it would go, but they recently watched the last episode in the cinema and they were like, oh my God!, Odar: We dont play with the audience and treat them as fools and idiots; rather, the opposite. There are actually two things. Jantje Friese: What we really liked about 1899, not 1898 or 1897, is that its on a threshold. Its really mind-opening and I personally still read stuff and Im really blown away. But I dont want to fill those gaps. Jantje Friese - IMDb But where they're going isn't to a different time period; she clicks a device and suggests they're going to a different world. ', John Mulaney's New Netflix Special Is a Critical Reminder About Celebrity, 2023 Emmys Predictions: Outstanding Lead Actor in a Limited Series or a Movie. The triquetra and things coming in three is one of them. 'Dark': Creators Jantje Friese and Baran bo Odar - IndieWire We have to do this? But then they loved it, too. Netflix Unveils Latest Trailer For 'Dark' Creators' '1899' - Deadline ' Odar said in a recent interview with IndieWire. It was really challenging for us in the third season to establish another world with maybe even other timelines, too. Was it a challenge for the actors themselves, who are often performing opposite someone whose language they dont understand? We had a lot of photography from really weird people with very strange lighting setups that created a very interesting isolation of the figures in the images. WithDark, the story is really so much about time, about using something linear and then making lots of knots, throwing it at the audience and getting them to figure out how to untangle it back into a more linear logic. That was the initial plan. I think what was the most surprising thing was that there are actually some words that you cannot translate into certain languages, or they have a different feeling or nuance to it. Insane. 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Watchers of the show can lean on some helpful online resources while they watch, such as the extensive official companion website that recaps important plot points organized by character, time period, place, and important object. [Friese laughs] I played weird music the entire day and it became this very weird experience for everyone. What kind of symbols do you use? Odar:We mirrored the image in the camera. Its a new kind of thinking for filmmaking: You have to think in layers and how you combine those layers. We had to get cars from England for some shots where the steering wheel had to be on the other side. To create an illusion that the virtual space is a three-dimensional space its fascinating. Jonas and Martha sacrifice themselves and their own worlds in order to stop the loop and save the origin world. We wanted to be fair and just to each of the characters, but obviously some of the endings needed to be cut out or just arranged in a different way, Friese said. Its both hopeful and ominous at the same time. Dark: Here Are 8 Easter Eggs You Might Have Missed Amidst All Those Time Travel Shenanigans How composer Ben Frost creates dream-like sound design. To be honest, we had them all in these pods; they couldnt move. Chris Emil Janssen/Action Press/Shutterstock, Bo and I met in film school and since Day One, we were convinced that it was possible to tell local stories coming out of Germany that could hit an audience anywhere, Friese said. One bad idea weve definitely said is not going to happen is that1899is related toDark. We wanted to end on something that looks normal. But of course, movies likeThe ShiningorAlien, where you have a contained situation like a ship or hotel where people are stuck and they cant escape it, that creepy feeling of corridors and how much you can see or not see, that was definitely a major influence visually. ", Friese says she was bothered by this for the first few months actively working on the scripts for 1899, but, "At some point, we just said, 'Let's shake it off.' Everything is planned in that one holy book. Were hinting at that in the first season all the time that its a circle. Did the actors all know about the ending? ", It's kind of funny, given that it's basically a quantum theory lesson told entirely in German, that the show has become so popular. Hopefully it feels like something really fresh and new, while still [being] exactly what Dark fans would like to watch." The Creators of '1899' Reveal (Some of) the Secrets Behind the New Netflix Mystery Series Jantje Friese and Baran bo Odar, who also created the streamer's hit 'Dark,' are back with another meta. The idea of the three worlds is constantly shown in the second season, through the picture in the book young Elisabeth is reading. We spoke to Dark co-creators Baran bo Odar and Jantje Friese about saying farewell to the series, the spiritual and mythological influences they crammed into the third season's eight episodes, and how in the world they managed to keep everything straight. FrieseThat was the whole point of the show. It was really fun. We thought it better to shift the puzzle pieces around. Entertainment Weekly is a registered trademark of Meredith Corporation All Rights Reserved. Still, there are enough locations that do exist, exteriors that even when dismantled were the site of many memories for those who worked on Dark. Its understandable that even Odar didnt want to give up the show right away. The Best 36 LGBTQ Movies and TV Shows Streaming on Netflix Right Now Because if you cannot express certain emotions through your language then theyre almost non-existent in that culture. For Louis, being on set and shes entering the room with his jacket, the first reaction was like, Give me back my jacket! Robot, earned critical acclaim and three German movie awards, Netflix approached the duo to adapt the film into a series. Theres just an underrepresentation of the different European cultures, the different narratives from around the world. But the novel is so voluminous that the miniseries format makes more sense." Is this a hopeful note in your mind? With1899, because were on a ship, and its constantly moving, the camera is too. Speaking as someone with a German wife who doesnt get irony, Id love to have an emoticon to end my sentences. He almost reveals what happens before hes interrupted. How do I free myself from my reactions to certain impulses? Friese: We are big believers in ambivalence. The international cast includes Darkalum Andreas Pietschmann, Emily Beecham, Aneurin Barnard, Fflyn Edwards, Miguel Bernardeau, Maciej Musial, Lucas Lynggaard Tnnesen, Rosalie Craig, Clara Rosager, Maria Erwolter, Yann Gael, Mathilde Ollivier, Jos Pimento, Isabella Wei, Gabby Wong, Jonas Bloquet, Alexandre Willaume, and Anton Lesser, among others. Odar says there were two reasons why they opted to use this new technology, which has been used previously on shows such as Disney+'s The Mandalorian. To mirror the world we know, we could either do that by rebuilding all of the sets. ", "We're really bad at celebrating ourselves," he added. Now we finally fill in the gaps and you see how the circle plays out. Lets look at them as music instruments. Offers may be subject to change without notice. Friese:Our scripts look like Frankenstein monsters. No one is just evil because they want to be; everyone is reacting to their own hurts and wounds. Get a behind-the-scenes look at the new mystery-thriller series. Usually, the foreground is the actor and then the background is what you have on the LED volume screen. Much to the disappointment of diehards who might venture to Berlin in the hopes of visiting the shows most pivotal location, the Winden cave doesnt actually exist. If you leave enough open for people to pour their own creativity into it in that way, it lives. Proceed with caution. I was so miserable because somehow youre really more prepared for failure then success I guess. Thats crazy because that like, usually you have to look for for nose [physiology] because thats the most [obvious] pointing thing.. But that simple trick, listening to the music rather than trying to follow the words, that helped me a lot. The thriller follows a forensics agent desperate for answers after finding out shes an identical triplet. What happens when you have all these different cultural backgrounds, that are put into a space like this? "[It's] definitely not easier, really," he says. For instance, the ship's dining room, which is a pivotal set piece on the show, was not an actual physical room that they built. So, a very simple example: In French, you can address someone in a formal or an informal way. But first, EPs Shannon Burke, Jonas and Josh Pate tell us all about the Season 3 finale. Related There are different sections in there in the beginning, I just put Post-its in so I can still rip them out again. ", But amid all the symbology and references to religion and philosophical theory, there is one very simple concept that unites it all: the notion of an immutable past that, quite literally, in this case, always catches up to the present, and in so doing, informs the future. Fans of Netflix's twisty time travel series Dark will be happy (although perhaps not surprised) to hear that creators Baran bo Odar and Jantje Friese's followup, 1899, is a real mind-bender. Baran bo Odar & Jantje Friese | Netflix Dark Season 1 Exclusive Interview Letting all of that go, for me, feels very satisfying. 'Dark' Final Season, Explained: Baran bo Odar and Jantje Friese She also doesn't want viewers to expect to learn everything when the show ends. And. ", If all goes according to plan, fans have many more episodes to look forward to. What was the original spark? The same people laugh, cry, they get born, they die just fundamental human stuff. 1899 Cast: Set Sail for Multilingual Mystery, 1899 Poster Hints at Series Big Mystery, All Aboard: The Mysterious 1899 Trailer Is Here, The 1899 Teaser Will Rock the Boat and Your World, 1899 Star Andreas Pietschmann Reveals the Series Visionary Stage Tech, How Emily Beecham Untangled the Mystery of 1899, How Composer Ben Frost Conjured the 1899 Score in the Belly of an Actual Ship, The Opening Sequence of 1899 Charts a Course for Mystery, New Thriller 1899 Sets Sail in November, So, What *Did* Tully Do to Kate? "I don't know if that's a German thing. It was a very magical moment. I went back three days after the end of shooting because I was really not feeling well, to be honest. The Hollywood Reporter is a part of Penske Media Corporation. So, as I said, we learned a lot. Odar: Its really up to the audience to answer it. You can follow the Back to the Future kind of way where you can actually change stuff in the past that will affect the future which with my very personal more deterministic view of the world is nonsense, said Friese. That, for us, is a metaphor. For an ensemble this vast, its almost impossible to give each person a dedicated farewell. In talking about a mirror world, though, we wanted to use that trick and actually mirror the images. What we did is construct a turntable so that we can spin the set around in a few minutes. Dozens of questions swirling around your brain about what actually happened? This time travel paradox of creating a closed causal loop, where the origins of something cannot be determined such as the chicken and the egg, is introduced in Season 2 to set the groundwork for such mind-blowing revelations. Obviously, a pyramid already gives you so much mysterious context. At first, you think everything is possible, but its not. Season 2 ended with Jonas being whisked away to another world, possibly another dimension by a version of his now-dead girlfriend Martha (Lisa Vicari). Finally we could do whatever we wanted with them. So, in moving forward, lets assume you have watched all of Dark. IndieWire is a part of Penske Media Corporation. How did the idea come about for 1899? 'Dark': Creators Jantje Friese and Baran bo Odar - IndieWire Jantje Friese and Baran bo Odar's latest mindbender 1899 has recently dropped on Netflix, and with it has come a swathe of comparisons to their previous endeavor, Dark.Even putting aside the duo . Where to Watch This Week's New Movies, from 'Are You There God? Baran bo Odar Definitely. Odar: I definitely view it as a happy ending, though you can also interpret it as a suicide mission, of course. I put a lot of thought into it: What kind of information and when do you explain certain rules? 1899 (TV Series 2022) - IMDb Dark creators tease the mysteries behind their new Netflix series 1899 "And obviously, this will only happen if enough people watch, but the way that we approached development and how season 1 is ending, you kind of want to have another one. How difficult was it for you, Baran, given that I assume you dont speak all, what, 10-12 languages your actors do? We really try to be very true to our core audience, which just loves puzzles but also knows every code and every cultural reference. Friese:There are always three key elements. Release Calendar Top 250 Movies Most Popular Movies Browse Movies by Genre Top Box Office Showtimes & Tickets Movie News India Movie Spotlight. Per the official synopsis, what they will find on board will turn their passage to the promised land into a horrifying nightmare. You know it by the emotional state, how they are addressing you, their body language and everything. What happened in that period is that modernism clashed with old beliefs. Was that deliberate? Its all heady stuff, but one that adds an extra layer to the shows mysteries. "If you don't look at the narrative chronologically, but you pick out single characters and just look at their character arcs, it becomes a lot easier," Friese said. After 26 episodes and three seasons of one of the best Netflix Originals to date, there are a few remnants of Dark that remain. 101K views 5 years ago HeyUGuys interviews Director / Writer and creators Baran bo Odar & Jantje Friese for their brand new Netflix TV show Dark - the first original show to come out of Germany. Sign up for our Email Newsletters here. Related I think its a very individual thing. Says Jeff Wise from The Plane That Disappeared: The entire aviation industry has an asterisk next to it.. The success of that show enabled Odar and Friese to tell the story they wanted to tell over three mind-boggling seasons, and also provided a bit of a blessing and a curse when it came time to work on 1899. And thus, fans of this science fiction series can be found discussing Nietzsche and other philosophers, trying to unlock the shows themes of free will and fate, alongside the physics of time travel. But if you know where you want to end, it is even harder to then lay out the structure for the episodes to get there. The season weaves together not only five or six different time periods, but also a second version of those time periods, and goes back even further in time and more years along the way. Well send you our daily roundup of all our favorite stories from across the site, from travel to food to shopping to entertainment. We werent 100 percent convinced that we would get people [away] from the second screen and actually take the time and investment to watch whats going on.