The following phone interview with Sonja Richter, who plays Merete Lynggaard in the (mostly) Danish-language The Keeper Of Lost Causes, was a little tricky, not because her English was poor but due to the fact that much of her role in the film is a secret.
So how were you cast by director Mikkel Nørgaard, Sonja?
He and one of the producers went to film school at the same time as I went to theatre school, and so he knew me and he had seen me in the theatre. And then I was also in the movie that he made when he finished film school, his graduation film, and so they knew me, and they called me in regard to this movie. First they asked me to read the book, as it’s really popular here, and then I went to a meeting to see what they were planning to do with the film… And then I went to another meeting when the script wasn’t really finished yet, but they had a few scenes ready and so we did them [Sonja briefly mentions a few plot points here that she shouldn’t have]… And then they called me again and asked if I really wanted to do it, and so I said, ‘Yes, it looks like fun!’ It was a hard film to do because the book and the film are two different things, and so telling the story of the book was not so easy.
Merete is seen in the film alone so often, so that must have been challenging as an actress…
It was all very challenging, but what was great about it was that Mikkel said to me at the beginning, ‘Sonja, I don’t know how to do this, so I think we might just need to make stuff up!’ Usually on a film you would have a better idea of where a character is going… Now I know Mikkel quite well, and it was great that he had such trust in me. That was very good, as I knew that he would tell me if what I was doing was too much or didn’t look good or whatever. That was our greatest fear: that the movie would fall apart if this part wasn’t right… It was stressful. It was all about us wanting to go there in your mind and imagine that situation. I spent a lot of time reading about people who have been in this sort of situation, and it really got under my skin, having all of these thoughts and going there emotionally. It had to be 100%… When I saw the final cut of the movie I was a bit shocked as so much of it had been cut out, but I also knew that what was left was all that was needed, and was intense. Mikkel told me that they had had some test screenings, and that people just couldn’t stand some of the scenes that I was in as it was all too creepy, and so he decided that we shouldn’t be in there for too long.
And what have you been working on since The Keeper Of Lost Causes wrapped, Sonja?
Right after doing this movie I went to New Mexico to do a movie called The Homesman, which was directed by Tommy Lee Jones, and I think it’s coming out in America in October… I also did a Swedish movie called Gentlemen And Gangsters, and then I did another Danish movie called When Animals Dream, which was a thriller too. You know, we do a lot of thrillers here! I guess that maybe that is to do with the fact that we live in such a dark place. I think we call it the ‘Nordic Noir’ [laughs].
And Sonja: Danish crime thrillers and dramas are in vogue internationally at the moment, as well as Danish actors like Mads Mikkelsen [who co-starred with Sonja in the ‘Dogma’ movie Open Hearts back in 2002], so will you perhaps be looking to work more in America because of that?
Yes, I would love to. You know, Denmark is only a small country, and I love it here, but I do feel that if I want to seek more challenges then I’m going to have to see more of the world. And I really want to, and meet more people too. I feel like maybe I’ve emptied out everything that is available to me here, and that if I want to grow as an actress then I really need to get out more.
I Wake Up Screening 