FILM

An ingenious and witty modern twist on a Nordic myth, Andre Ovredal’s ‘Troll Hunter’ imagines the beasts of legend to be very real and in need of a damn good culling. Robin Askew is impressed.

"Oh wow!" exclaims Andre Ovredal after laughing long and hard. "That's taking it a bit far."

I've just run through my tongue-in-cheek theory that the Norwegian director's clever and funny feature debut, 'Troll Hunter', could be interpreted in a sinister light by right-wing conspiracy theorist nutjobs back home. This is, after all, a film in which the government seeks to cover up murders committed by a Christian-hating enemy within. "You're the first one to have made that connection. To me, it's completely unrelated, obviously. I'm just toying with stuff…"

He's right, of course, even though his film also has an uncanny link to another big Norwegian news story of recent months: as part of the conspiracy, troll attacks are blamed on unfortunate bears. What 'Troll Hunter' does very effectively is play around with Norwegian mythology, embellishing ancient yarns with semi-plausible science to establish its premise that rampaging giant trolls need to be culled in secret by a government-appointed pest control officer. "I've been fascinated by trolls all my life," chuckles Ovredal. "Ours is a small country and we have our own mythology. But it's been really under-used and never put on screen."

His script makes use of familiar troll traits (hiding under bridges, being able to smell the blood of Christians, and so on) garnished with invented troll biology, his only rule being: "No magical stuff. Trolls are animals and they exist. But that's it."

It's also refreshing that he never seeks to sentimentalise them, as Hollywood might have done. His trolls are pleasingly lumbering and stupid. "Yeah, they are definitely stupid. I just wanted them to be depicted like animals in fear. I wanted you to sense the human quality, but if they became too human we couldn't dare kill them. Suddenly the film would have a different tone."

Ovredal dismisses the suggestion that the 'found footage' mockumentary format is getting a little tired "As with a thriller or a horror film, it's just a sub-genre. I thought it was a perfect tool to tell the story - mostly because it puts you right in the middle of whatever is going on and also because it helps the sense of humour in the film."

He also counts himself lucky that effects technology developed so rapidly while 'Troll Hunter' was in production. Certainly, no one will have cause to complain about the lack of marauding troll action. It turns out he has little time for the school of thought that insists monsters should be hidden from the audience for as long as possible. "I think it depends on what kind of movie you're making. Everybody talks about 'Alien' or 'Jaws', but I don't think you can really follow rules like that. I was personally a bit disappointed seeing 'Super 8' that they kept hiding it. Because it was actually a fun-looking monster. It might as well have been shown earlier. It wouldn't have changed anything, in my opinion."

Norway's prime minister Jens Stoltenberg even pops up in 'Troll Hunter' in what appears to be a knowing cameo, inadvertently giving the game away about the troll menace at a press conference. In fact, this is news footage that Ovredal found so irresistible that he changed his film's ending to incorporate it. What Stoltenberg was actually referring to is a natural gas field in the North Sea called Troll. "The government had suggested putting up these pylons to provide better power supplies to the western side of Norway," Ovredal explains. "They were going to be put up all over the beautiful fjords, ruining them basically. That became such a political hot potato. We had all this footage of pylons as part of our plot, so we had to utilise that political atmosphere."

Fans of Norwegian metal will recognise the closing credits song 'Mjod' by Kvelertak - one of an increasing number of bands who draw on Norse mythology for their lyrics. Could this renewed interest in the country's culture and history help explain the film's success in Norway? "I don’t know exactly what's going on out there," he laughs, "but it seems to me that it does impact on youth a lot - and I'm so happy about that, obviously. I think their music's amazing. And I was so happy that they allowed us to use the song. It was just a perfect ending for the movie."

Inevitably, the US remake is already in the works. Far from opposing the idea, Ovredal has given it his blessing and has been actively involved in helping 'Harry Potter' director Chris Columbus to secure the rights. "I've been a fan of his since before I started making films. They wanted me to write and direct it, but I kind of felt I would end up competing with myself. At the same time, I have other ideas I want to explore."

Undeterred by the occasionally miserable experiences of other Europeans, he has no qualms about heading straight to Tinseltown. "Absolutely. I already have one foot there. I really hope to make a film in Hollywood, because that's a lifelong dream."

'TROLL HUNTER' OPENED ON 9 SEPT. FOR REVIEW CLICK HERE.

Copyright Robin Askew 2011