Interview with “Dream Scenario” Writer/Director, Kristoffer Borgli

Full transcript of Interview with “Dream Scenario” Writer/Director, Kristoffer Borgli.

0:04KT: Kristoffer Borgli is a Norwegian film director and screenwriter that centers the bizarre and delightful parts that make us human. Dream Scenario follows a family man and professor muddling through middle age when he suddenly finds himself at the center of a mysterious dream epidemic.

0:22KT: Dream Scenario will be in Australian cinemas from the 1st of January. Kristoffer, thank you so much and welcome to the For Your Reference Podcast.

0:30Kristoffer: thanks for having me.

0:31KT: Well, first off, congratulations. It's been a wild ride. It's been a whole journey premiering at Toronto International Film Festival. How does it feel having your proverbial dream baby out into the world?

0:45Kristoffer: it feels great. It feels, uh, like, uh, you know, the movie talking about, manifesting yourself in other people's heads. It feels like that's what we're doing here for, for a good or bad.

0:57KT: Yeah. And it's like, whether you want to think about me or not, I'm in your dreams.

1:01Kristoffer: Yeah, exactly.

1:04KT: you know, even talking about dreams, even the way that the film was approached, it was done in a way that could like stretch the imagination of what is in reality, a couple of steps from reality. I guess before we even talk about the tone and the themes that were achieved in Dream Scenario, what does the elasticity of being in the proximity, but not grounded in reality offer in Dream Scenario?

1:29Kristoffer: Um, I mean the, the character and the, the place that we start this movie and is in reality, I feel like the movie, um, sets sort of a common ground, uh, expectations of, of what the rules are and the rules are the same as in the real world. And then. When this strange phenomenon starts happening, that everyone is starting to dream about the same person.

1:59Kristoffer: Uh, they are as sort of perplexed as we would, if it happened to us. So, um, the, the movie then doesn't do the usual thing that I think like high concept movies does is, uh, create their, their own inner logic of, of where that goes, but it follows more what I thought was. our current culture and how we talk about things.

2:24Kristoffer: And I thought it was comedic that, would be the tone to discuss like, uh, this, this high concept idea.

2:31KT: And I think that's one of the interesting sort of balances of when do we let the foot off the pedal and go full balls to the wall, right?

2:41Kristoffer: Yeah. I mean, the, the dreams themselves is of course, an opportunity to step away from reality. And, uh, the, the movie is, is. orchestrated in a way that it's rational to to keep going into dreams and at a certain point, uh, you might sort of lose track of when we are in one and when we're not.

3:02KT: Yeah, and you know, you talked a little bit about the tone and I kind of want to talk about the balancing of the tone because I think it really straddled the middle sort of ground in Dream Scenario. We weren't fully, okay, cool, I saw my professor, that's nothing. And we didn't go full Freddy Krueger either.

3:19KT: We were really, you know, traversing both of those worlds. What was it like in the filmmaking sort of process balancing that tone?

3:26Kristoffer: I didn't feel like I was balancing anything. I just was going with sort of to the places that I was interested in. Um, and, uh, I, I think that if you just, sort of Lose all rules of reality, suddenly the movie can become uninteresting. Very much the same that telling another person about your dream can be very uninteresting because there are no rules and there are no reference points.

3:58Kristoffer: And, I wanted the movie to look at a character that's more important to me than even the plot and the devices. Uh, around the character. I wanted to see how they revealed a character for who he truly is, and how he navigates this very strange phenomenon.

4:19KT: And I'm so glad you picked up on that because I am a very new Nic Cage sort of fan, but I would say, like, I'm still recovering from Vampire's Kiss. Um, but I

4:31Kristoffer: Heh heh heh. Yeah.

4:36KT: opinion, but I really appreciated how How real, um, the world felt, especially for Paul Matthews, that, I think what resonated with me most in regards to Dream Scenario was the wanting to be wanted, you know, the wanting to be seen, the American Idol effect of it all, you know, getting that sort of attention, and you know, there was even a line in the film, he's perfectly average, he's a bit of a nobody, um, and there's even a line that Paul says, as long as you don't portray me as an inadequate loser, You're In your dreams, like that was so important for him.

5:10Kristoffer: Yeah, exactly. And it's about, like, self image. And that you can't control your image and how other people perceive you always, and that it, you can lose that control, especially once you start engaging with the sort of public consciousness.

5:27KT: Mm hmm. Yeah, with the pitchforks and the public square of it all, you want to hope that you're on the better side of it, but even that can be a turn of a coin, right?

5:36Kristoffer: Yeah, I mean, yeah, there's like cost of engagement, I think, uh, for almost anything. Um, and it's, it's a very Peculiar time that we're living in, where we are almost forced to sort of curate these personal brands that we're all becoming.

5:55KT: Like, let me speak from my platform as opposed to being a whole human sort of thing?

6:00Kristoffer: Yeah.

6:01KT: and, and from what I understand, this is your first US film.

6:05Kristoffer: Yeah.

6:06KT: yeah. And then you, you talked to in interviews, um, whether it was Collider or Deadline, but you talked about how, you know, there's that Scandinavian sort of sensibility of comedy and bleakness. And even while watching the film, I think it's really cool.

6:20KT: To be living in this time as pitchforky and as public squarey, um, as this time can be, it's so cool to consume like global cinema, whether it's US, whether it's European or Scandinavian. And, you know, even watching this film with Janet's character, the wife, for example, she would say things that felt very European as opposed to being an American, sort of wife of like, you know, this is, we don't really like attention to ourselves or even the way she would Paul's character as well, I guess.

6:49KT: A bit of a big question, but with Dream Scenario, do you see it as a European slash Scandinavian film with American sensibilities? Or do you see it as an American film with European slash Scandinavian sensibilities?

7:02Kristoffer: Ooh. Yeah. I mean, I guess it's a little bit of both. And, I was trying to speak, about the American mindset and sort of American, culture. Um, and, but it is coming from. A little bit of an outsider perspective, it's coming from a person who's, uh, born and raised in Norway and, uh, but I've lived in the U.S. for six years now and, um, and of course, anyone can just, be a little bit of a social anthropologist through news and, and just, uh, podcasts and, you know, there, you can. dive into the, the American mindset pretty easily. Um, so, yeah, I don't, I don't know where it, it starts being Scandinavian, where it stops being American, but, uh, uh, there's a little bit of everything in it.

7:51KT: I think that's the beauty of cinema, and it's also, you know, a bit of an analogy for the film as well. It kind of traverses different sorts of worlds, right?

8:01Kristoffer: Yeah, yeah, exactly. And it's like, um, movies are just, uh, uniquely good at giving you An insider perspective from people and, and, uh, cultures that, you know, this was a bit of a, um, exploration for me too. Like I wasn't born in the American suburb, but I've seen movies from there. And I sort of have a. I grasp on what that feels like coming from a Norwegian suburb, it's like the, there's some family values and stuff that are, um, pretty similar, so, I had to extrapolate, uh, from movies I've seen and my own personal experience with, you know, having a father who was a professor and, and, and growing up in a suburban household, um, like that.

8:51KT: Yeah. And, um, you, you've talked about in interviews, how the idea of Dream Scenario came. Um, but I kind of want to focus a little bit about the meaning and the interpretation of dreams. My dog literally ate my car. I bought a copy and maybe it's my fault. I bought a copy of The Interpretation of Dreams, which is a Sigmund Freud book.

9:10KT: He, he

9:11Kristoffer: Yeah, yeah.

9:12KT: So I kind of, from like a cultural point of view, it's always very interesting. I'm Tongan. Pacifica. Um, so even the idea of dreams, you know, I would have like very dutiful aunties that will be like, what did you dream about? What does this mean? Is this family member going to be okay?

9:31KT: Based on that sort of dream. Were there any sort of like diving into research and what dreams might mean?

9:39Kristoffer: Yeah, I mean, I have that same book and, early part of the inspiration was actually Carl Jung and his theories, especially the, uh, collective unconscious, which he talks about, which is this idea is sort of a Jungian idea. It comes from the idea of do we have some sort of shared consciousness is there, uh, ways that we. It connects in a cosmic way. And though I don't really believe in it scientifically myself, it was very interesting for movies. And, uh, there is sometimes you have dreams that are very obvious. What the symbolic meaning is, uh, if you're worried about some interview or something, and you have a, uh, a dream that is just you getting interviewed for something, it's like.

10:35Kristoffer: Sometimes it matches up perfectly and other times it just seems completely ridiculous and I seem to find myself more in the ridiculous end of dreams that, uh, I can't really make out their meaning, but they are really funny and I keep a dream journal, uh, and entertain myself by, by reading it, uh, once in a while.

10:57KT: I think that's the elasticity of art, right? It allows you to, I guess if you can allow your brain to shut off for a second and just like dive into Nic Cage dreaming in your dreams.

11:09Kristoffer: Yeah, exactly. And it's fun. It's entertaining. It's just, sort of impossible to talk about dreams for some reason. But in this movie, we were able to put a camera inside of dreams. And I think that's the hack to make dreams entertaining for other people to watch.

11:30KT: Oh, absolutely. And they become mini matrices, um, in that way as well. But I want to thank you so much for your time and wrap up with our final question. Um, we finished off our reviews with the recommendation. So what would you pair with Dream Scenario as a double feature?

11:47Kristoffer: Um, I would say The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie.

11:55KT: Okay.

11:57Kristoffer: It's a very funny, absurdist and dreamlike movie. And I think, uh, I feel like I'm very inspired by him and his, uh, surrealism.

12:09KT: Okay. Great. Well, thank you so much for your time. Enjoy the film premiere. Enjoy basking in all of the glory and all of the dreams that Dream Scenario. Thank you so much for your time.

12:20Kristoffer: Thank you.