An in-depth exclusive interview with director JOHN ANDREAS ANDERSEN talking about the powerful, eye-opening, and frightening THE BURNING SEA.
There are few directors who can tell an environmental disaster epic like JOHN ANDREAS ANDERSEN. Best known to Western audiences for The Quake, an outstanding action-packed and socially conscious environmental disaster film, John now helms THE BURNING SEA; and given the current geopolitical situation in Eastern Europe and the concerns over oil and gas, this film couldn’t be more timely.
With the producing team from The Quake and the Roar Uthaug-directed The Wave behind him again, John delivers a powerful film written by Lars Gudmestad and Harald Rosenløw-Eeg that speaks to man and Mother Earth and the price that man pays for his “abuse” of nature and the environment.
SYNOPSIS: “In 1969, the Norwegian government announces their discovery of one of the world’s largest oil fields in the neighboring North Sea, launching a prosperous period of offshore drilling. 50 years later, the environmental consequences begin to manifest – a crack has opened on the ocean floor, causing a rig to collapse. A team of researchers, including submarine operator Sofia, rushes in to search for the missing and assess the cause of the damage, but what they discover is that this is just the start of a possible apocalyptic catastrophe. As rigs are evacuated, Sofia’s loving companion Stian becomes trapped in the depths of the sea, and Sofia must dive in to rescue him.”
Directed by JOHN ANDREAS ANDERSEN with script by Gudmestad and Rosenløw-Eeg, THE BURNING SEA stars Kristine Kujath Thorp, Henrik Bjelland, Rolf Kristian Larsen and a scene-stealing performance by young newcomer Nils Elias Olsen.
Having had the privilege of previously speaking with John about The Quake, it was a joy to chat with him again, not only about his attraction to environmental epics but this time drilling deep into the challenges and the “making of” THE BURNING SEA, including:
- translating the film from script to screen
- research on the oil industry to gain at least a “superficial grasp” of the industry and the process of pulling oil from the seabed
- importance of achieving realism
- shooting on a real working oil rig, being in the real environment
- underwater sequences; combining “real” and digital
- shooting in a “hostile environment” in the Black Sea
- challenges presented by weather
- shooting on film
- importance of “hard prep” which included storyboards, animatics, and design of visual effects sequences
- casting
- and more. . .
TAKE A LISTEN. . .
By debbie elias, exclusive interview 02/17/2022
