Mumbai: Danish director Janus Metz Pedersen spoke about the challenges that came his way during the filming of his recently released spy movie ‘All the Old Knives’ which stars Chris Pine and Melanie Thandiwe Newton in lead roles.
The film, based on a bestselling novel by the same name, follows the story of two CIA operatives, who examine a plane hijacked in Vienna that killed more than 100 people. Even though the director felt this film was challenging for him, as it is a spy thriller, he loved the script from the moment he read it and used his ability to build and maintain the suspense.
Talking about the challenges he faced while making the film, Janus said, “The challenge of making a spy movie is not to make things too obvious. Espionage is about keeping secrets from people, and choosing when to reveal certain details.”
“Deciding when to hide information from the viewer was one of the most critical things about making this film work. You sometimes have to purposefully mislead the audience to twist the story in unexpected ways, and that was something I really enjoyed”, he added.
British actress Melanie Thandiwe Newton, who essays the role of Celia Harrison also spoke about her character and the repercussions of its traumatic past on her present day life.
Shedding light on her character, she said, “My character Celia is a woman who is coping with a traumatic past. After losing both her parents in a devastating automobile accident, when she was only a teenager, she was determined to use her mind and her skills to fulfill her own destiny in the CIA.”
She further said, “In a way, she found a substitute family in her career as an intelligence agent. She is portrayed in such a way that we sense all the hurt she’s carrying, while still coming across as an agent working at the top of her game.”
Thandiwe added that she relates to her character on multiple levels. “During an ex-intelligence consultant’s time in the CIA, Celia covered some cases that were very close to the work I do in human rights around the world, so I felt a kinship with her straight away.”
‘All the Old Knives’ is currently available to stream on Prime Video.
–IANS