LEILA FADEL, HOST:
Icelandic director Baltasar Kormakur is best known for his action thrillers from "Contraband" to "Adrift" to "Beast." But his latest film, "Touch," is a love story that spans decades, continents and cultures. After being diagnosed with a form of dementia, Icelandic widower Kristofer sets off on a journey to find a lost love. He's played by Egill Olafsson. All of this takes place in a race against time as the world begins to shut down because of the pandemic.
The film came to be almost by accident when Kormakur's daughter gave him a novel for Christmas. It inspired the film. He spoke to me with his son Palmi, who plays a young Kristofer.
BALTASAR KORMAKUR: I couldn't put it down, and there was something about the kind of quietness of being drawn into this simple story in the beginning, but then - and then, as it unfolds, it gets much more complicated, and I felt totally gripped by the end of it.
FADEL: How closely did you work with the novelist Olafur Johann Olafsson on the screenplay?
B KORMAKUR: Very close - you know, it's said in the industry that you should not work with the novelist on a film script.
FADEL: Oh, really?
B KORMAKUR: Yeah. It's like, no children, no animals and don't work with the novelist.
FADEL: (Laughter).
B KORMAKUR: But this was very, very different. And he said from the beginning, it's your film and be of any help to get to the script right.
FADEL: It's interesting the way you described the book - this quietness that sort of starts out slow and then grips you, and you can't put it down. That's how your film is. That's how I felt as I was watching it. And it opens with Kristofer jetting off to London just as the world is shutting down for COVID. Where is he going, and what is he looking for?
B KORMAKUR: Well, in 1969, when he was studying in London, he meets this girl. And after a year or so, she disappears from his life, and he never gets over it. When he's diagnosed with Alzheimer, he realized it's his only chance to understand what happened to this love of his life, but it's also looking for closure that he starts on a journey and goes to London to find her, which brings him to Japan.
FADEL: Now, Palmi, you play a younger Kristofer. What drew you to him?
PALMI KORMAKUR: Well, I was assigned the book for a school course for my Icelandic studies.
FADEL: So you both kind of happened upon this book separately?
P KORMAKUR: Yeah, for sure.
B KORMAKUR: Yeah, absolutely. Yeah.
FADEL: That's so interesting.
B KORMAKUR: And (laughter) also Palmi's participation - it was actually kind of coincidential, to be honest.
FADEL: Really?
B KORMAKUR: Yeah.
FADEL: How did it come about?
B KORMAKUR: Well, you know, Palmi hasn't really much been acting since he was - did a little bit as a child. He wasn't interested in acting. Then Palmi shows up at my office, and he's like - I thought, oh, did we have a - like, a meeting, or we're going to have lunch or something? He says, no, I'm coming from casting.
FADEL: (Laughter).
B KORMAKUR: I wasn't there during the audition, but people from the company started calling me and telling me if I've seen the audition, and I - rest is history just because of, you know, nepotism and all that. But I decided to send focus and my co-producers and the author of the book a few select tapes and - of actors and...
FADEL: Right, so it doesn't seem like you're just picking your son.
B KORMAKUR: Yeah. So it was a unanimous decision without that knowledge.
FADEL: Yeah, you're so good in the role.
P KORMAKUR: Thank you.
FADEL: What made you step away, and what made you step back?
P KORMAKUR: I was just trying to be more accepting of change, more open to just trying to say no less. And Selma (ph), the casting director called me offering me to audition for this part. And I just felt sick to my stomach just thinking about going to an audition.
FADEL: Really?
P KORMAKUR: And then, you know, I kind of manned up, and I thought, you know, if this is so anxiety inducing, if this is so uncomfortable for me, then I should really do it just to feel the pain, you know? And I'm happy I did that because apparently it was all right.
FADEL: The thing that struck me, too, about the film is sort of the carelessness or the beauty of youth, like the rash decisions that Kristofer makes in his youth and also the rash decisions he's making at the end of his life.
B KORMAKUR: Yeah. And as he starts that journey, he starts to do similar things like getting a tattoo. Like, he just opens up and the character of him that he was originally, before this trauma, comes back, and I love that. So yeah, I have a - kind of a connection with this. I was one of the few filmmakers who started shooting in COVID. I was the first one in the - I think the first Netflix protection I did. So I have this going against the grain, and I totally understand Kristofer. I mean, there's nothing I - and I love this idea. He's going one direction, and the world - the whole world is going the other direction.
FADEL: I want to play a clip from this one moment.
(SOUNDBITE OF FILM, "TOUCH")
KOKI: (As Miko) It's like I never left.
(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)
KOKI: (As Miko) He's still stuck there.
P KORMAKUR: (As Kristofer) In Tokyo?
KOKI: (As Miko) No.
(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)
KOKI: (As Miko) Hiroshima.
FADEL: And this is a moment after Miko's had a fight with her father. Your character's falling in love with her. And you go down this rabbit hole of looking into what happened in Hiroshima and the atom bomb that was dropped there. You're not afraid. You still lean into this relationship.
P KORMAKUR: Yeah. And you can see this fire inside the character when he is passionate about something. His mood is a little bit like a steam engine, you know? It takes a while to start up, but once it gets going, it's not really something you can stop so easily.
FADEL: What's it like working together? I'm curious.
P KORMAKUR: I enjoyed it a lot.
FADEL: Yeah.
P KORMAKUR: Yeah. I think it was a great mix of knowing your colleague and boss and being able to leverage that in a creative way.
B KORMAKUR: Yeah, I have to say it's - one of the most rewarding things you do is to meet your children in a working relationship. It's really - you see a different persona, you know? You have to also let go of your kind of paternal or fatherly tendencies, you know? You have to kind of respect like you would respect any other leading actor in your film. Was an - yeah, incredible journey.
FADEL: That's Baltasar Kormakur, director of "Touch," out in theaters now. He was joined by his son Palmi who stars in the film. Thank you both so much.
P KORMAKUR: Thank you.
B KORMAKUR: My pleasure. Thank you.
(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC) Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
NPR transcripts are created on a rush deadline by an NPR contractor. This text may not be in its final form and may be updated or revised in the future. Accuracy and availability may vary. The authoritative record of NPR’s programming is the audio record.
