00:00Music
00:20Congratulations on this brilliant film which you made.
00:22Yes.
00:24What was it that brought you back to?
00:26I know that your previous film was eight years prior.
00:29So was it just like biding your time?
00:31Did it take eight years to make this?
00:32It was a combination of things actually.
00:34It was very soon after finishing Hotel Mumbai that I read the script for Pressure.
00:42And that was in about 2020.
00:44The film was released in 2019.
00:47It says 2018 on IMDb but that's not right.
00:50It was released in 2019.
00:51It's a complicated reason why that happened.
00:53But you know we were going to shoot it in 2020.
00:57And then COVID happened.
00:58And it's you know it's a large film with a lot of people warm bodies in rooms.
01:03And it wasn't something that was really built to be shot during COVID.
01:07And initially I thought a few months it'll blow over and we'll get through it.
01:10Of course your audience everyone knows that COVID didn't last that long.
01:13I was locked in Australia for two years.
01:15We couldn't get out you know for good reason.
01:18And then just when we were set to get it going after COVID there was an actor strike in America.
01:27And we had a very small window in order to film this movie because it's set during an English summer.
01:33You had to shoot it in the summer and even then you might not get the weather you needed.
01:36So because of the you know of that you know we missed that window and we had to wait until
01:43the following year.
01:44So one thing leads to another.
01:46It takes some time.
01:47I think we can summarize that as development hell is what they refer to.
01:50I think you could say that.
01:51And also when you're you know writing or co-writing directing and editing you know you're doing a lot you
01:58know doing all those jobs.
01:59So it's it takes more time than usual.
02:01I want to know from everyone I'm talking to today.
02:04What is the most under pressure you've ever felt in your job and on a day on set or anything.
02:09It's a very good question.
02:11I think it would have to be about five days before we shot the D-Day sequence when as art
02:17imitates life.
02:18We had our three teams of meteorologists come to us and say there is going to be an absolute gobsmacking
02:23storm on the Monday.
02:24You're not going to be able to film it and it's all over which meant that we wouldn't have had
02:28a climax.
02:30And you know as life imitates art again come the week and they said we think there's going to be
02:34a gap.
02:35And you know as it turned out the Monday storm came washed everything away and Tuesday morning was a gap.
02:42We rebuilt and we're basically able to shoot our climax that well there was one other thing.
02:47I cut this thumb off when I was making my last film Hotel Mumbai and there was a lot of
02:52pressure when that happened too.
02:53Because I had to film the rest of the movie or had to film out a lot of actors with
02:57sort of the thumb missing.
02:59And so that was not easy to do in Mumbai.
03:01So it's a toss up between the two of them.
03:03You've stood me there, well done.
03:04Okay, there you go.
03:06Thank you so much for your time.
03:07Congratulations.
03:07Thanks.
03:09Thanks.
03:10Thanks.
03:10Thanks.
03:10Bye.
03:11Thanks.
03:12Bye.
03:20We think there's going to be a gap.
03:23And, uh, you know, as it turned out the Monday storm came off different from the West.
03:27Tuesday morning was a gap.
03:30We rebuilt.
03:38Well, I mean, first of all, when it comes to weather and connection with war, that is interesting for me.
03:47I did a couple of war films now that were much more raw and battles and teutonic fights and all
03:55that.
03:55And then when you have then a film that deals a little bit more with science and the knowledge about
04:03how can we approach something and when the focus is in a way shifting away from the war in itself,
04:11because we know the story very well, from the Allies side and also from the German side.
04:17We know that very well. And so I found the courage of James Stack as finding out the truth when
04:26they should land and actually saving a lot of lives.
04:30I found that story was incredible and I wanted to somehow find a sound for them.
04:36In any way did, obviously, your success with all the quiet and long Western Front, did that lead into this
04:44coming to you in any way, like that relation of two war films or was it just kind of coincidence
04:48at a different time?
04:49No, it was my work with Anthony Maras on his last film called Hotel Mumbai.
04:55And, you know, we worked together very nicely. And I mean, honestly, it's when you have a connection that works
05:02and where you have the freedom of developing things and you're not forced to, let's say, to fulfill a certain
05:09role.
05:09I love this. And so when somebody asked me and the book is good and, you know, I have time,
05:17I love to do this.
05:19Obviously, this film is about multiple kinds of pressure, but I want to know in your career, what is the
05:26most pressure you've ever been under professionally?
05:29When have you felt the highest pressure in your career?
05:32Maybe when I did my first improvisational concert in front of 2000 people.
05:38How'd it go?
05:39It went well.
05:40Well, good. The pressure worked.
05:41Well, I love to put myself under pressure to feel alive in a way.
05:49And with music, it's when you have no concept, no plan, you have to actually deal with the aspect that
05:57you are enough as a person in that moment.
05:59And yeah, and that works from that moment onwards. I think I've never done a concert without, with notation or
06:08with a plan.
06:10So it is, it is a good, it's a positive pressure.
06:14I agree.
06:15Thank you so much for your time. Congratulations again. Cheers, Volker.
06:39Well, that's all we've got time for tonight here at the European Premiere of Pressure. What a fantastic night it's
06:46been.
06:47So thanks.
06:47That's awesome.
06:47Thank you
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