Erik Van Looy on the importance of patience on and off-screen
With the release of his new film, De Premier, Flemish director Erik Van Looy reflects on the ups and downs of his professional career
Waiting for Spielberg
The idea works well in De Premier (The Prime Minister), the new stylish thriller by Flemish director Erik Van Looy. “My films always start from a basic idea that’s bigger than life,” says the Antwerp director (pictured), whose previous films were about a professional killer struck with Alzheimer’s (De zaak Alzheimer) and five adulterous men who discover a body in a shared up-market apartment (Loft and its American remake).
“Thanks to what’s been happening around the world, the premise of my latest film appears less far-fetched now than eight years ago, when I came up with it,” Van Looy says. “Nothing seems impossible these days. Not that I want to suggest that De premier is a serious film about terrorism.”
That’s true enough: Van Looy – also famous in Flanders for his jovial hosting of the hit TV quiz series De slimste mens ter wereld – adds nice touches of humour to the action. And the crux isn’t why the criminals want to kill the American president, but how will the prime minister manage to disobey their orders and save his family, who’s being held hostage. This last element lends the thriller an important melodramatic edge.
“I totally agree, but in the good sense of the word, right?” Van Looy asks, with a worried undertone. Of course, in the sense that films like Gravity or Interstellar are melodramas, too.
A dash of Kubrick
Van Looy says that his colleague, director Felix Van Groeningen (The Broken Circle Breakdown, Belgica), whose work he deeply admires, is to thank for that. “We never worked together, but after Loft he was asked if he could ever make such a film. He answered that he could not because he always starts from an emotion. I was startled because I invest my heart and soul into my films, and I hope the audience fully empathises with the characters.”
But after some thinking, says Van Looy, “I realised that Van Groeningen was right. I generally start with the wheels of the story. So I tried to make this new one more personal, without giving up the entertainment value or the suspense.”
Van Looy’s last film was The Loft, the American remake of his hit 2008 movie Loft, which broke box-office records in Belgium. Though working in Hollywood was a childhood dream-come-true, the film bombed with both critics and audiences.
My main characters are also far from flawless, and the criminals at times are charming
As for the lack of ticket sales, “that was due to distribution problems,” Van Looy says, “although I also underestimated the cultural differences at play. My films don’t have a clear-cut protagonist. My main characters are also far from flawless, and the criminals at times are charming. It’s the sort of cinema I love to see, but it doesn’t work in the US.”
For the moment, he’s not thinking about chasing Hollywood fame. “But you never know what life will bring. If the likes of Steven Spielberg or Tom Hanks propose something, the least I can do is listen. I’m open to more options because I certainly don’t want to make a cheap action flick. I want my films to have more than one dimension, but that’s not an easy sell. If Michael Mann has problems producing his films, I know I have an even lesser chance.”
Eight years ago, Van Looy was lying in a beach chair on Tenerife when he came up with the basic idea for De premier. “I had to wait eight years before I could film De zaak Alzheimer,” he says. “In the end, that was a good thing. The film wouldn’t have been as good if I had made it five years earlier. I learned that I need the time to keep working on the screenplay. De Premier has confirmed that feeling.”
The characteristic grin returns to his face. “Some directors are geniuses who can make a film every year. I’m not. I may not have Stanley Kubrick’s talent, but I certainly have his patience.”
De Premier review: A new kind of Flemish thriller
For unknown reasons, a group of gangsters kidnaps the Belgian prime minister’s wife and two children, whom they will kill if he doesn’t murder the American president. A summit in Brussels that same day provides the place.
By linking the prime minister’s distress to his family, Erik Van Looy’s sixth feature film adds a strong melodramatic dimension to the thriller genre. It’s a first for the director and an interesting change, especially when you consider that love and professional life are more intertwined here than you would normally expect.
This melodramatic twist is the reason why what on paper looks like an unbelievable idea, works on screen. But there’s more. At 56, Van Looy has grown as a director. Despite the fast-paced editing, the mise-en-scène remains coherent and transparent. It’s a compliment Van Looy likes to share with his director of photography, Danny Elsen.
Another major trump card is a strong ensemble cast of both English-speaking and Flemish actors. Primus inter pares here is Koen De Bouw, the De Niro to Van Looy’s Scorsese. He’s at the top of his game, thanks to an understated performance that still doesn’t shy away from emotion.
Once you accept the premise of De premier – and I did because of the mysterious dreamy opening sequence – you’re in for one hell of a ride. It’s a thriller the likes of which Flanders has never seen before. ★★★☆
In cinemas now across Brussels and Flanders (in Dutch and English)
Photo: Frank Abbeloos
