Maker of Oscar entry ‘The Worst Person in the World’: Our film has been called anti-romance

This year, Norway submitted Joachim Trier’s 'The Worst Person In The World' as its official enbtry, and if you believe the soothsayers, chances of it winning under the Best Foreign Film category are pretty darn strong.

In an exclusive interview with a global news portal, the director talked about how he has been called 'anti-romantic' or someone who just 'hates romantic comedies' for making 'The Worst Person in the World'.

Add WION as a Preferred Source

"Yes, we’ve been called an anti-romantic romantic comedy or a romantic comedy for people who hate romantic comedies. Well, I happen to love some romantic comedies — not all of them — but the best films, for me, are the ones that force us to look at ourselves, existentially and emotionally and in terms of identity. So it can be quite revealing to look at the concept of love. In the great tradition of the Hollywood screwball comedies, like George Cukor’s The Philadelphia Story, the choice of a partner is actually an existential choice. It determines what’s going to happen in your life," said Trier.

But, he was certain that he wanted to add a dash of modernity to the eternal concept of love. "We wanted to make a modern romantic comedy where it’s not about a woman finding a man in order to find purpose in her life, but to see how being with different people exposes her — to her anxiety, to her fear of commitment and to tease out all the comedy and chaos that comes out from that. 'The Worst Person in the World' is sort of our modern take on that classic Hollywood rom-com idea," he explained.

While talking about his creative process, Joachim Trier talked about his creative process and how he is always 'anxious' while writing. "I’m always anxious when I write, and I have good and bad days. On the good days, I think I can do anything; on the bad days, everything is hard. But this one felt actually fun to write. It was also a collaboration with Renate. I wrote it for her, and I brought her in very early, and we talked a lot about the character and tried to find a specificity of personality in terms of gender. So I hope we got it right. As an artist, I think you have to allow yourself to explore characters that are different than yourself — in age or gender or whatever. I didn’t see that as specifically more difficult than other characters I’ve written. I actually feel closer to Julie than many characters of mine. I hope that comes through," said the filmmaker.

.