Finnish Netflix film to be released in 190 countries – director Dome Karukoski: “The numbers are huge”

A man and a woman watch the meteorite in the showcase in the movie Little Siberia. — Little Siberia is a crime comedy in which a meteorite falling from the sky throws a small town into turmoil. The relationship between Joel (Eero Ritala) and Krista (Malla Malmivaara) also goes off the rails.

Dome Karukoski was offered the job of Little Siberia’s mentor in a difficult life situation. During the production, he learned to forgive himself.

A couple of years ago, the streaming giant turned its eye to Finnish cinema.

The first original Finnish-language Netflix film made with Finnish actors has been created and will premiere on the service on Friday.

*Little Siberia* has been translated into 30 languages and is published simultaneously in 190 countries. The potential audience is in the hundreds of millions.

– The figures are ferocious. It becomes such a strange fear.

Dome Karukoski smiles relaxed and looks away. In a little jacket pocket, a lilac liina. — Dome Karukoske is busy on the eve of the premiere of Little Siberia. Netflix will keep the media frenzy going for a few weeks. After that, the success of the film depends on how many viewers it attracts.

Indeed, the director has tried to keep in mind that his and Netflixink’s primary goal is to reach the Finnish audience with the film.

– I hope my mother at least likes it, and that the team is not completely ashamed of it.

Netflix is \u200b\u200bknown as a platform where even a surprising film or series can become a phenomenon that passes popular culture.

– If the movie becomes an international hit, \”Karukoski acknowledges.

People endured, cars did not

Finnish nature is * in Little Siberia * in the central part. The chase also has its own nuance when it is done in the snowstorms.

In the descriptions, the extreme conditions became familiar, says Karukoski.

The actors’ role clothing had been chosen for frost about 15 degrees Celsius, but for the first three weeks, the frost was at worst 35 degrees Celsius.

Two men discuss in winter landscapes. In the foreground a snowy car. — Little Siberia was filmed in extreme conditions, with temperatures reaching -35 degrees Celsius at the worst. According to the director, the actors handled the conditions better than the cars. Teemu Aromaa (left) and Eero Ritala.

It didn’t help but do the job as effectively as possible.

– In the style that we have a certain time before the actor’s foot has to be amputated.

During the frost weeks, 28 cars broke down during the filming. Production hired a car repairman.

– People lasted. Cars do not. It was a little Siberian observation.

Divorce and burn out

* Little Siberian* The protagonist is a pastor who has moved to a small village.

Criminal comedy themes include jealousy, mercy and forgiveness.

Karukoski was in the middle of the divorce process and Burn Out and toured the world with the modest * Tolkien * (2019), a modestly successful * (2019) in Hollywood. Life began to open up from a new tips.

– For the last five years, I had been on an airplane, Los Angeles, New York, London – manically chased something. I was not happy with how I had behaved and lived my life, the director admits.

Little Siberia behind the scenes. Film director Dome Karukoski points to Eero Ritala, the main character behind the camera. — For director Dome Karukoski (left), Little Siberia was more than a film project. In the photo, he shows Eero Ritala the next steps in the filming of the movie.

Karukoski applied for therapy.

– We also ended up talking about my fatherless complex. I only met my father at the age of 14.

– It came somehow at a perfect time. The main character is Pastor Joel, who is broken, jealous, incomplete and temperamental. I also had a lot to repair.

The message baked inside the humorous novel impressed the director.

– The book was a big lesson for me. You have to be able to forgive others but also to yourself.

Similarities with the Alan Wake video game

* Little Siberia* brings to mind Remedy’s popular* Alan Wake* series, as Finnishness is aptly portrayed by exoticism. For Finns, the characters are recognizable, and from the outside, at least special.

Karukoski has good experiences with the same setting. The Heroes of the Arctic Circle * (2010) he guided is a comedy about hopelessness, depression and alcoholism.

– The idea was that no one other than a Finn can understand this. Only we can laugh at black things like this. And in the end, the film did well abroad.

The Finnish mental landscape operates abroad when it is boldly done, the director believes.

– Then the story is as true as it can be in this movie.

The woman leans on a snowy car in a snowy jacket in winter landscapes. — The characters in the film, such as Krista played by Malla Malmivaara, are recognisable to Finns, but to foreign audiences Little Siberia may seem exotic.

Netflix a laggard in decision-making

According to the instructor, the film, in American studio production in entire private money – in American studio production, has their own laws.

Netflix worked back in all decision -making.

-I wanted the Dome Karukoski movie and got the freedom to do it.

In practice, the financier questions the decisions and requires justification.

– When operating with big companies like Netflix, you must be ready for it.

Even individual replies may be discussed with the sponsor, says Karukoski. Such an operating culture can distress European filmmakers.

– Personally, I do not see it as a control but as a narrative and a habit. When you are able to justify things, your budget will increase.

The priest looks at the man in the back of the camera indoors in the movie Little Siberia. — Joel, played by Eero Ritala, makes some extraordinary choices for a priest.

Little Siberia employed hundreds of Finns

Netflix has not announced * Little Siberian * budget, and Karukoski does not know it exactly.

\”However, many things, such as the size of the team, show that the budget is higher than the domestic movie on average,\” says the director.

* Little Siberia* production in North Karelia employed hundreds of people during the filming-in addition to actors and film staff, work was available, for example, for traffic stops and tractor drivers.

Money moved in local hotels and restaurants.

– It’s an advantage when US money suddenly comes here. That’s what the film industry needs in Finland.

In Finnish, Little Siberia would be successful in order to continue to happen.

In the panel discussion of the invited guest show, the company represented that the biggest investments in games in Finland, but the potential of films is also being explored.

– Nobody knows what Netflix’s strategy is in two, three years. The processes are long. Netflix acquired the rights to the Little Siberian * book in 2018, Karukoski points out.

Actor Eero Ritala and the film team in the winter landscape in Little Siberia. — During the filming, Little Siberia employed hundreds of Finns.

“It would have been a shameful situation”

If the movie was named a totem animal, the choice would be clear. That would be a deer.

The deer becomes a central element together in the scenes of Antti Tuomainen’s novel.

– I think it’s a great and film -like scene, says Dome Karukoski.

From the movie, the deer missed the perpetrators as such. The reason is realities.

– The deer is a wild animal. You can’t just bring it inside and pull it there. I understand it well and I do not want to burden animal polo.

According to the director, the VFX specialistry map would have been bouncing away from the pictures. The robot deer would have been ordered from North America, but the option did not convince the director either.

– I watched those videos. I said that the Finnish audience would see what that Karukoski fools over there. It would have been a shameful situation, the director laughs.

*Corrected 18.3. 10.21am: Name error in caption. In the early part of the story, there is actor Teemu Aroma on the left.*