The detective thriller, starring Chris Pine and Thandive Newton, is set around a dinner between two ex-lovers and detectives, where horrifying truths and lies are revealed, the director says.
The detective thriller, starring Chris Pine and Thandive Newton, is set around a dinner between two ex-lovers and detectives, where horrifying truths and lies are revealed, the director says.
all old knives A beautiful, tense thriller where ex-lovers and detectives (Chris Pine and Thandieway Newton) discuss a disastrous kidnapping over a meal. The film, which also stars Lawrence Fishburne and Jonathan Price, is based on a script by Olen Steinhauer from his eponymous novel.
Director Janusz Metz says he liked the idea of a detective story over dinner. “It was almost like a chamber play,” the Danish director says over a video call from Los Angeles. “I liked Olin’s tone. For me to take ownership as a director, I have to put my heart and soul into my storytelling. It has to connect and be real. Olin’s sensibility and people’s motivations, longings And there was harmony between my understanding of desires. The idea of this dinner serving as an interrogation between these two star-crossed lovers was compelling.”
The 48-year-old director has described the film as a love story and a whodunit. “On a character level, it’s a love story and on a plot level it’s a whodunit.”
Chris Pine was the first person Metz spoke to about the film. “He loved the project. Chris is charismatic, compelling, eclectic and so perfect in good looks, but at the same time, he can also go into something very dark, like the character of Henry Palin.”
Thandieway Newton in ‘All the Old Knives’
Thandiwe is an exceptionally soulful, intelligent actress, says Metz. “I thought of Celia as a detective at the top of her game. This story is about hiding the truth and playing the double game and Thandiway embodies that quality in many small ways. I get that too. Loved that Thandive has maturity. I thought she is a woman and a mother when we meet her in today’s script, and she puts it as a person. It has given a lot of seriousness to Celia’s character.” Metz said Newton is fun to be on set, too.
place setting
Shooting the dinner scene that frames the film was a challenge from a technical standpoint, says Metz. “You need to control the lighting. We designed the restaurant on a single stage and created a backdrop with giant LED screens of the California coastline and real sunsets of the ocean.
Chris Pine and Thandive Newton in ‘All the Old Kives’
The director says shooting two weeks in the same setting was tough because there is a limit to how many shots can be invented with two people around the table. “We had to play the game of minimalism. It was a poker game, an inquiry into how to get into Celia and Henry’s mental state.”
Light, Metz says, was almost like the third character in the room. “We chose to make Prakash’s journey an important part of the film. At the end of the day, when they leave the restaurant, it’s night and the sun sets on this conversation. We tried to use all these little elements in the storytelling as part of the dramatic structure.
page to screen
A good script doesn’t have to be faithful to the source novel, says Metz. Olin, who wrote the novel, also wrote the screenplay for all old knives, He took the backbone of his novel and put it into a screenplay. Olin and I worked on what we thought would be the best film version of the book.”
The film, Metz says, stays true to the core of the book. “The main difference between literature and film is that the former can tell all kinds of story which a film cannot. You have a narrator in literature who can tell you almost anything whereas in film you have to rely on visual media. Film is a ‘show, don’t tell’ kind of medium, whereas in literature you have the word. Sometimes the work of translation from one to the other is really about visual language and creating those scenes Which you can tell in a novel in other ways.”
Chris Pine in ‘All the Old Knives’
The film, Metz Commentary, looks at events spanning more than three decades. “The nature of conflicts changed during this time.”
Metz insists that detective stories can be turned into great works of art. director who matters The Spy Who Came in the Cold, Tinker Tailor, Soldier SpyAnd third man One of his favorites says, “The best detective stories talk about how the world changes and how we get caught up in those changes. Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy Such a sad experience. Set after World War II, the film shows how West and East are sucked into their own truths and how paranoia creates their own realities. ,
all old knives Stream on Amazon Prime Video from April 8