At the Taormina Film Festival, Icelandic director Baltasar Kormákur spoke. diverse About the romantic drama “Touch,” adapted from the novel by Olafur Johan Olafsson. The film was released last week in the United States by Focus Features, and has received rave reviews and a 93% rating on Rotten Tomatoes.
Previously, Kormákur has portrayed Idris Elba facing off against a lion in “Beast,” and Jason Clarke and Jake Gyllenhaal facing off against a mountain in “Everest,” but in some ways, the story of old man Christopher, who comes to terms with his lost love while facing early-onset dementia, is just as grueling.
“My daughter gave me the novel for Christmas, and it intrigued me, but she didn’t say much about what it was about. Then I started reading the story of an old man reminiscing about his life, and slowly but surely the novel began to grab my attention. It was a very strange and interesting novel.”
His recent divorce was influenced by his own personal struggles when he edited the book. “I went through a difficult divorce a few months ago, and it led to all sorts of reflection on my life and looking back. And while it’s very different from this story, it was one of the reasons I called the author two days after I got the book and suggested we work together.”
The novelist has proven to be a strong ally. “I’m not talking about a long list, but I’ve had problems with novelists before, and that doesn’t mean I’m right and they’re wrong. It’s just about finding a common vision. The film has to be the director’s vision. It can’t be the novelist’s vision. But Olafur was very generous and had no problem with me changing things. He understood that from the beginning and wanted to help me visualize how I wanted to change them. So most of the changes came from me, but he worked with me.”
I think the film seems very forgiving. “It’s about finding closure; finding peace and comfort with closure. Going through a traumatic experience like divorce is very much like going through a loss. And I think that’s probably what I need to project onto the world.”
In addition to working closely with the novelist, Kormákur made the potentially dangerous decision to cast his son Palmi Kormákur as a young Christopher. The decision came when the casting director suggested it. Palmi recorded an audition tape, which was sent to department heads and partners including producer Mike Goodridge and Focus.
“I sent them a few auditions, and he was one of them. They all came to the same conclusion. So he made the decision on his own, and to be honest, when it happened, I thought, ‘Oh my God. I’m going to do these interviews for the rest of this movie about this choice.’ But honestly, I didn’t have a second choice. It was also important to me that not only was he right for the movie, but I didn’t want to hurt my child. His life is more valuable to me than the movie. I know that Sofia Coppola had a very hard time casting her in The Godfather 3.”
Veteran actor and musician Egil Olafsson plays the older Christopher, who has also been struggling with some health issues after being diagnosed with Parkinson's disease. “I decided to give him an extra week so I could slow down the shooting a little bit, and I thought it was great because every move was hard for him, and I wanted it to feel like every moment for this guy. He's on his last legs, trying to get there and it's not easy,” Olafsson said.
One particular problem was that Palme is left-handed and Egil is right-handed, and since the more complex work was done by young Christopher, Egil had to learn to do things with his left hand. “In the Japanese restaurant scene, Egil speaks three languages in the scene. With all the cognitive difficulties with Parkinson’s then for him not only did he have to eat the same way, with chopsticks, his left hand, the dialect. That’s the worst thing. I put people on Mount Everest and they freeze, but that’s probably the worst thing I’ve ever done to an actor.”
