Dan Laustsen -
about the man, his career and a few words of his own.
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Filming under unusual conditions , Travels , Co-workers say , Dan says
Biography
Dan Laustsen was born 15 June, 1954 in Aalborg, grew up in Elsinore and is based in Copenhagen, Danmark.Originally, he wanted to be a taxidermist, but he couldn't find an apprenticeship, and instead he started as a photography apprentice with Schiller-Photography. It was rather boring, so his sister applied to film school for him, and that's how he got started.
He finished the Danish Film School in the spring of 1979, with the graduation project "Skal vi danse først?" (Shall we dance first?), directed by Annette Olsen, and since then, he's been making movies, documentaries, tv series and commercials - and getting several awards for his work.
In film school he had the reputation of being a "monster framer".
DL likes to work with familiar faces, so he has worked repeatedly with some directors:
Søren Kragh-Jacobsen, Åke Sandgren (a Swede, but trained in Denmark) and Ole Bornedal, and short movies with Anne Regitze Wivel. In 2001, Dan filmed Brotherhood of the Wolf for director Christophe Gans who obviously liked Dan's work since he hired him to film Silent Hill - and maybe other future projects.
Filming under unusual conditions
Running Free was filmed in the Namibian desert, and the crew experienced sandstorms and met giraffes, elephants, ostriches, baboons and oryx antelopes.As most people know what giraffes, elephants, ostriches and baboons look like, here's a photo of an oryx antelope :
Heart of Light - the crew lived in tents on the ice - brrrrr .....
Travelling
To make movies, and for research purposes, DL has visited many countries :France (Le pacte des Loup) - working almost six months in France without being able to speak French - but the nice food and red wine in the cafeteria was quite comforting, and filming in the Pyrenees made possible some trekking in the mountains.
USA (Mimic og Nightwatch) - probably no red wine in these cafeterias.
Greenland (Heart of Light) - if there was a cafeteria, they probably served cold food.
The Namibian Desert (Running Free) - probably plenty of hot food.
Kjerringøy, Norway (I am Dina) - cold herring?
In 1988, he went on a research trip to Thailand, Peru, Chicago - and Hanstholm. It was to be a documentary about policework in four very different locations. Strømerliv (Cops) aired on Danish TV2 - four episodes of 44 minutes, each episode focusing on a different country.
What do his co-workers say ?
"Stylish""Sophisticated"
"An outstanding work leader"
The only objections are that he sometimes brings too much from the advertizing world when making movies. His critics thinks there's too much Stimorol and Jolly Cola when he directs lightpeople and cameracrew - translation : it looks too pretty - but the critics are few and far between.
It can't be Dogme all the time ........
What does DL say?
Ole Bornedal and DL together define the style of the film by a very deliberate use of light. And it's exactly the light, the colors and the framing that are the cinematographer's forms of expression. It's in these areas he can influence the story, but always working closely with the director."When things are really moving and everything clicks, I feel a little like an artist. Those are the good days. Other days, when everything fouls up - if for example the lights break down or an actor calls in sick, you have to cobble something together to keep on schedule. When that happens, I'm a craftsman."
Filming in the US :
"It's a lot of fun, like being in a toy store and being allowed to pick from all shelves".
But he'd rather work with Ole Bornedal.
"The Americans don't make better movies than us (Danes) - just bigger".
"On an American shoot the D.P. decides the visual look.
You can spar with the director, but the lightning master and the rest of the crew have no opinions. On the other hand, the actors want to control how things are done. They interfere in how the lights are to be set, and that can sometimes make for long discussions."
Dogme :
DL has done a lot of hand-held camera on documentaries - and it's really hard on the back. Besides, he likes having a certain kind of aesthetics.
Inspirations
Vittorio Storaro, born 1940, aka "The Master of Light" :
Has won Oscars for Apocalypse Now(1979), The Last Emperor(1987), Reds(1981), and has also filmed a.o. Ladyhawke and Dune, the tv series.
An interview with Storaro from december 16, 2000.
IMDBs list of Storaro's films.
Nestor Almendros, 1930 - 1992 :
Won the Oscar for Days of Heaven(1978), and has filmed a.o. Billy Bathgate, Imagine: John Lennon, Places in the Heart, Kramer v. Kramer, L'Histoire de Adèle H.
IMDBs list of Almendros' films.
The future :
NOT directing - he'd rather have a sailboat.