\n<\/p>\n
\n\tDirector Jonas Ulrich formed an actual black metal band for his debut feature \u201cWolves.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
\n\tWLVS \u2013 led by actor Bartosz Bielenia, known for Oscar-nominated \u201cCorpus Christi\u201d \u2013 ended up touring and performing in real clubs. As well as its own world premiere at Zurich Film Festival.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\n\t\u201cTo take it seriously, we shot real concerts. We wrote a full album and built a stage show. I wanted musicians to watch it and say: \u2018I know exactly what that feels like,\u2019\u201d says Ulrich, explaining the whole shoot was built around the gigs they managed to book.<\/p>\n
\n\t\u201cI like music films when the human drama also stands on its own \u2013 when you could remove the music and the story still works. \u2018Control\u2019 and \u2018Sound of Metal\u2019 are good examples of that. We also wanted to push against the formula. In the end, the film isn\u2019t really about the band.\u201d<\/p>\n
\n\t\u201cI used to only listen to Iron Maiden and Tool, but since we\u2019ve made the film, this music stayed with me,\u201d adds Bielenia.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\n\t\u201cI\u2019ve always wanted to start a metal band, but I didn\u2019t have the strength \u2013 or the skills. It was a great adventure to play these concerts and convince people with our performance. People who didn\u2019t even know they were taking a part in a film.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
\n\tIn \u201cWolves,\u201d Luana (Selma Kopp) decides to join her cousin\u2019s black metal band on tour. She falls for its singer, Wiktor (Bartosz Bielenia), but his views might be more radical than she thinks.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\n\t\u201cI\u2019m a metalhead. I used to do booking, promotion and concert photography for underground bands. I wanted a film that treats this world seriously, not some clich\u00e9 about 1980s rock star antics or satanic rituals,\u201d says Ulrich.<\/p>\n
\n\tKopp had no prior connection to black metal.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\n\t\u201cThat was exactly what intrigued me, because I love discovering new worlds and life realities through acting. It was an exciting challenge to immerse myself in such a different environment and grow from it,\u201d she notes.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\n\t\u201cMusic is always central to my preparation process. For every role I create playlists to capture the character\u2019s emotions. With Luana, this worked perfectly, since I already knew what kind of music she listens to. It helped me connect with her world on a deeper level.\u201d<\/p>\n
\n\tSold by Yellow Affair and produced by Dynamic Frame GmbH, \u201cWolves\u201d \u2013 which debuted its trailer with\u00a0Variety<\/em>\u00a0last week \u2013 is taking a look at a female perspective \u201cwithin a largely male scene.\u201d<\/p>\n \n\t\u201cEspecially in black metal. I wanted to show how they\u2019re perceived and how relationships get complicated. From the start, we aimed to show both the good and the bad,\u201d says Zurich-born Ulrich.<\/p>\n \n\tIntrigued by \u201cpeople who aren\u2019t what they first appear to be,\u201d he started to look for the right actors \u201clong before\u201d the script was even finished.\u00a0<\/p>\n \n\t\u201cWe mixed professional actors with real musicians to get the world right, which created a rough, alive chemistry on screen.\u201d<\/p>\n \n\tBielenia, soon to be seen in \u201cThe Time That Never Came,\u201d is also an experienced stage actor. Kopp is making her acting debut.<\/p>\n \n\t\u201cLuana makes some difficult and even wrong decisions over the course of the film. To portray her authentically, I needed to find a way into her motivations and emotions, which wasn\u2019t always easy. But I came to understand her, and I believe the audience can as well,\u201d she says. <\/p>\n \n\tBielenia calls Wiktor a \u201cvery dark person.\u201d<\/p>\n \n\t\u201cIn my mind, a lot of his problems, and his darkness, comes from his overwhelming solitude. He\u2019s in a strange place, among strangers. He has no connection to his home or his family,\u201d explains Bielenia.\u00a0<\/p>\n \n\tWiktor \u201cclings to relationships as some kind of confirmation of his worth\u201d and uses other people. But there are affectionate moments.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n \n\t\u201cMaybe there\u2019s some hope for him? I always try to understand my character. We had added a story of Wiktor\u2019s orphanhood and loneliness. He\u2019s an uprooted tree. He only has himself.\u201d<\/p>\n \n\tBielenia notes: \u201cIn a climate of growing unrest and fascist movements, when even CEOs of large corporations sometimes give the Nazi salute, such gestures were difficult for us and only used as a last resort. But I think it\u2019s worth showing how easy it is to fall into the trap of extreme ideology.\u201d<\/p>\n \t\t\t\t\t\u201cWolves\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tCourtesy of Zurich Film Festival<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Director Jonas Ulrich formed an actual black metal band for his debut feature \u201cWolves.\u201d\u00a0 WLVS \u2013 led by actor Bartosz Bielenia, known for Oscar-nominated \u201cCorpus Christi\u201d \u2013 ended up touring and performing in real clubs. As well as its own world premiere at Zurich Film Festival.\u00a0 \u201cTo take it seriously, we shot real concerts. We<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":24587,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[54],"tags":[14905,14906,5085,1537,213,13455,7672,12311],"class_list":{"0":"post-24586","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-entertainment","8":"tag-bartosz","9":"tag-bielenia","10":"tag-jonas","11":"tag-premiere","12":"tag-talk","13":"tag-ulrich","14":"tag-wolves","15":"tag-zurich"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24586","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=24586"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24586\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/24587"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=24586"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=24586"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=24586"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}