1408
Mikael Hafstrom on 1408
“I think my first encounter with Stephen King film-wise was watching Brian De Palma's Carrie back in the day,” recalled Hafstrom. “I think Carrie was one of the first films that were made of Stephen King. This was in the mid ‘70s and I got really obsessed by that film and I liked it a lot and I started to watch Brian De Palma films. But I also started to read a little bit of King's work. I have read some, I haven't read everything. I think King's genius is in short stories, which is a very tough literary genre to pull off, but I think he's a great master in this contained way.”
Hafstrom got over 90 minutes of film out of less than 50 pages, which is REALLY short by King’s standards. “1408 is what? Forty pages long or something, but if you read it right, you get a lot of the information there, and obviously our film is longer. Our film had more material than is in the short story, but I feel very much that we are very true to the heart and soul of the short story and I feel like Enslin's character is the guy that Stephen King writes about in the short story,
even if we trade a more ambitious back story and so on.”
Like many of King’s supernatural tales, 1408 reflects a very grounded personal crisis. “What 1408 is about, it’s a personal journey and you walk in the room with you or you or even you, you will have a totally different story. I think that’s what he talked a lot about and I think that’s a lot about the room. If I had been in 1408, what would be the demons I would have to stand up to? And we all have them, but sometimes in life, we have to approach these demons and take another step in life, or whatever. It’s a private thing to me, personally. The way I saw the room, that’s what it’s about. It could be very real.”
Hailing from Sweden, Hafstrom may have officially caught the Hollywood bug. “Well, the weather is much better here, which is not a bad thing. The good thing for me is having that possibility to choose what I did for a profession. Sweden is a small country and I have been working there, and there have been ups and downs. I had the fortune of doing a couple films in this country. And I had stopped planning anything a long time ago, because life takes you places. Being here, working with these people, it’s an amazing adventure for me, obviously. What’s next, I honestly don’t know. I’m sure something will transpire. But yeah, it’s about material, it’s about finding the right material and the right people. Sweden, here, wherever, let’s see what happens.”
1408 opens to theatres on June
22nd.
For the trailer, poster, stills and more movie info, go to the 1408
Movie Page.
Stay tuned for updates.
|
Add to Heffee!
