A Conversation with ‘Lamb’ Director, Valdimar Jóhannsson, and Lead Actress, Noomi Rapace, About Pets, Pandemics, and Personal Journeys
Rarely does a film like ‘Lamb’ come along and brand itself into an audience’s memory. Many things can be said about the genre-twisting, animalistic horror film, but perhaps there is no one better to talk about A24’s new farmhouse feature than the film’s director, Valdimar Jóhannsson, and lead actress, Noomi Rapace. Their collaboration is not only beautifully portrayed on screen, but extends off screen as well. The pair sat down with FilmSpeak’s Miko Reyes to talk about everything from farmhouse family pets to lessons learned on set. The connection between both artists can be deeply felt throughout the interview, however, their creative collision on ‘Lamb’ may not have taken place had it not been for Jóhannsson’s rather unusual way of initially approaching the actress with the film. Rapace explains:
“It wasn't really pitched to me! Valdimar is a man of very few words. He lets his images speak. He flew to London to my house and he brought me his visual book, basically like pictures, drawings, photographs from all over the place. And what they all have in common is that they're quite disturbing, quite dark and beautiful. I just felt those. He gave me that package with a script and a book of poems from Sjón, the other writer, and then he stepped outside and had a cigarette. And I was like, what? Where's the pitch? <laughter> When is he gonna sell this to me? And then he didn't… but he did. I just thought of looking at those images and I was drawn in. I just felt how I drowned, was lost and then found. I saw the film come to life. I read the script, and it was so beautifully delicate and specific...”
Similarly to the film, this unexpected event for Rapace set in motion the journey to follow. Jóhannsson’s quiet command of the film mixed with Rapace’s well tapped-into character work, combine to make a harrowingly beautiful fable. For each of them, the creation of ‘Lamb’ had represented something different. For Jóhannsson, it was a meditation on togetherness:
“…it's been an amazing experience, just getting to know many new friends. And that everybody that was working on it with us were somehow so invested in the project. I felt that everybody was helping out.”
And for Rapace, who has spent the last decade in blockbuster genre films, from ‘Girl With the Dragon Tattoo’ to ‘Prometheus’ to ‘What Happened to Monday’, the work she did on ‘Lamb’ represented a return to her indie roots:
“...to go back to where I started, which was more art house, a more complex and twisted and more original, way of filmmaking, I would say I feel so grateful. It's the dark waters I'm gonna swim more often in.”
Read the full interview below.
FilmSpeak: Thank you so much for sitting down with FilmSpeak today!
Noomi Rapace: Thank you for having us!
FS: First off, the film absolutely blew me away. I had a lot of emotions that I didn't think that I wouldn't be having after watching it. So thank you for that.
Valdimar Jóhannsson: Did you watch it yesterday?
FS: I watched it last week. I've had some time to marinate, the experience. It's always refreshing to walk away from something, you know, that unpredictable, and one of the thoughts I was having after walking away from a film that feels extremely connected to animals and nature and companionship was, "I bet the filmmakers have pets." So that's my first question. Do you guys have any pets at home?
VJ: No, I don't. You know, I had a dog a few years back, but you know, it's hard to have a dog when you're working in the film industry.
FS: This is true.
VJ: I also had a sheep when I was young!
NR: As one [does], you know. A sheep in a garden!
FS: Of course! So where, since you guys own pets at home, do you think the film's connection to animals and nature comes from?
NR: Have you been to Iceland?
FS: I have not.
NR: I would say that the animals are the majority. When I moved there, when I was like five, I was shocked. It's a beautiful island with millions of sheep and lambs and very few humans.
VJ: Yeah. We are what, 350,000 [people] total?
NR: Where I grew up on a farm, we also had like bottle lambs every summer, the sheep are quite brutal. Let's say they give birth like four, four lambs. They will maybe keep two. They have two favorites, and then they will push the other ones away. Me and my sister had to bottle them and take care of them for a summer. And then, when it was like September, then it was like slaughter time. You had to say goodbye. So I would say a lot of Icelandic families are used to that kind of life circle that is kind of connected to animals.
FS: And it also feels like the film is very deeply rooted in Iceland andIceland culture. Valdimar, if you could talk more on the inspirations and some of the legends that hybridized during your conception of the film.
VJ: Yeah, me and Sjón worked a lot with the Icelandic folk tales, but there is nothing that is similar to Ada, the creature that comes. There are a lot of other things that we used. We took some small elements and used [them] in our film.
FS: It feels like a movie that's grounded in tragedy and surrealism. I was wondering, Noomi, what was your first reaction when the movie was pitched to you? It's such a crazy idea. And also how you went about preparing for such a heavy role.
NR: It wasn't really pitched to me! Valdimar is a man of very few words. He lets his images speak, and he flew to London to my house and he brought me his visual book, basically like pictures, drawings, photographs from all over the place. And what they all have in common is that they're quite disturbing, quite dark and beautiful. I just felt those. He gave me that package with a script and a book of poems from Sjón the other writer, and then he stepped outside and had a cigarette. And I was like, what? Where's the pitch? <laughter> When is he gonna sell this to me? And then he didn't, but he did. I just thought of looking at those images and I was drawn in. I just felt how I drowned, was lost and then found. I saw the film come to life. I read the script, and it was so beautifully delicate and specific. It's nothing more than it needs to be but so so rich at the same time. There's this amazing balance between simplicity and chaos. And I just felt like I've been waiting for this project for as long as I can remember.
FS: I think it really speaks to the real world emotions that stem from a story like this. With essentially three speaking leads, it feels like a chamber piece. Combine that with tragedy, grief, social isolation, claustrophobia importance for animals for comfort, and it starts to feel specifically like this time period that we're living in right now, Especially post pandemic. What relationship, if any, do you think the film has with the current state of the world?
NR: Oh, wow. Good question. I would say that what happened throughout the pandemic worldwide is that people, as you said, were more isolated. And when that happens, you get forced to confront yourself. You see yourself; there's like nowhere to hide. And I feel like you get kind of stripped down to your core. I would say it was a wake up call for me! This movie and what happened last year has made me rethink and revalue. And I have a new perspective on things now. Life is fragile. You don't know when you will be, you know... Maybe you can't move as freely. Maybe nature is fed up with us. It's a combination of different things where this film totally ties into the urgency of living in the now and being more aware.
FS: I love that! Vladimar did it kind of hit you the same way? Did you work on this film during any of the pandemic or was it shot before? After?
VJ: We were working on...
NR: We shot it the summer before...
VJ: And [after], we were in post production. So certainly, we saw that every cinema was closed so...
NR: It was this horrible waiting game. I remember thinking, 'When is it gonna happen.?' and 'When will the movie come out?' Will the world be open? And I remember Valdimar, it was almost like you were pregnant with the film and waiting for the baby to come out. How long am I gonna hold this baby inside?!
VJ: Also we had a little bit more time, then we decided to work more on it. I think that was very good in a way.
FS: So in the movie, a little lamb comes along and changes the lives of the couple who've decided to nurture it. For both of you, how has working on Lamb changed you and the way that you approach your art?
NR: Wow. I like your questions, Valdimar invited me back to the art house film world. To be in a genre that I haven't... I mean, Lamb maybe doesn't belong to any genre, but to go back to where I started, which was more art house, a more complex and twisted and more original, way of filmmaking, I would say I feel so grateful. It's the dark waters I'm gonna swim more often in,
VJ: For me, it's been an amazing experience, just getting to know many new friends. And that everybody that was working on it with us were somehow so invested in the project. I felt that everybody was helping out.
NR: It was very special in a way. It was a mini crew, and the smallest production I've ever worked on. We shot in this valley in Iceland where it was so isolated and had no phone signal. In the summer in Iceland, it never goes dark. So in the middle of the night, it's like full on daylight. It was surreal and brutally real at the same time, and everyone including the animals were in this together. It felt like a weird psychotic like reality.
Listen to the full interview below: