Swedish director Johan Renck is a man of many talents: a photographer and a painter, he works in theatre, and is even a Swedish pop star (in his band Stakka Bo). But on top of all that, Johan Renck has become one of the best European directors in the industry, creating an oeuvre of dramatic, well-crafted videos and uniquely-styled ads over the past seven years. His trajectory to direction has admittedly been a slow one. Renck started his directorial career in 1992 by signing to Swedish production company Mekano Film and Television. Then in 1994 he was one of the principals in Jonas Åkerlund and producer Lars Pettersson's newly-formed company Pettersson-Åkerlund, which closed in 2002. Today he runs his own production company with Åkerlund, R.A.F, or Renck Åkerlund Films. Back in 1999, his video for a Maverick-label band (Baxter's Television) helped him get his first major international video, a video for Madonna, no less, for her song Nothing Really Matters. A highly stylized and cryptic video, it has a stark look that is influenced by Japanese kabuki theater, and a storyline that derives from Arthur Golden's novel Memoirs of a Geisha. Naturally, the video opened a lot of doors for him, and he wound up directing many videos and ads that year. He has done an assortment of each since then, totaling more than 20 apiece. His best-known ad, Racing Marion for Nike, is a Smack My Bitch Up-esque sprint which garnered two Bronze Lions at Cannes. Typically, his videos are dramatic stories filmed with a crisp eye and sharply edited. They are most distinctive, though, for their melancholic blue-green tint and strongly-lit chiaroscuro. For the Knife's Pass This On, one of his best videos, Renck creates a compelling tension between a performing drag queen, played by Rickard Engfors, and his reluctant audience. In Dry Your Eyes, Renck documents The Streets' Adam Skinner as he has a dark, lonely night about town, having recently broken up with his girlfriend. He tells of young relationships in question (Kent's Karleken Vantar), and those filled with joy (New Order's Krafty). Occasionally he snags another pop star, for whom he does his most light-hearted and humorous videos. He even got to direct another Madonna video, a tribute to dance for her recent hit Hung Up. Currently Renck is in pre-production for his first feature. Titled Downloading Nancy, it is a very dark story of a woman about to have herself killed by a man she meets on the Internet, but has doubts when she finds herself attracted to him. It will star Holly Hunter, William Hurt and Stellan Skarsgård. (UPDATE: More info about the film is here.) Renck was kind enough to answer my questions, submitted via e-mail. We also have Renck commentary from recent collaborator Lauri Faggioni. Your work concentrates more on narrative filmmaking, although you've done a great metaphorical piece for Madonna "Nothing Really Matters." Is narrative more your cup of tea? Well, I actually really like doing more conceptual stuff, but somehow it rarely feels right when push comes to shove... In my stills photography I work more like that and that has become my outlet for visually wanking off. Every now and then I do a video or an ad that way though... Your videos and commercials are always elegantly shot and beautifully colored. Do you have people (DPs, colorists, editors) you regularly enjoy working with? I more or less always work with the same two or three DPs when I don't shoot the job my self, I always operate one camera my self, I work with one colorist in 95% of my jobs, and the same goes for editors. The only time I don't work with my editor/colorist is when agencies think they have a better idea. However, the result is never as good.... A man of habits, as you see... Or maybe I just found my ways? Or am I just afraid of the outside world..? "Pass This On" is one of my favorite videos of 2003. How did the concept with Rickard Engfors come about? Where was it filmed? Glad you like it, I like it very much my self. The idea of Rickard came from the band (Karin [Dreijer] saw him in a magazine and wanted him to perform it). The concept just came up as I was setting the thing up (this was definitely a one-man-band-shoot...). I used to be a performing artist, and I always felt as if the audience hated me (which they probably did). Thus I liked the idea of creating that tension between performer/audience. I shoot it in a dingy suburb of Stockholm and literally casted it on the street in the morning of the shoot. If you look carefully you will see that the cast changes, as we had to get new people in as people became bored and left... I could only pay them five quid and coffee... "Hung Up" was originally David LaChapelle's treatment; is that correct? If so, what did you add to (and get out of) the project? Hung Up was originally Madonna's treatment, nothing else. La Chapelle had a go at it and I guess they didn't hit it off together. Thus I took a stab. Which of your videos and commercials came out almost exactly as you envisioned? What do you like about them? None. Shooting is a process and I like to go with what happens. However, often the result contains the emotion you are after, even though it came about in a different way than originally intended. The Knife video is a good example of that. Which video shoot do you recall most fondly? Well there is many reasons to remember a shoot, but people tend to make them most memorable. For instance, Kylie [Minogue] was so lovely both me, my DP and my first AD walked around with a strange smile for weeks after completion. What's the most frustrating thing about doing videos or commercials? Working for people that don't understand that they don't understand. I haven't seen any of your videos before 1999. What of your early work should we know? Hadn't really done any before that. Did a couple for my own music, that was about it. Madonna's "Nothing Really Matters" was the first real video I did. Which other directors - current or not - inspire you? Well, Gondry because I could never ever do what he does. He is great. Thus, I am very very jealous. [ed- Renck's Peugot ad City Bug is reminiscent of Michel's La Ville, though Johan notes that he was unaware of that video, and wouldn't dare copy somebody.] What's happening with Downloading Nancy? Looks like everything is in place and hopefully we get started in June. Our lead actress got pregnant and had twins in December, thus we have been waiting for her. However, up to now this has been a real "Lost in La Mancha"... Are you eager to begin another feature anytime soon? And are you going to abandon music videos eventually? I really want to do features, as I truly think that is my thing. However, I will never stop doing music videos - I love music too much for that. Can you talk about your upcoming projects? Well...Focusing on the film... Developing a Swedish script as well... Gonna try and record a new album in September... A video for The Knife... And a bunch of the regular stuff Do you have any wood panelling in your home? It seems to show up a lot in your videos. He he he... Blame my parents... Guess I grew up with it... Lauri Faggioni on Johan Renck Director, production designer and fiber artist Lauri Faggioni talks about her experience with Johan. They needed a production designer for the Tripping video [by Robbie Williams] and RSA had seen the sets I had done for MG so they called me to do it. I designed the sets and built them with a great crew who worked around the clock, literally some guys slept in the parking lot at the studio, they didn't even go home. Originally Johan wanted to shoot in a hotel in L.A. But none of the available locations really worked, so we had to build a fake hotel in 3 days. The stairwell and hallways and the bedroom, which was built with the bed attached to the wall so we could create the effect of him having a strange gravitational pull up. Then we did the H&M commercials for Europe [ed- see Stella]. That was really fun as well because we did a lot of in camera effects using mirrors and building sets upside down and that sort of thing. I love in camera work, especially in the art department. It makes our jobs exceptionally fun although more work is involved. It is sort of like setting the stage for a magic trick all shot on set and you just pray it works. When it does, it is amazing. When it doesn't, chalk it up to a lesson learned and pray the computer can fix it. Johan is great and full of energy. I really enjoy working with him. He's always open to peoples' input yet he knows what he wants. Work is always the most fun when you really feel that it is a team effort and all the departments are working hand in hand to make the project happen. He's very respectful of everyone's job on the project no matter if they are nailing flats together or if they are the DP. You can tell he is always very excited on shoot day and I've never seen him lose his cool over anything. He will work with whatever is thrown at him so to speak.		the knife ·· pass this on Downloadable Videos mov files - copy/paste link into new browser window: The Knife ·· Pass This On Madonna ·· Hung Up (director's cut) Madonna ·· Nothing Really Matters Robbie Williams ·· Tripping New Order ·· Krafty Chris Cornell ·· Can't Change Me Suede ·· She's in Fashion Kent ·· Karleken Vantar madonna ·· nothing really matters Revl9n ·· Someone Like You  (new, flash) Beyoncé ·· Me, Myself, and I  (win) The Cardigans ·· Don't Blame Your   Daughter (Diamonds)  (mp4, directed   by martin & johan renck) The Concretes ·· Seems Fine  (win) Kent ·· Max 500  (mp4) The Libertines ·· What Became of the   Likely Lads  (win) The Streets ·· Dry Your Eyes  (qt/win/real) the streets ·· dry your eyes Downloadable Ads mov files - copy/paste link into new browser window: Nike ·· Racing Marion Arla ·· Wheelchair H&M ·· Karl Lagerfeld for H&M Nike ·· Keep Up Sagem ·· Photo (fka Tokyo) Alkoholkommitten ·· Party  (mov) H&M ·· Stella  (mp4) Ikea ·· aka ute  (mov) Nike Women ·· Keep Up  (mov) Nike ·· arm ending  (mov) Peugeot 107 ·· City Bug  (mov) kent ·· karleken vantar Links Johan Renck videography R.A.F. RSA/Black Dog Films Soixan7e Quin5e Renck clips at beam.tv stills from Levi's ·· Horse CNN interviews Johan too madonna ·· hung up new order ·· krafty chris cornell ·· can't change me robbie williams ·· tripping Published 11 April 2006. Modified 12 April 2006 with two corrections: Baxter's Television helped him get Madonna vid. Johan hadn't seen Gondry's La Ville. This page (C) 2006 Kevin Holy. All rights reserved. Welcome to director-file.com.