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Many people dream of a career in Hollywood, but few have it. Halina Reijn dared to take this step. Of Body Body Body she breaks a spear for Dutch filmmakers in the United States. It’s typical of Reijn, who doesn’t shy away from challenges: although she was already a famous actress, she still wanted to prove herself as a director.
satirical horror film Body Body Body is Reijn’s first English album, with a classic plot. A group of people take refuge in a mansion before the storm. There is no range and the electricity goes out. Frustrations build up, secrets are exposed, and everyone seems to have a reason to kill someone else. With a cast that includes young actors like Amandla Stenberg (The hunger Games) and Kim Kardashian’s ex Pete Davidson exists, Reijn takes the youth and cancels the culture a lot.
Reijn received the script when the story was nearly complete. The manager was not impressed. “It was a typical American slasher (bloody horror film, editor’s note). But the A24 studio produces all my favorite films, like hereditary and Midsommar. So I said, if I do this, I want to do it my way and make one Lord of the Flies meets Mean Girls make. I meant group behavior.”
Not the monster under the bed, but the monster inside us had to be central. The studio thought it was a great plan. The script was completely rewritten and Reijn left for New York for the tapings. His arrival in “The Big Apple” was disconcerting. “It was gray, spooky, lots of rats and cockroaches. Not exactly the American dream.” The director was alone and just wanted to return to the Netherlands. But as the film took shape, something changed. Reijn now had a mission: to appropriate the film, without making any concessions.
Hollywood is open to the “Halina Reijn stamp”
Reijn himself cannot be seen in Body Body Body. His voice can be heard for a moment. We hear him whisper in the film: “What did you tell me? You don’t understand at all.” And that’s not the only way Reijn left his mark on the film.
The human superficiality is underlined, for example by scenes in which the group records a dance video for TikTok. And when a false modesty is made about a self-produced podcast, the success of which is exaggerated.
Young people seem perfect: they are beautiful, rich, highly educated. But they also have flaws. “How much does it take to turn these successful people into hitmen?” Reijn wonders aloud. The director explores this question in several of her works, such as Instinct (2019) and Red light (2021), but also in his own life. “What motivates me? Am I enlightened and intelligent and do I know everything? Or am I just an animal guided by my primal instincts? »
Body Body Body sold out in the United States and was also enthusiastically received by critics. Hollywood seems to be quite open to newcomers from outside. “If they see quality in you, they open their arms to you.” And they saw it in Reijn. “I was greatly encouraged to stand in my power, to think even crazier and bigger.”
The director now feels at home in the land of the Oscars. And the Americans, in turn, are very happy with her. “I didn’t see that coming at all,” Reijn said with a nervous smile. “But I find the premiere in the Netherlands even more exciting! It’s my home soil. It’s of course the most precious.”
Body Body Body to be seen in Dutch cinemas from 8 September.
