Interview with Film Director Björne Larson  Björne Larson is thirty-four years old, yet his wispy blonde hair and slight frame poured into trendy jeans is more reminiscent of a college kid. But don’t be fooled. Behind the youthful and naively friendly façade is a man who would have made the best darned door-to-door salesman the fifties ever saw. As he says, “If you find the right angle, you can sell anything.” You and I might not be able to, but Björne Larson sure as hell can.
Björne is an aspiring film director with one feature (Kill Your Darlings 2006) and several short films under his belt, including To Kill a Child, which won Grand Prix at the 2003 Odense Film Festival in Denmark, and the Hjalmar Söderberg drama The Fur to be premiered in fall of 2008. In the film industry, as Björne duly informs us, being able to sell your ideas is everything. Björne is currently working hard to sell his latest design, a grand scale magical drama based on an intellectual property that he was able to secure— thanks again to that irresistible charm— from the author of a famous Swedish fairytale (something Walt Disney himself failed to do back in 1936). For the purpose of this interview, the details of the project will remain unnamed so as not to let anything leak prematurely.
Industry secrets aside, learn what it means to have your work/life balance in an unusual tilt: towards life.
What was your dream job growing up?
“I come from an entirely academic family and my father was very strict about going to a technical high school, but I didn’t want to do that. My mother on the other hand, let me loose to follow my instinct. And my family as a whole is very entrepreneurial. So, my dream I think, until five years ago, was to do something that I’ve created on my own. A career that I hadn’t been helped in. I had no family in the entertainment industry, no contacts at all. So that was a great challenge. Now my dream is to make films. Which I hope I can. It looks good with this project, but you never know. There are a lot of people who want to work in this field, and the competition in tough.
“‘X’ [what, for the purpose of this article, we will call one of Sweden’s biggest contemporary directors, who leaves his next-door office every couple of minutes to tease Björne, or us, as we struggle not to appear too starstruck] and I talk about this…he’s very professionally successful, but personally he’s a little lost. He’s looking for love. Then there is the comparison to me: I’ve found love, and I’ve had love for so many years. Lisa [his wife] is my everything, and now Lily [his baby daughter] is a big part of it too. My private life couldn’t be any better. I’m very happy there, which is rare! Personally I have everything that X doesn’t have, but professionally I would kill to have the success he has. We talk a lot about that, actually. Both are jealous of the other.”
 Do you see work/life balance as a goal in your life?
“I think that people don’t really value family enough. But isn’t that what everyone is looking for? It’s hard to run a family. It’s not valued highly. Because people strive to do other things. They are too focused on self-realization. But I think the only ultimate goal in life is to have what I already have, though it probably sounds naive: most of my family is healthy and alive, I have a lot of friends. So, I guess I see myself as a very happy guy. Surely, I have a lot of anxiety too, because of course you want to do something with your professional life and become successful. But what I realize is that it’s not that important anymore. Until five years ago, I felt as though I had to prove to someone that I could do my own stuff. But now I realize that I have everything that I need already, and everything else is a bonus.”
You have worked in Los Angeles and in Sweden. How do the film industries compare?
“We don’t have the term ‘independent’ in Sweden. It’s a very small community. In LA, it’s very much a hardcore business, which I like. That’s my commercial side talking. That’s why I like LA. If you’re in LA and you say you work in film, that’s a serious job. If you say that here [in Sweden], it’s interesting, but it’s not that serious. Every production being made in Sweden basically needs to get an authorization from the Swedish Film Institute. If you have them with you, besides the money you get, it automatically gives the project a good vibe. It’s totally different. But I kind of like both sides, Sweden and LA. I don’t think I can completely compete with an American director in an American environment. For everything I do, I need to use my Scandinavian background. Like this new project: it’s very Scandinavian, but for a global market with worldwide distribution.”
 How do you feel about dividing your time between two continents?
“Lisa and I loved living in LA, obviously because of the weather but also because we met so many interesting, fun people. Strange people, quirky people. Even professionally, if you go out and have dinner at a restaurant in LA, you can always meet professionals in the film industry. And one of my best skills is networking. Everyone here in Stockholm is very streamlined. To me, and to Lisa, there are very few people here that we get inspired by. A lot of our friends live the typical family life, and we do in a way, but we kind of like to think that we’re living in both places. Our base is our little family and we can be everywhere and anywhere. Personally, we like to travel around. Not to be stagnant. I like both places because they’re both so different. I think the greatness is to have both worlds.
“I guess when Lily is about six years old, when she starts school, we’re going to want to be here, in Sweden. But I don’t know. I don’t think she wants to grow up as an American teenager, and not in LA. Maybe in New York. Maybe we will move back and have our base in Stockholm, but then we will have to travel more. For me, I don’t need to spend all my time in LA, it is just important to me that my ideas can work on an international level.”
What is your view on women working in the film business?
“In all my productions, I would love to work with more women because there are so many guys in this industry. So I’m trying to fill my crew in front of and behind the camera with more female characters. It’s difficult because…there are few women in top positions – like producer and director . While if you go to a production designer or costume designer you have a lot of women in those fields. I would love to see more female producers and directors. I would especially love to see more female producers. I would really like to work with a female producer.”
 Why would you particularly like to work with a female producer?
“I’m more into emotional stories. My female side is stronger than my male side. I’m not that masculine. That’s why I’ve always dreamed of having a daughter and not a son. To me, filmmaking is so psychologically based, it’s about personal chemistry. I think I would get that easier from a female producer. A female producer needs to be very tough in a certain way, but also understand the type of stores I want to tell.”
You’re a new father, did you take paternity leave?
“No, I haven’t taken any paternity leave. Lisa actually just brought that up. And maybe I should. For the first two months after Lily came, both of us were home, but I wasn’t on official paid paternity leave. The thing is, the Swedish state pays for the paternity leave, but it is a very low amount if you’re self-employed. I’m thinking about doing that over the summer. Lisa takes care of Lily full time now and she wants to get back to work soon. But I still spend a lot of time with Lisa and Lily. Much more than my friends. Because I’m very flexible, when I work and so on. Every morning I stay home and take baths with Lily. I come to work at 10 am. And I want to be home at 5 or 6 pm. And then she goes to bed at 7 pm. After that, I work several hours more.”
How do you think that being a dad is going to affect your career?
“It’s going to slow me down because I value my personal life too much and I don’t want to give that up. I never want to give that up. That’s why I realize I’m not going to be a film genius. Because I value my personal life so much. I realize that if my decision is to go home at 5 in the afternoon to see my family, of course I won’t be able to work all night like X. He can work all night. But I get so much out of Lisa and Lily…they give me the inspiration and energy to work harder. So on one hand it slows me down, but on the other hand it’s my source of inspiration. Without that I would be very lost, I think.”
Like many successful professionals, Björne is remarkably aware of his strengths and weaknesses. He’s a natural and talented networker. He’s able to push products with the sheer force of his character. But Björne is aware that there are limits to his professional potential: he is not willing to sacrifice his family life for his career ambitions.
Björne teaches us that it’s important to think about your values and clearly articulate them to yourself—and your loved ones, we would add. Surely, admitting your own limitations is tough, but remember: happiness is relative. If you realize which parts of the work/life equation matter most to you, you can work toward realistic goals and measure your achievements against a far more accurate success scale—your own. |
