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JULIE ROHART


Film Director


 FILMS  |  NARRATIVE  |  ABOUT 
Interview for CineHub Korea, december 2021

Original Korean version avalaible on cinehub


An interview with director Julie Rohart about Loup y es-tu?


“In a review of  Julie Rohart's film “Here comes the wolf”  written last May, I reviewed that this movie had a powerful impact with a reminiscent of a fairy tale. Director Julie Rohart also agreed to that in the interview. In the upcoming interview with Cinehub's head of management, Dong-Joon Lee, who could not meet with Julie Rohart, a established director who has been working on films, commercials and music videos in Paris, France, on the other side of the world, he exchanged emails instead of being able to meet her, where she said that the Little Red Riding Hood had influenced her work.

At the same time, she revealed that she was inspired by her grandmother's experience of dealing with the Nazis without fear even though she was a woman. Men have changed the course of war by bleeding on the battlefield, but women have also been fighting directly in the empty or unfilled positions of the men. The film, which showed beautiful visuals in addition to the struggles of women who were not easily seen in existing war movies was also screened at this year's Bucheon International Fantastic Film Festival and received worldwide acclaim.

While preparing for an interview with director Julie Rohart, who is currently working on her first feature film, I tried to be careful in writing the questions, and also tried to translate her sincere answers in English to Korean so that it could be delivered properly. As much as I love the work, I just hope that the vision of the next master will be conveyed to the domestic audience through this interview. And I also hope to see her new work soon.”
Dong-Joon Lee, head of management and interview reporter of CINEHUB



Director:
Julie Rohart

Cast:
Alyzee Lalande, Alyzée Lalande, Alexis Loizon, Anais Parello, Anaïs Parello

Synopsis: 
During World War II, Sarah and her friend Anna head into the Dark Forest after their father advises them to flee into the woods to pass the checkpoints of the German army. On a dark night, while she is seeking shelter from a storm in the forest, she finds an old woman's house, where she is greeted by the old woman and has dinner....




1. Please introduce yourself:

Hello, I’m Julie Rohart, a french female director. I’m based in Paris, working worldwide on music videos, commercials and narrative films. As a very shy child, I started at a young age to draw short comic books to connect with others. This soon changed into photography and then short films when my parents got me my very first VHS camcorder !

2. What was the inspiration for the movie?

The first inspiration was my grand parents story. They were in their early 20s during the World War II and my grandmother had many stories about her « daily life » at that time. Thought it sounds very terrifying, she sounded always very confident and so strong. She was a true feminist and a hero, my hero !

The second inspiration was the Little Red Riding Hood, a truly great but also scary tale. The wolf in the film represents Sarah's powerful wild nature, the one that all women have deep inside their soul and that one day or another comes out...

Julie Rohart on the set of Here comes The Wolf



3. What was your casting process for the lead Actors ?
(Alyzée Lalande, Anaïs Parello, Florence Monge, Alexis Loizon)
I wanted for a long time to work with Alyzée Lalande. I saw her in a musical play (Dance of Vampires stage adaptation by Roman Polanski) and I was completely captivated by her charm, her beauty and her ability to spark curiosity. She was truly the ideal actress for the role: she has that captivating cold beauty of Hitchcock's actresses while bringing her own sensibility and her feminine ardor.

I’ve worked with Anaïs Parello once before this film and I wanted so badly to work with her again. Anaïs is such a very good actress. She is so natural and really captivate the camera. She also have a strong ability to jump into a scene with such a natural spontaneity. She is a dream to work with. I can’t wait to meet her again soon on a set…

Alexis Loizon and I worked previously together on short films and music videos. He is also the producer of this film. I knew he wanted to produce a thriller and I knew he had the powerful look I was looking for to play the part of the General.

Finally, for the role of the grandmother, I was looking for a beautiful aging woman and Florence Monge is a very beautiful woman and actress. The character had to be ambiguous and Florence was the perfect match for that.



4. Unlike previous films about World War II and Holocaust, the movie deals with the history by female character’s perspective. Was it intention to try something new topics you want to deal with?

Yes, as I said, I was inspired by my grandmother’s stories during World War II. She had so many stories about how she dealt every days with the nazis and how important it was for her to not let them see she was afraid. Women were also very supportive, sisterhood was very important. I couldn’t rely in any World War 2 films I was watching as a child. I felt like the role of women during that period was never the center of these films. I also think as men were sent to war, this was a very important period for the independence of women. She was very courageous and I wanted Sarah (Alyzée’s character) to have that fierce to live.

5. (Related to the former question)In the end of the movie, main characters do judgment by wolves as the nature. Was that also intention in same reason?

As the wolf represent the wild nature of these women, I wanted them to fight and I wanted it to be their own choices. I felt in movies usually women are being told to act one way or another (by men). It’s not a movie about revenge, it’s a movie about choosing not to be a victim. They act, they fight, they go on. Also it was important for me to underline the importance of sisterhood and the creative force that can emerge from it…

6. The movie remind me as a fairy tale, by the wolf for subject and Sarah’s red color coat just like 'Red Riding Hood' story. Was It also inspire to you?

The little red riding hood is such a strong tale. It has so many interpretations and variations. In the early ones, the little girl eats the wolf ! It’s a strong story about a girl who is going through hell while crossing the woods and will finally become a woman…

7. What type of camera and main lighting equipment you used for the shooting?
For that questions I will let my very talented DoP, Louis Bergogné, talks:
«We chose the Sony Venice for it’s flexibility on the field, dual iso helping a bit in reducing the size of the lighting package for a heavy night exteriors project as Loup y es-tu? We paired it with Panavision T series anamorphics witch gave us a modern yet very filmic look with astonishing close focus abilities. As for the lighting package it consisted mainly in powerful HMIs and Skypanels for the exteriors and for the interiors a mix of tungsten lights and LED panels were used. »



8. Where do you usually find inspiration? Or were there filmmakers you admire as a role model ?
I love photography, I go to lots of expositions, I like to imagine the story behind a picture. I also spend lot of time watching masterclasses, feeding my curiosity. Music is also very important to me. I have a playlist for each period of my work and my life :)

There’s a lot of filmmakers that I admire. If I have to choose, I would say Tim Burton and Steven Spielberg were my biggest inspiration as a child. I watched their movies over and over again. I love the way they create their own world and how easy they are making us jump in it.

I’m also a huge fan of Greta Gerwig. Her movies inspires me so much today, I love her straightforward yet independent filmmaking style. I also love the work of David Fincher, Denis Villeneuve, Jean-Marc Vallée, Sofia Coppola, Olivier Assayas, Jacques Audiard and many more..!


9. Your opinion about Cinehub online platform that screens your works in Korea?

CineHub is such an amazing place for filmmakers like me ! It’s an incredible chance to be featured next to many other talented directors on an international platform. I admire Korean cinema very much, it is a great honor for me.

10. A final goodbye with upcoming plans ?
Since Here Comes the Wolf’s adventure, I have been lucky enough to make some amazing professional connections in France and abroad... I can't say more for the moment but I am working on several fiction projects that I hope I will be able to share news about soon !

I am also working on a feature film adaptation of Here Comes The Wolf with a different perspective that I’m very excited about…

Hompage https://julierohart.com/

Instagram https://www.instagram.com/julierohart/

Photos Ram Outcho