00:25For me there were two scenes
00:29that were very emotionally
00:31or the final scene
00:35when Saeed is thinking about
00:39the verse that he taught
00:45from his mother
00:47and he rises again.
00:49That was a really important scene.
00:52So yeah, we spend a lot of time
00:56to create that on set
00:58because it's very important.
01:01And the other emotionally scene,
01:04it's in another way.
01:06I think we shot it at the first day.
01:10It was a reduced day.
01:12So it was only with Saeed,
01:14the DOP, myself.
01:17And we had to film in prison.
01:20We actually could go in a real prison,
01:24but we could only go in with a few people.
01:28So I also had to play a little part.
01:32So I'm the guy who was guiding Suleiman out of jail.
01:37And that was a moment.
01:42Yeah, that when we were standing in the hallway
01:46with the prison,
01:48all the prisoners,
01:49you could hear the prisoners.
01:51And we were standing there
01:53and we were saying to each other,
01:56this is such a nice, beautiful moment.
02:11At a certain moment,
02:13when me and Bob were standing in the hallway,
02:15all those prisoners
02:15were slamming out the doors of our cells.
02:18And I don't know how
02:19they recognized us
02:21and they were yelling my name.
02:22They were yelling,
02:23oh, movie, action.
02:24Everybody was,
02:25I said, whoa, what's happening here?
02:26And on top of that,
02:29when we were shooting the scene
02:31that I came out of prison,
02:33I met my friend
02:34that I didn't see 10 years
02:37coming out of the prison with his papers.
02:39I said to me,
02:40I said, what you're doing?
02:40That's my friend
02:41who I have chilling with.
02:44You remember, Bob?
02:46Yeah.
02:46Then I saw that guy
02:48coming out of prison
02:50with his real papers.
02:52And he said, what are you doing?
02:53I said, I'm playing a movie.
02:54I said to him, what are you doing?
02:55I said, I just released my prison.
02:57And that was my friend 15 years ago
02:59that I was chilling with.
03:01So yeah, that's why
03:02I escaped from also.
03:04So I was very happy.
03:06So it was for me like
03:07a confirmation
03:08from all my persistency
03:10during the past years.
03:12Also the no's and everything.
03:15I said, okay, finally.
03:16And to have it done with Bob,
03:18I couldn't imagine it
03:18doing it with someone else.
03:20They think that they're going to take us.
03:22No, but that's not going to happen.
03:23We fight until then.
03:35As you were saying, like Gladiator,
03:37the villains have to be their own thing.
03:40You know, they have to be a challenge for you,
03:41but they also have to be unique.
03:43I mean, Prince is obviously the top of it.
03:45But you have Lion,
03:46you have everybody going up.
03:48Could you talk about
03:49sort of establishing those?
03:50I'm going to talk about just
03:51the bad guys.
03:53Then Bob can talk about the styles.
03:55For me, the thing,
03:56because we call it the Lion,
03:58Nikita Arlant means
03:59Nikita Eagle.
04:01Chukko has the firm,
04:03has his jug,
04:04so he represents the wolf.
04:05And Suleyman,
04:07my character Suleyman,
04:08was also the prophet
04:09in the Torah
04:13and also in the prophet Suleyman.
04:16He was also the prophet
04:17who can talk with the animals
04:18and the ghosts.
04:21And so that's why
04:22he talked with his own way,
04:27with a difference.
04:28Each animal has his own language,
04:30his own style.
04:32And that's the thing.
04:33But visually-wise,
04:34that was Bob's idea.
04:36And Bob's going to talk about it,
04:37the technical part about it.
04:39But the initial part
04:40from the thoughts
04:43was that every gang,
04:46every floor was represented
04:48by a gang.
04:49And that those gangs
04:50were like symbolic
04:52from an animal.
04:53And not like to exotism them
04:56or to play them out as animals,
04:58but that they have
05:00like an identity.
05:01The Chukos were the wolves.
05:03Nikita was the eagle.
05:05Then you had the lions.
05:07And that's how Suleyman,
05:08the prophet,
05:09could communicate with them
05:10in his language.
05:13The building is a fucking infernal world.
05:21Visually,
05:22well,
05:23this kind of film
05:25allows you as filmmaker
05:27to step outside of the lines
05:29and take some creative risks.
05:32This kind of film
05:34in Belgium
05:35is also
05:36a once-in-a-lifetime
05:38opportunity.
05:42They don't offer you
05:45that kind of films
05:48a lot.
05:49so I wanted to be original
05:54visually
05:55because the story
05:57about a guy
05:58who's going into a building
06:01is a common story.
06:05So I wanted to,
06:06yeah,
06:07to be original
06:09visually.
06:10So I decided to give
06:13every floor
06:14a certain color
06:16and also
06:17a certain
06:18visual style.
06:20Some fights
06:21were shot
06:22handheld.
06:23Other fights
06:24were shot
06:24with a steady cam.
06:25There were a lot
06:29of different things
06:30because I didn't want
06:32to get
06:34the audience
06:35bored.
06:37I wanted
06:39that they
06:40constantly
06:42surprise
06:43with new stuff
06:44during the movie.
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