An Interview with Award Winning German Filmmaker Nikias Chryssos
After watching Der Bunker we got the opportunity to chat to the writer and director of the movie, Nikias Chryssos, an opportunity we simply couldn’t pass up. Nikias has been causing quite a stir on the festival circuit with his debut movie and we wanted to find out a little bit more about him.
Hi Nikias, we really appreciate you taking the time to sit down and talk to us.
Can you tell our readers a little bit about yourself and how you got into filmmaking?
I’m Greek-German and was brought up in the romantic German city of Heidelberg. After finishing high school, I started with internship and jobs for film & TV productions, and then went on to study directing.
We recently got to see ‘Der Bunker’ and we loved it! Where did you get the idea from to make this movie?
A mixture of the first character – a student who goes somewhere to focus on an important work but faces all kinds of troubles and distraction – and location – the secluded place where he is put. Everything went from there.
It sounds like all the pieces to this movie just seemed to come together at the right time.
How did you come across this great location to film in?
We found the entrance to our ‘bunker’ when we were scouting locations in the woods and immediately fell in love with it. It looked like a place the student could get sucked into, like a mouth or a face that he gets swallowed by. Most of the interiors were built in a family home in a suburb close to Berlin that we completely shut down.
What was it like filming in such cramped conditions?
Psychotic!
We thought Heinrich was a fantastic element in the film, how did you come up with this idea?
Heinrich was suddenly there and it was really frightening. He started to speak through Oona who plays the mother while we were talking about her role, and we had no other choice than to incorporate him into the movie. He is very powerful and still haunts me from time to time. Sometimes he asks for his own movie. Let’s see.
Oona delivered a pretty terrifying voice for Heinrich, I think there will be a lot people having nightmares about him. We would love to see more of Heinrich in his own movie!
We loved the set design and costumes. Where did you take inspiration from for the look of the film?
We wanted a timeless feel, like the family and their bunker were stuck in time. I collected a lot of mood images from all kind of different sources and went from there with my production designer and the costume designer. They did a great job of expanding my ideas and finding all those crazy costumes and props.
We agree the production designer and costume designer deserve a big pat on the back for their efforts.
Der Bunker has done very well on the festival circuit. What did it feel like to get such great feedback and recognition for your first feature film?
While we were working on the post-production and editing of the film, we didn’t show it to many people, so I was quite anxious how the reaction would be. That it went to so many festivals, won some awards and received a lot of good feedback, made me very happy and is a nice motivation for the next film.
How was it making the jump from short films to full length features?
After graduating from film school, I was developing several projects at the same time, and DER BUNKER was the first one we got the financing for. The main difference is that a feature really feels like a marathon, a short film more of a sprint, and that’s reflected everywhere, the pre-production, the shoot, the editing.
Have your experiences making short films helped you to make the jump to feature length ones?
Yes! Some of the actors I worked with on the feature I had worked with before on my short films and it helped me a lot to picture them in their roles. They often get type-cast for very different roles but because I had met them personally before, I knew about their other sides as well.
That is great that your experiences with these people have given you a deeper insight into what they are capable of.
Do you take inspiration from any other directors?
A lot! Some of my favorites are Polanski, Kubrick, Lynch, Hitchcock, Cronenberg, Lindsay Anderson, Werner Herzog, Peckinpah.
You certainly have some amazing people to look up to.
Are there any actors you would like to work with?
Yes. Jack Nicholson, do you hear me?
Maybe Jack Nicholson as Heinrich?
Jack Nicholson in “Heinrich – The Movie” will be AWESOME!!
Have you got any upcoming projects you could tell us about?
Yes, I have written two more scripts that are in financing now, and I’m also working on something completely different – an animated children’s movie. For real children!
We will be looking forward to hearing more about these in the near future.
What are your plans for the future?
To live, love and laugh.
Have you got any advice you could give aspiring filmmakers?
Enjoy the process, stay strong and wild, try to make something special and meaningful, something you are personally interested in and stay away from people who give you negative energy.
Thanks Nikias, that is some brilliant advice. Thanks so much for taking the time out to speak with us, we really appreciate it as we know you are very busy.
If you haven’t seen DER BUNKER then make sure you don’t miss it! Available August 23rd through Artsploitation Films, pre-order your copy RIGHT HERE.
