To the millions of people fooled by last summer’s viral video where a feckless father abandons his own family to run to safety from an avalanche, Downhill may seem like shockingly quick turnaround for a movie based on real events. Except, as international film fans know well, it wasn’t. Based on Ruben Östlund’s Force Majeure, directors Nat Faxon and Jim Rash gave the beloved Swedish film an English-language remake, keeping the action in Europe while adding American comedy legends Julia Louis-Dreyfus and Will Ferrell. After its Sundance debut, we sat down with Downhill’s directing duo in Los Angeles to get their take on Force Majeure’s viral moment, and to learn how they got scene-stealer Kristofer Hivju to take one more trip up to the Alps with them.
8 Comments
This is me finally accepting that I look like The Dean.
Anyone care to leave a comment on what the “viral moment” is? I can’t be watching a fuckin’ video here.
The guy being filmed leaving his wife behind as an avalanche heads their way.
A scene from Force Majeure went viral as if it were a real life video about 4 years after Force Majeure came out.This is the dumbest timeline.
I will never get Fat Nixon… Fit Naxon… Nat Faxon’s name right the first time, ever.edit: Any chance of shutting off dat auto-play, AV Club?!
Yeah: Chrome extension Disable HTML5 Autoplay.
Was The Descendants the only time they ever collaborated with Alexander Payne?
Wasn’t there some movie a few years ago with a similar moment? I want to say it was a couple trekking in the jungle and the husband hides behind the wife when bandits threaten them with a gun?