Stephen King is universal.
His screenplay forBille Augustwon the Danish Oscar.
Den of Geek: Hello Christian, I saw the pilot and reread the book.
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Christian Torpe: Its a quick read, but its a good one.
Its so condensed that its a perfect story.
What first got you interested inThe Mist?
I asked which book it was, and they saidThe Mist.
So I thought about it for a day or two.
But I didnt have to do much thinking because I love Stephen King so much [laughs].
So I ended up saying yes, lets do this lets give it a shot.
What was that first Stephen King book you read?
I think it wasCarrie.
I worked at the local school library.
I was sort of the nerdy guy who was putting books up after school hours that people had borrowed.
That was the first one I read too, and I was probably about the same age.
Yeah, we were way too young to read it.
Were damaged people, lets face it.
But you got to work with him.
What was that like?
He hasnt been involved on a day-to-day basis.
Im pretty sure hes only credited as story by.
You had to expand the universe inThe Mistoutwardly from the minor characters in the book.
So I chose my characters based on the story lines that represent these themes.
How the characters are able to address the themes that we wanted to address in the show.
We came up with characters that work into the story in an interesting way.
Sort of like doing a jigsaw puzzle in 3D.
We needed to come up with different psychologies and mind-sets that could contradict each other in interesting ways.
The cop was one of them.
She did a lot of it in a different way.
Tell me about your team.
Theres a different director for each episode.
Do you choose them, or are they assigned?
The book offers no answers as to what the mist was all about, only rumors.
Ive only seen the pilot, but how do reach a conclusion?
I wont ask what the conclusion is, but how do you connect those dots?
We have, in the room, an answer for everything we put up on the screen.
The question is always how much of that answer do you want to reveal to the audience.
Season 1 is about the search for answers and less about the answer itself.
Maybe in later seasons we will dive further into what the mist is and where it came from.
So, if theres a season 2, youll be on your own?
The book ends with what gets written down in a diner.
What kind research did you do to flesh out what the possibilities of what Arrowhead might have been?
Weve done a lot of research, and this is one of the benefits of a big writers room.
We had seven or eight writers working non-stop for six months.
The trailers make it look like there is a psychological aspect to whats in the mist.
The pilot hints at how that will play out when the cop bugs out in his specific fear.
Are you moving along those lines?
I dont want to reveal too much of that.
We worked in a writers room where everyone was a fan of his work, and know his work.
Does that come from seeing America from the outside?
Is that how all Danish people see us?
I dont know if its a specific outsider point of view or if its an American view.
I think its a pretty universal thing that fear and anger are always connected to sexuality in a way.
We talked aboutCarriebefore and its one big fat metaphor for puberty.
I definitely wanted to tap into that.
Did you watch or avoid the 2007 movie?
I definitely watched it.
I didnt want to avoid it.
I wanted to see what Frank Darabont did.
And I had watched it before taking up this project.
I think its a great movie.
I think its controversial and pretty diligent.
In a way, that freed me to go in a slightly different direction when I needed to.
So, whats it like when it happens to you?
Your showRitawas remade in the Netherlands asTessaand in France asSam.
How does it feel to see it reinterpreted by other artists?
But its definitely like cutting the umbilical cord.
Its a tricky thing.
What are the main differences between working for Danish TV and American TV?
Ha, you do like more meetings over here.
More very, very long meetings, up to three hours.
Whereas in Denmark it would probably be like five minutes.
I have yet to figure out whats being talked about in all those meetings.
I just know theres a lot of them.
What sorts of direction do you give, because this is a psychological thriller, to actors?
We review the scripts and talk about the story and why I chose what I had.
Its a constant ongoing conversation.
I was very impressed by the opening scene.
c’mon be my dog.
He cant walk around and talk to himself saying gee I wish I knew who I was.
Which was a fun way of writing that scene.
Why doesnt TV allow for a longer spread before you actually get to whats deep?
I think some TV does.
In the pilot the mist doesnt really arrive until about 40 minutes in.
So I do think the boundaries are being pushed for doing the character groundwork.
Of course, it helps that we are on cable.
Which is more fun, playing with the expectations or giving them that thrill to wake them up?
I love playing against expectations.
Its just a personal taste, playing against it.
Is there more freedom on Danish TV than here to do that?
I think so, but I think Ive been given a lot of freedom on this project.
And with smaller risk you are allowed to do more controversial stuff.
Why did you swap the books main location of the supermarket for a mall?
The mall had more space for a mini-society.
I think its an interesting backdrop.
I think King has a long tradition of having protagonists that are writers, fromMiseryandDark Halfand the other books.
And I wanted to dive into that territory.
I think its interesting territory.
Perhaps that is something Kevin gets to do as the show progresses.
Is there any particular character that you identify with?
I like to think theres a bit of me in all of them.
I always have fun writing characters like that.
We definitely wanted to keep that element from the book in the movie.
I didnt want it to be just about religious fundamentalists.
I wanted it to also have political fundamentalism and other sorts of radicalization that I find equally dangerous.
The Mistpremieres on Spike on Thursday, June 22 at 10 p.m.
