director's and producer's comments

TREATMENT

Our aim is to create a surreal romantic comedy with a giddy, chaotic tone. Think Emir Kusturica's "Black Cat White Cat" or Jean-Pierre Jeunet's "Amélie". We want to present a love story between two unique characters set in a world of contrast. The NATO base setting in Iceland provides a beautifully sarcastic backdrop where Americans and Icelanders are forced to reckon with one another. It's a tug-of-war between the tone of ancient Iceland and contemporary globalization. Myth and folklore will play a part in undermining the serious nature of the conflict and induce the ironic, smirking mixture of romance and comedy. "White Lies" will be a bright, young film that weaves together simple, yet, exceptional, slice-of-life moments and injects a highly stylized, beautiful, and original visual energy.

THE LOOK

The film will have an organic, painterly quality. Think the colour of the sea: deep blue and deep green mixed with the colours of the earth: brown, brighter greens, black.  It would be ideal to shoot as much during magic hour as possible to  capture the amazing natural light of Iceland's summer.  In order to have complete control over the colour scheme, we will choose to post with an HD or 2K Telecine and the Digital Intermediate film-out route. This way, we can create a more fantastical world and an extremely thick, polished yet natural look. Think sky replacement, day-for-night, isolation of colours, etc.

In regard to framing and movement, the scenes will have natural, subjective feel. Massive static panoramic shots will become visual bookends around the possessive vision. Intimate, hand-held camerawork will keep us in constant motion like the camerawork in Catherine Hardwicke's "Thirteen", not intrusive but obtrusive, keeping us in and around the characters' lives.  The point is also to create a visual clash between the world of the American Navy vs. that of the village.  So where the camera might slow down a bit when we're in the American base, we're almost always at a breakneck speed  in the village. 

SOUND & MUSIC

As the script makes sound and music an integral part of the story, we will pay special attention to its integration. 

The overall sound design will reflect the vast space of Iceland?s exterior geography and the cozy, cerebral warmth of the interiors. We're thinking about sounds and textures that are not entirely "natural" but more fantastical. 

Dagny's "band", will be treated as an experimental sound sculpture. Strange haunting resonating music created with instruments home-made out of electronics, wires, appliances and tubes: a mix of modern and primitive sound making devices. This will help justify Dagny's idea to reproduce the submarine sounds and also provide another interesting production design element to play with. We should aim to involve a band like MUM: a band that really reflects the nature of Iceland and has been highly successful abroad.  It's imperative that the music is not the atypical "small town Icelandic garage band" variety.  We need some mystery, something fresh and new.  

CHARACTERS/CAST WISH LIST

Ketchum and Dagny are the focus point of this film.  It is important to cast strong, independent faces in these pivotal roles. 

For Ketchum we've thought of PAUL BETTANY, ADRIEN BRODY or JEREMY SISTO. For Dagny, it would be a casting call and auditions. For the time being we've considered EMILIANA TORRINI. 

Other strong roles are the old guys, Schoonover and Bolli.  Both can be seen as relics from the cold war, not sure of their new place in the world.  Both should be portrayed as "loopy".  Shchoonover is a bit like the George C. Scott character in Dr. Strangelove.  For Schoonover we're considering LANCE HENRIKSEN and for Bolli: Jon Sigurbjornsson.