Music: the Knife

Video clip: Johan Renck

Swedish director Johan Renck is a man of many talents: a photographer and a painter, he works in theatre, and is even a Swedish pop star (in his band Stakka Bo). But on top of all that, Johan Renck has become one of the best European directors in the industry, creating an oeuvre of dramatic, well-crafted videos and uniquely-styled ads over the past seven years.

Johan Reneck Interview by director-file.com:
“The idea of Rickard came from the band (Karin [Dreijer] saw him in a magazine and wanted him to perform it). The concept just came up as I was setting the thing up (this was definitely a one-man-band-shoot…). I used to be a performing artist, and I always felt as if the audience hated me (which they probably did). Thus I liked the idea of creating that tension between performer/audience. I shoot it in a dingy suburb of Stockholm and literally casted it on the street in the morning of the shoot. If you look carefully you will see that the cast changes, as we had to get new people in as people became bored and left… I could only pay them five quid and coffee…”

Quelle: Director File Q&A