Loft

The Dutch and the Belgians may live cheek by jowl but that doesn’t mean the two lowland countries have a great deal in common. As Loft remake producer Rachel Van Bommel points out, they watch different TV shows and have different stars and different tastes. Even their personalities are different - the Dutch tend to be more direct and outspoken than the Belgians.

Van Bommel has a dual career as producer and as distributor (at the Dutch arm of Benelux company Independent Films.) She had seen and admired Erik Van Looy’s Flemish hit Loft (2008), distributed in Belgium last year by Independent and sold internationally by The Works.

“I thought it was a brilliant script, a fascinating plot, but the problem is that, although we are very small countries, it is very difficult to make a Flemish film a big success in Holland,” Van Bommel recalls. However, this was a Belgian movie and was therefore a tough sell to Dutch audiences. Van Looy may be a big-name TV personality as well as a filmmaker in Flanders but no-one knows him in Holland.

In the end, Van Bommel decided not to release Loft in Holland. (“Even if we had made it a success, we would (only) be able to attract perhaps 50,000 admissions…and that’s not what the film deserves.”) The better strategy, she thought, was to plot a remake. She arranged a meeting at Belgian producer Woestijnvis (behind the original Loft). To her surprise, Van Looy was quickly enthusiastic about remaking his movie in Dutch.

Early on, the intention was that Van Looy would direct the remake himself. However, when he was contacted by US companies about the possibility of an American remake, he stepped aside. Van Bommel brought in Antoinette  Beumer, the director of Dutch hit The Happy Housewife.

She had already worked with Beumer (Famke Janssen’s sister), releasing her 2007 documentary See You In Vegas. The two had remained friends and after Van Bommel had seen an early cut of The Happy Housewife, she and the other producers quickly decided that Beumer was the perfect choice to direct.

Beumer, who had likewise admired the original, had a burning desire to make the film. “I loved the script. It was very complicated but not in an annoying way,” she says, adding that its multiple twists reminded her of The Usual Suspects.

Midway through shooting, on July 19th, disaster struck. Scaffolding in the Belgian studio collapsed. Six people from the crew were thrown to the ground. Two - the director and the cinematographer - sustained serious injuries.

“Not the whole shoot was dramatic but that incident was absolutely dramatic!”, the producer recalls. “Most of the crew was OK, thank god, but the two people you can miss the most, the cameraman and the director, were both hurt.”

Beumer broke her jaw in three places and her wrist. The cameraman badly injured his foot. Rather than completely close down the production, which had a big ensemble cast of 17 actors, the producers decided to carry on working.

“The actors’ schedules were very tight. We had (hired) a big studio and there wasn’t much room for postponing.”

Enter Erik Van Looy. The Belgian director had been involved in the project at the outset, had discussed it at length with Beumer and knew the script inside out. He agreed to take over directorial duties while Beumer was given time to recover.

Eventually, the director returned to the set - with her arm still in plaster. The cinematographer likewise reappeared…in a wheelchair. The two wounded warriors managed to finish the shooting.

“It was a strange and funny way to finish the film,” Beumer reflects.

“Also, it gave me a very close feeling with the cameraman - that we survived this one together!” She adds that she is very grateful to the producers for allowing her injures to heal and giving her the chance to complete the film.

Beumer has been busy editing. Her movie star sister Famke Janssen, has likewise been in Holland, working nearby on the post-production of her directorial debut Bringing Up Bobby.

“We are both in Holland and we are on the phone a lot of times. She says that she really loves directing. If she keeps on directing, I am not sure we are ever going to work together because I am not going to act.” Their youngest sister is a writer. “That would be nice - if our sister wrote a script, Femke acted in it and I directed!”

Van Bommel believes that Loft portrays Amsterdam in a way that will intrigue international viewers. It foregrounds the new architecture of the city rather than offering cliched old images the canals and red light district. “Yes, I think it has potential to travel but first we will concentrate on the Dutch release,” the producer says of the film, which will be going out on over 100 prints in Holland in December.