November 2008 I started the journey of I Walk Alone with the writing of the script – and this journey has been amazing and terrifying. I suppose that´s just how it has to be when you´re making a film. The work started with feeble images in my head that grew into violently alive images that had to come out – they just had to do a stopover in the textual form of a script.
These images were with me during the entire time whether I was working on the film or not, and they still are with me. So when I talked about the film I would say “My film”. Then on the second day of production I was talking to Helen and Siv about how the day had gone and I said excitedly “It´s so much fun seeing my film come to life”. My co-workers looked at me, and Helen, the wiser of the two of us said “Merete, it´s not just your film, it´s our film – we´re making it together”. I felt terribly ashamed, because she was absolutely right! One person is not making a film with 20-30 assistants – we are making it together as a team. All I was thinking as I said it was that the images in my head are materializing in front of me and I love it! But all of us had images in our heads, not necessarily the same, but perhaps similar. And the film that all of us wanted to make was becoming alive in front of us and it was amazing!
And that´s why I´m writing this blog post – I did not walk alone when WE made I Walk Alone – and I greatly appreciate it!
Do you have a similar story from a production you´ve been a part of?
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Merete Grimeland: I love both fiction and documentary film, and currently I'm doing a Masters in Media Studies where the film "I Walk Alone" and a thesis about character engagement is the focus of my master. 