NIKOLAJ ARCEL

Director of The Dark Tower

Was this a particularly intense shoot?

“Gruelling and intense” are pretty much the right words, especially on a film that doesn’t have a $150 million budget. And you don’t have that many days, so there were a lot of times we worked 20 hours and then went to sleep. And at the same time Idris was doing this film, he was training for a kickboxing fight show!

Did you want to emphasise in-camera effects rather than CGI?

My thing is always trying to keep it real, so I assembled a team who were all into that. We didn’t want a big, fantasy, scrolling colours, kids’ film, and it’s not like a Warcrafttype fantasy film. We wanted both New York and Mid-World to feel extremely real; extremely grounded in reality.

Was it difficult juggling all the different elements?

It’s not easy. I was at a dinner recently with [writer] Jane Goldman, and she said, “Oh my God, if I ever have to deal with dimensions or magic or superheroes, I’m going to kill myself. It’s so hard with all the logic stuff.” And I said, “Oh, you know what? My film has all three!'” She gasped and went, “Oh my god, I’m so sorry!”