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(Photo by Liam Daniel / HBO)
Chernobyl seemed to come out of nowhere. Hot on the heels of Game of thronesThe final episodes, HBO's five-part mini-series of creator / screenwriter Craig Mazin and executive producer / co-producer Johan Renck, go into the in-depth, almost unbelievable, story of the accident that occurred in the infamous Ukrainian nuclear power station. the worst calamities caused by humans that the world has never known.
The groundbreaking series – featuring stellar performances by Jared Harris, Stellan Skarsgård and Emily Watson – does not explore the accident, it addresses the large-scale ramifications that followed, telling the story of many citizens who have made sacrifices unsearchable. , and gave their lives, in order to save the continent from the imminent disaster.
To give a more accurate idea of the terrifying story told, director Johan Renck spoke at length with Rotten Tomatoes about his creative vision of the project. During our conversation, he explained the difficulties encountered to tell a Russian story with a large number of British actors, the importance that there is to use a sound and silence to give the your appropriate and enduring relevance of the Chernobyl disaster, all these years later.
(Photo by Liam Daniel / HBO)
Aaron Pruner for rotten tomatoes: you've done the five episodes of Chernobyl, which looks like a massive undertaking. What was your vision in production?
Johan Renck: The most important thing for me was that I wanted to experience rather than display it so to speak. This is not a diorama in which you get this world presented to you. For me, it was more about finding a kind of old-fashioned authenticity, finding a way to film that and manage it so that you feel immersed. You almost feel like you are here. There is this kind of experiential side. So I think it was my program, so to speak, since the beginning of this project.
Have viewers reacted or complained about the accuracy of the story told?
Renck: There are people who have trouble understanding why it's in English and not Russian. And also people who have trouble managing British accents. On the other hand, I get tons of messages from people living in Belarus, Ukraine or Russia, claiming that it's so authentic that I have a connection with every thought that goes into clothing or a costume or a garbage can or anything, everything is meticulously accurate. So, you know, all we can do is try to be precise and authentic.
(Photo by Liam Daniel / HBO)
Well, let's talk about working with the UK cast. I can understand how some people may oppose the accents or the fact that the actors you name are neither Russian nor Ukrainian, but for me it did not take long for the British to come off. Have there been any methods to try to tamp down the variety of dialects featured in the show?
Renck: Having a British actor portray a Russian character, it's almost like taking an Italian actor to make a Russian. The British are, you know, very expressive in their facial language, very courteous and apologetic. While the Russian and East European personalities – and again, I come from Sweden, I come from this part of the world – are radically different. It's more a kind of sneaky, almost stony behavior. There is no desire, no desire to appease someone or to please someone else by the way you communicate. It is very simple. And, added to that, you have that Slavic flamboyance that comes out in hot moments.
In a world of dreams, we would have had a year of rehearsals with our 104 speaking roles, to try to reduce the local outlines of accents, you see? Because you have Scottish actors, Irish actors, Welsh actors, southern England, Northern Ireland and all these accents are radically different from each other. The agenda was, originally, to somehow shave all these edges, to the point of becoming a strange form of neutral English. But this task was simply impossible to obtain given the time allotted and the amount of actors we had.
(Photo by Liam Daniel / HBO)
You talked about coming from an experiential place with that. Let's talk about the end of Episode 2 where we follow the divers in tunnels under the factory. This scene was dark, without dialogue and was essentially based on the stakes of their mission, which meant the constant ticking of their radiation detectors. What are the challenges in presenting a story like this, in this scene and in the biggest of projects, without going too far and exploiting the present moment?
Renck: You know, there are a lot of challenges, but they are all interesting and fun challenges. You mentioned divers. For me, it was a very delicate scene on paper because you are dealing with three people in the dark, who can not talk to each other and you can not see their faces because they wear masks. You can not really understand the behavior of the body because of their clothes and all that.
To a certain extent, you return to the founding principle of cinema: we translate psychology and behavior. We must try with most of the tools you would normally use – there is no terrified eye, no breath, no scream, and nothing like that. This particular scene, during filming, it was clear that it's a sound-driven thing. The only thing that will help us understand what these people are feeling inside is the sound of the dosimeter, which increases in intensity, the more this extremely contaminated water becomes deep. Of course, it's pretty scary to see just two guys fend for themselves in the dark. But it's a little scary at first – you have to find it find deep fear. And this was then channeled through sound design more than anything else.
(Photo by Liam Daniel / HBO)
And one of the most important aspects of telling the story here is the use of sound, silence, and the organic nature of the score. Composer Hildur Guðnadóttir was recently interviewed and spoke about the visit of the Lithuanian power station where the series was shot and the use of the power station itself as the source of the series' music.
Renck: She had a guy with him who used special equipment to record the sound from things you never thought you would, even a sound. For example, one of the recurring themes is what she always called "the door". It's there that they place the microphone on a door and the strangely complex sounds coming from a static door, there are those strange little sounds of metal and tension. and just buzz that you would have no idea existed. These are the types of sounds that she has recorded, as well as an atmospheric sound. And from these elements, she used these as sounds for her instruments.
Even further, however, the use of sound and music is very different here from most television series or drama. Usually the audience receives a voluminous score or a discordant musical signal to let us know that a great time is going on, to tell us how to feel. But you did not do it here.
Renck: Hildur and I strongly oppose underlining, where the music is there to guide you on what you need to feel. You know, someone opens a door and there is something worrying about to happen, then the music starts going out to tell you that it's scary. All of this is something that Hildur and I deeply hate. It's a bit devious and you do not need it either. There is already this penetrating undercurrent of dread, despair and despair. You do not need to put another layer on this cake, it is at full capacity now.
(Photo of HBO)
At HBO Chernobyl podcast, the creator of the show, Craig Mazin, talks about his visit to the infamous power station before the start of production. Have you visited Chernobyl?
Renck: Well, here's the problem: when we were shooting in Ukraine, we had planned a day off so that I could go to Chernobyl, which was obviously what I wanted to do. The day I leave for Chernobyl, we receive a call from the exclusion zone. Last summer was very hot, it was the hottest and driest summer in Europe in 300 years or something. So the morning of my departure, we receive a phone call from the exclusion zone informing us that we have seven or nine people facing wildfires that are raging and that you can not come. Now, I'm kind of a nuclear expert because of everything I've gone into, so I say, "Oh, yes, I understand that burning trees obviously release contaminated organic material. Yeah, that does not seem good. And they said, "Yeah, I do not know anything about it. I can not go but I will go this summer and production, of course, you know, they owe me this trip.
(Photo by Liam Daniel / HBO)
In the last episode, we finally arrive at a trial in which Dyatlov, Bryukhanov and Fomin are tried for their crimes. This is where we learn the truth that gnaws Legasov – all this time, he knew on one level that the intrinsic safety button of the plant was defective and that ultimately it was the last kingpin that had caused the explosion. How important was this scene to be correct? And what, if any, were the dramatic liberties taken to describe the unfolding of the drama?
Renck: To a certain extent, the trial is not factual. From the point of view of the event, it is the least accurate thing. Legasov and Shcherbina were not at this trial, they were not even there in reality. And this trial was a full trial in which nothing was revealed. The three scapegoats – Dyatlov, Bryukhanov and Fomin – had to be sentenced to death and the Soviet state to wash their hands. In real life, this event has taken place several times. We first had this conference in Vienna, then we had the trial and then, you know, nothing came out before the suicide of Valery Legasov, and the tapes were sent.
From Craig's point of view, it was a way to put an end to this affair. We can not make it a six-hour episode and we need to find a way to truncate things and turn them into what they were. Much of it is based on court transcripts. Much of what was said by the participants is very real, of course. But the event is a bit of a fusion of a few things going on. It's kind of multilevel thing. For the state, it's a joke – it's a show trial organized to begin. They organized this trial in the city of Chernobyl, that we should not confuse with Pripyat. The city is an old town located about thirty kilometers from the Chernobyl power station. It was organized there because the state clearly said that there was nothing dangerous here and that everything was fine, so we should have the trial here.
(Photo by Liam Daniel / HBO)
It is an emotion and an intense scientific explanation of the cause of the explosion. And this element of truth is what we went to all this time. Not to mention the fact that the entire editing and placement of the judges and the jury is quite strange.
Renck: I like this court scene. I love to photograph a lot of things. I love to photograph dark scenes in the belly of the nuclear power plant, but I also like the scenes of the test. And here we have to create a test scene that does not look like a test scene we've seen before. Or want like that. This should look like a different type of dynamics in which witnesses and jurors are all scripted, to some extent. And all that is said and done is growing, no matter how you look at it. So we have to create a climax and a tone to support that. And that, I think, is reflected mainly in the challenge of Khomyuk, then in the nervousness of Legasov, because he does not know … Do I have to go to the end? Or should not I? Or should I tell the truth? All that.
(Photo by Liam Daniel / HBO)
Now that the reviews are out and people are chatting, I'm curious to know what you hope people will remember from the show.
Renck: The only thing I thought I wanted was that someone like Lyudmilla Ignatenko, still alive to this day, would see this and feel that her voice had been heard, that she had been portrayed faithfully and that the sacrifice that she of other people have gone through there, in order to somehow save the f-king planet, or almost, is something that everyone understands, realizes and embraces. I do not want to sound melodramatic, but that's exactly right for me. These stories, these people, what they lived and lived, and suffer the consequences of that day.
For example, there is a hospital in Cuba in which hundreds and hundreds of surviving children from Pripyat and surrounding areas have been sent because of the close links between Cuba and the Soviet Union. This hospital is still operational today and still has to deal with the consequences. It was not a thing overnight. It was not a disaster that occurred and ended. It's a story that will continue to spread and have ramifications. It's essential: let these voices be heard and share these stories and, hopefully, everyone feels it.
Chernobyl is available to watch, in its entirety, on HBO and its broadcast platforms, HBO GO and HBO Now.
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Thumbnail image by Liam Daniel / HBO
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