Interview: Babak Anvari on British Oscar Submission 'Under the Shadow'

By Jose Solís.

At first glance, Babak Anvari’s Under the Shadow seems to announce itself as a fine Iran-set social drama, as we meet Shideh (Narges Rashidi) a young mother who discovers her political past - she protested the war against Iraq - has deemed her ineligible to return to medical school. When her husband (Bobby Baderi) gets sent to a battle zone for work, she is left behind with her daughter Dorsa (Avin Manshadi) trying to make sense of her life, while their city is under the constant threat of Iraqi missiles. If that wasn’t enough, strange things begin to occur in their home as Dorsa is convinced there is a presence that wants to take her away.

Even though this is Anvari’s first feature film, he displays a mastery of horror techniques that would put others to shame...

He’s already an expert at creating a sense of dread made denser by his ability to highlight that the horror of war might be more terrifying than anything out of a ghost tale. Combining the myth of the Jinn (supernatural creatures of Islamic lore) and a war that still has repercussions in our world, Under the Shadow makes for a thrilling, thought provoking work. After a limited American theatrical release during the spring of 2016, the film went on to become the UK’s submission for Best Foreign Language Film, and recently won three awards at the British Independent Film Awards. I spoke to Anvari about the experience of awards season, working with children and coming up with the look of his demons.

Read the interview after the jump.

JOSE: Congratulations on your success at the BIFAs!

BABAK ANVARI: Thank you, that was awesome! We were nominated for six awards, I went there without any expectations just planning to enjoy the night, and we won three awards! It was nice to have the support of the indie film scene.

JOSE: I was very excited when I saw Avin Manshadi won! She was wonderful in the film, how was the process of working with her?

BABAK ANVARI: This was her first time acting, but she has this raw, pure talent. We found her by approaching an Iranian community and meeting children, we got about 30 recommendations, Avin’s mom sent a video for her audition in which she told a story about the Great Fire of London with a very somber expression. We thought she could be good, and then she walked into the room and she was incredible. During rehearsals we didn’t do scenes, we mainly did role-playing games, she’d be the three little pigs and I’d play the wolf. So shooting it was the same on a bigger scale, and she got it. By the first week she was acting like a professional, approaching the DP and telling him where her marks needed to be, and also trying to copy Narges who plays her mom.

It’s very common to see horror films about mothers who are left alone with their kids to fight demons or ghosts. What about this dynamic did you find fascinating that you chose it for your film?

I think it comes from that very universal feeling that mothers are there to protect their children and nothing is worse than seeing her child threatened in one way or another. Ultimately my film is a very classically Gothic film, mother/child/haunted building, I just changed the setting.

No offense to the Jinn, but to me the most terrifying moments in the film were the ones grounded in reality, like when we see the missiles, or the signs of war.

Yeah, to be fair all the horror in the film is referenced in the real world of the film. In the first act everything looks like a social realist drama, it’s interesting you brought up the missile because even though we never got hit by one, we knew families who were, or we saw it on TV, so that image has haunted me forever. There is something really eerie about seeing an alien object smashing through your ceiling. It was important for me to focus on the horrors of war, because to me the film is also about how national hysteria creates personal hysteria.

Can you talk about the moment where Shideh sees herself with the veil reflected in a mirror, and that seems to scare her more than anything else. It was such a striking image, especially nowadays as we see “progressive” governments banning the veil, and deciding for the women whether they can wear them or not.

I have nothing against anyone’s personal beliefs, if people believe they should wear it then good, but if they don’t it’s unfair and cruel to force them to do that. I believe Narges has only been to Iran once after she left when she was a child, so every time she had to wear the veil it reminded her of that time she visited as a grownup. To be fair I tried to layer the story with so many different themes, I didn’t want to focus on a particular element like the veil.

This might sound like a Buffy episode question, but how did you come up with the look of the Jinn?

The starting point was referencing all the horror elements in the reality of the film. In mythology Jinn are known for not having a particular form, they are shapeshifters and they always turn into something you fear. I remembered a lot of the urban myths that used to scare me as a child, one of them was my friend used to tell me if I was walking down a dark street and saw a woman asking for help, and I got close, she would reveal she was a Jinn and would snatch you away. I read a lot about our mythology, I also wanted to keep it ambiguous by reminding myself that in horror less is more. If you see too much of the monster, it’s not scary anymore. I wanted to keep the horror like that feeling you have when you’re alone at night and think something might be moving.

Does working with things that scared you as a child work as some sort of therapy for these fears?

A hundred percent! It was catharsis, I put all these fears and dilemmas, and the film comes from a very personal place. All the scary moments in the film are things that scare me, so if they scare the audience then I think to myself “you’re not the only crazy one”.

This is your first feature, how on Earth did you pitch “a social drama about Iran with demons”?

(Laughs) Oh man, that was one of the biggest challenges. My agent asked me what I wanted to do and I said “a psychological horror film in in Farsi” he said “are you crazy?” But he supported me, then the script came out and everyone helped. They knew the language would be a risk, but there was no way I was shooting it in English. I hope the producers think the risk paid off.

Horror movies rarely get submitted for Oscars, what are your feelings about England submitting the film, especially since it’s such a specific story?

It’s fantastic, it shows how diverse the UK is, that this happened post-Brexit says a lot about how supportive the UK industry is to other cultures and other people who live in Britain. I am very honored BAFTA and the UK submitted the film, I’m so very grateful and honored.

Your film has two amazing female characters. Can you name other of your favorite female characters in horror films?

Obviously Rosemary, she’s amazing. Catherine Deneuve in Repulsion as well, those early Polanski films were a huge inspiration for me, and also the little vampire girl from Let the Right One In kicks ass. Ripley in Alien and Aliens too, I remember talking to Narges I told her I wanted Ripley in an Iranian setting.

And I really have to ask, I loved the Jane Fonda workout videos showing up in the film. How did that happen? Did your mom do them? Do you know if they were effective?

(Laughs) The Jane Fonda videos were a huge part of my childhood! Even in Iran, they were so popular, people would pass them around. One of our neighbors who was super fit and into being healthy, used to make my mom work out to the Jane Fonda videos, but she was fed up after two weeks. I remember the women talking about the video, “did you do the workout yesterday?” It’s also such a universal thing, wherever I take the film people talk about the Jane Fonda scenes. Some people even do them now! I think they’re being re-released or something.

Recent Foreign Film Oscar Interviews
Iran - Asghar Farhadi returns with The Salesman
Venezuela - Lorenzo Vigas on Venice champion From Afar
Singapore - Boo Junfeng on the prison drama The Apprentice
The Netherlands - Oscar nominee Paula van der Oest returns with Tonio
Finland on the boxing drama The Happiest Day in the Life of Olli Mäki

Foreign Film Contender Reviews
Death in Sarajevo - Bosnia & Herzegovina | Neruda - Chile | Mother - Estonia | Elle - France | Toni Erdmann - Germany | The Salesman - Iran | Chevalier - Greece | Sand Storm - Israel | Fire at Sea - Italy | Desierto - Mexico | A Flickering Truth - New Zealand | Apprentice - Singapore | Age of Shadows- South Korea | Julieta - Spain | My Life as a Courgette - Switzerland | Under the Shadow - UK | From Afar - Venezuela 

Comments

[goran]

Both the film and its maker (and stars) are such an inspiration, on absolutely every level.