With Woodwalkers starts today, October 24, 2024 one of the most popular German fantasy series of the children’s and young adult book sector in the cinema. Katja Brandis’ novels about a school for children who can transform into animals regularly make it onto the Spiegel bestseller lists and now contain over 20 volumes.
In Woodwalkers, we accompany Carag (Emile Chérif), who is sometimes human and sometimes cougar, to a school for shapeshifters: Headmistress Lissa Clearwater’s (Martina Gedeck) Clearwater High. Here he finds new friends (Lilli Falk, Johan von Ehrlich) and rivals (Emil Bloch) and learns to better control his abilities. But what does Carag’s mysterious patron Andrew Milling (Oliver Masucci) want from him? The cinema audience can now find out all of this in the film adaptation. Part 2 and Part 3 of the fantasy film adaptations are also already being planned.
Woodwalkers author Katja Brandis talks in an interview about the fantasy film adaptation’s Harry Potter similarities
At the start of filming in summer 2023, Moviepilot paid a visit to the Woodwalks set in the Harz Mountains. There, in a cave in the forest, we asked original author Katja Brandis about the film adaptation of her fantasy series and learned more about the future of the Woodwalkers universe, literary fantasy insider tips and unintended parallels to Harry Potter.
Moviepilot: You have written over 70 books, but Woodwalkers is the first film adaptation based on your works. Did you dream of this from the start?
Katja Brandis: No, I actually never thought of that. But when I was writing, I always saw everything in my head as a film. Unfortunately, I wrote very complex scenes, which is unfortunate because everything is now very expensive. I write a quick transformation or action scene and the Woodwalkers film adaptation has to spend millions of euros and train animals to make it happen. I have the easier job. [lacht]
How much say did you have in the filming of Woodwalkers?
My book Woodwalkers has been adapted as a play, an audio book and a radio play. Everyone wants to shorten it, convert it, have fewer characters in it, etc. – you have to be able to let go. When it comes to filming, the plot has to fit into a movie, so the production company blue eyes Fiction and the distributor Studiocanal naturally do their own thing. However, I did my best to ensure that the charm and atmosphere of the original were preserved.
I was very clear when I didn’t like something. However, my suggestions for improvement were gratefully accepted. I think now we have a version that I and the fans can be happy with.
Did you have any influence on the Woodwalkers line-up?
I saw the top 20 of each role and was allowed to watch the casting videos. I then shared my three favorites for each role. I also said when I thought someone didn’t fit at all – for example in terms of charisma. I’m very happy with the final actors now.
[Bison-Wandler] Brandon, for example, has such an absolute ‘Brandon-ness’. I was immediately convinced. His actor Johan von Ehrlich was even selected from 19,000 applicants in a street casting. It was the same with Wolf leader Jeffrey (Emil Bloch). It doesn’t look like it does on the book cover, but it has a very strong presence. He just has the right charisma, so the difference wasn’t bad.
Do you have a favorite character in your books or do you love all your children?
Of course I have my favorites. I didn’t make Carag the main character for nothing. Plus, Holly’s dialogue is so much fun to write because she’s so sassy and funny. And then I love too [Wolfs-Wandlerin] Tikaani, who is a minor character in the first volume. But my intern said at the time: ‘Hey, she’s a much better fit for Carag than [Wapiti-Mädchen] Lou.’ And then she continued to become the main character until she is now one of the most popular characters ever.
Last but not least, in the Woodwalkers books you incorporate your own love of animals: Do you have a favorite animal yourself?
This is very tough competition: I love all big cats, including pumas of course. I’m a big bird of prey fan. But my absolute favorite animal is the dolphin. Because I am a water creature myself: I go swimming twice a week and have been diving for a long time. Our family favorite animal is the otter. Otters are simply awesome.
You are a German writer, but Woodwalkers is set in the Rocky Mountains in the USA. Why?
I came up with the idea for Woodwalkers while I was in Yellowstone National Park for three weeks. I hiked a lot there and saw a lot of animals. That inspired me so much that it was clear to me: My story had to take place in the magnificent landscape of Yellowstone. The school had to be there. I also knew that I wanted a puma as the main character and of course that’s not possible in Germany.
I think the USA simply has the more exciting animals. There is still real wilderness there, which is incredibly fascinating to children. Animals and wilderness are the fascination of my books. For example, I remember a huge herd of bison. And once there was a bull moose lying behind the washhouse.
It was shot primarily in Germany, but the film’s plot still takes place in the USA?
Yes, that’s why they chose the landscape in the Harz Mountains, for example. The pines are typical American trees. The location scouts traveled all over Europe to find areas that looked like America. For environmental reasons we didn’t want to go there [in den USA] turn. That would have been an ecological mess and also super time-consuming. And that’s why we looked for alternatives: Austria, South Tyrol, Germany.
Woodwalkers is a fantasy book. What are your own fantasy preferences?
I love [US-Schriftstellerin] Naomi Novik. Great! Great! I wish I had written her books. For example, The Cold Realm of Silver * or The Dark Heart of the Forest *. She has a unique narrative voice that always sounds fresh. And never the usual ‘one-chosen-person-saves-the-world’ thing, which I really can’t see anymore.
I also searched Game of Thrones. However, I had to wait a long time before I could watch the series. Because after I read the books, I had to forget the plot again: so that I didn’t have the feeling that I already knew everything.
While reading it, I had a bit of the impression that Woodwalkers also had Harry Potter love in it.
I read Harry Potter 20 years ago, but I had already forgotten a lot of it. For example, while I was writing, someone told me that one of my original character names had already appeared on a minor Harry Potter character. I didn’t even know that anymore.
As it was written, Woodwalkers increasingly turned into a boarding school novel because that’s what the publisher wanted. Of course, the Harry Potter comparison always comes up because boarding school novels are similar in this sense: there are always teachers you like and those you don’t like. Students with whom you get along well and not so well.
Woodwalkers was originally a novel for ages 12 and up with thriller elements – something completely different. Over the course of a year and a half, he developed more and more towards a younger readership and also increasingly towards schools.
What’s next for you? Are you continuing to write the Woodwalkers universe?
That would be too boring. I also write a lot of fantasy novels for ages 12 and up that have nothing to do with transformations. But I’m continuing the series in the sense that I’m currently writing Woodwalkers – The Return *: This is the 2nd season. Then for me come the Windwalkers, which are about flying animals. And next I’ll see if I can tackle the second season of the Seawalkers* aquatic animals.
Three Woodwalkers films have been announced so far: Will this cover the 6 volumes of the first book season of Woodwalkers?
Yes, as far as I know. The production company blue eyes Fiction and the distributor Studiocanal have already told me that some things will be left out because they would otherwise be too expensive. For example, they won’t film the student exchange in Costa Rica. The third film will probably be the film adaptation of the big Woodwalker showdown Day of Vengeance *. So I think they’ll roughly adapt the six volumes.
And then blue eyes Fiction and Studiocanal, if they want to continue and Woodwalkers is successful, still have the Seawalkers * and Woodwalkers return *. So you definitely won’t run out of the material so quickly.
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