Facts: Charlotte Brändström
Age: 64.
Born in Paris to Swedish parents, her father was a manager at Handelsbanken.
Studied at the American Film Institute in Los Angeles.
Has operated mainly in France since the 1980s.
Directed in Sweden: some Johan Falk films, the TV series “Inte uttan skuld” and the Netflix thriller “Den osannolika mördaren” about the Skandian man with Robert Gustafsson in the lead role.
International: TV series “The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power”, “The consultant” and “The continental: From the world of John Wick”, all for Prime Video.
From “The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power” to “The Continental”. Charlotte Brändström takes on another major series on Amazon’s streaming service Prime Video. The series in three feature-length episodes premieres on September 22. Swedish-French Brändström directs the second episode.
“The Continental” tells the story before what takes place in the four films about John Wick, the assassin played in the cinema by Keanu Reeves.
The hotel The Continental is the base of the major crime syndicate that Winston Scott (Colin Woodell) begins to fight. In the television series, the action is set in a littered and dilapidated, almost lawless New York in the 1970s.
Dangerous city
It really fits a series about violent battles between different crime syndicates, Charlotte Brändström thinks.
“They told me that when you came to New York in the 70s as a tourist, you received a note warning that it was a very dangerous city,” she says.
Director Charlotte Brändström moves on to the next major international television series, “The Continental”. Archive image.
The inspiration has been “Taxi driver”, but also classic New York films from the decade such as “French connection”, “Death wish” and “Warriors”.
— The series is very dark and has a bit of an edge. I even had a scene with a poster from “Taxi Driver”, but I don’t think it made it to the end, says Charlotte Brändström.
Colin Woodell plays Winston Scott, the roles played in the films by Ian McShane. Press photo.
The TV series format also means that the story can be fleshed out a little more. The ultra-violence from the films remains, but there is also more room for more drama between the characters and not least some sex.
— That’s what they wanted to do with it, make it more “grounded”, as they say in English, and I like that very much, says Brändström.
Helpful Gibson
Much of the advance talk surrounding “The Continental” has been about Mel Gibson playing Cormac, a kind of ruthless middle manager in the crime syndicate The High Table.
It is Mel Gibson’s first major television role and Charlotte Brändström has only good things to say about the movie star.
— It was a very good role for him and I think he thought it was great fun.
Mel Gibson has directed five films himself and tried to help as best he could without standing in the way, says Brändström.
— If you work with another director, it can either be very difficult for him to get involved in everything or very easy. Because then he knows how difficult the job really is. And he was just trying to help all the time.
— And he was very generous to the other, young actors who were not so experienced. They were very nervous about doing a scene with Mel Gibson. But he was just very natural and helpful, very professional.
Charlotte Brändström has become one of Sweden’s biggest regina names internationally. She has completed a remake of the upcoming classic TV series “Shogun” and has directed four of the eight episodes of the second season of “The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power” due next year.
— It was a huge job. I have been in London for a whole year and have just come back home to Paris, she says.
— It will be a very dark, strong and interesting season, I think.