Downloaded from YTS.MX
Official YIFY movies site: YTS.MX
[men grunting]
My name is Nicolas Winding Refn, and I'm the creator of Copenhagen Cowboy.
Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!
[in Danish, crying] I can't…
[in English] This is not a making of…
but more of an insight
on how the Cowboy fell asleep and woke up in Copenhagen.
[man, in Danish] Three, two, one… Go!
[both grunting]
I would describe Copenhagen Cowboy as fantasy, horror and adventurous.
The name already tells something.
It's a… [chuckles]
You cannot find words to make sense of Copenhagen Cowboy. What is it?
You know, Copenhagen, modern city.
And cowboy from old western style.
How do you combine those two things together?
It's already amazing there.
I think it's very colorful, very potent,
and very raw at the same time.
And we definitely, kind of, have horror elements and fairy tale elements.
[dreamy electronic music playing]
The original pitch was,
I'm going to do an extension of the Pusher trilogy.
And everyone said, "Great, let's go do it."
But there was going to be a spaceship.
I would say the story of Copenhagen Cowboy,
on paper, was about a young woman
who transforms through a series to become a superhero.
It's like this, well, fairy tale-like
underworld of Copenhagen or Denmark.
It's certainly not the Denmark we know.
-[Algren] No. -It's a world that transcends realism.
[Algren] This is Miu's world.
So you are brought along and down deep
into the underworld of Denmark through Miu's journey.
[Refn, in Danish] Sit up there. And the table…
We'll get a small chair for you. Didn't you have a similar one?
[in English] I thought it could be fun, if I had come back to Denmark,
I would create, like, a fairy tale narrative.
So I hired a great group of female writers.
I think the reason why we looked at fairy tales,
and Greek mythology, and Shakespearean dramas
might be because they all have this concept of fate,
because we wanted with Miu to also have this feeling of…
there is an element of fate.
-Mm. -That she was born to do something.
-Mm. -Um, if she was even born.
[woman, in Danish] Where do you come from?
[in Danish] That's a long story.
[in English] I started with first, the title.
I said "Cowboy,"
and then "Copenhagen."
And those became "CC."
It was like two contrasting components together,
but they flowed very well on the tongue,
and it became enigmatic of what it actually was,
which was exciting to me.
What would I make that my kids would find interesting?
And that became Miu.
I wanted to resurrect the kind of alter ego that I had created with,
you know, Mads Mikkelsen and Ryan Gosling,
and retire on my previous films to create a show,
a character that was an extension of myself.
But as a young woman would reflect more
of a role model for my children.
And I knew that the protagonist of the show
had to start off as a young woman.
And there's definitely a need for these female heroes.
And we had an ongoing discussion about that.
Um, and it's like when you create this kind of character,
um, who's mysterious and very driven,
and might use violence to attain his or her goals.
If it's a man, I guess we easily accept that,
and don't ask that many questions.
But when it's a female, we're like,
oh, what's, like, the psychological explanation?
What traumas did she go through to become like that?
And we kind of wanted to challenge these limitations
of the female hero, and what she could be like.
[Algren] That was also Jang's, kind of, concept of a cowboy.
He was very much challenging, also, our views on a female character
having a backstory and everything, and he was like,
"This is a cowboy just entering the scene,
arriving at a new town and doing his thing."
-And that was super cool… -Yeah.
…to explore with her.
Miu is sort of… She's just a very physical person.
It's very much a state to be in, in Miu.
You have to stay in that state.
It's almost like you're sleeping, and it's like she doesn't speak so much.
She stands.
She observes a lot, and then she moves.
And so, it fits a lot to be
in sort of that between state.
I'm very there, but I'm also in another place.
Well, I'm a very superstitious person.
And I have contacts with extraterrestrials through my work,
that I regularly speak with.
So it was very natural for me to bring that into the process.
I always knew that the Miu character
and her so-called sister, Rakel,
would essentially come from another dimension.
I just had to figure out how I interpreted it into the story.
I really like and I really respect Jang's choice to do a lot of,
what would you call it, maybe like street casting,
or just to take people in who are pure and natural in some sense,
because they're just who they are.
They're not actors.
The way I would cast it was, one of the few elements that I took
from my Pusher trilogy, where I would cast,
you know, reality,
or seek outwards to find more.
What I found interesting, most of the time, they were untouched.
They were pure. They were original.
People who are really from the different environments, you know,
standing actually in front of the real deal.
You have the real…
uh, like, the people who know the real environments,
but it's also a fairy tale where they're a little bit twisted,
and I think that makes it even more interesting
than if it had just been one to one.
[in Danish] Bang! That's the first one.
Here.
Bang!
And then again. Without you knowing it.
But you have got used to it. So it doesn't matter.
-The last one is just… -[man] Are you ready?
Yes, that's good.
[in English] I was street casted for Pusher 3.
And then I begin to act, and there was more of it.
And I feel like, you know, I found something that I love to do.
The way that he made it, that he street casted people,
he got something original.
If you play a role that is near to the personality that you have,
then, of course, it's easier for you to play it.
But he was very good at, uh…
As in when we started, he was really, you know, like,
"Hey, Dan, you know, you don't have to show me
all these TV things you have learned, you know.
I want you to be yourself, cool and relaxed."
And then after that, I was, yeah, you know, I feel good.
And I found my character.
He told me that…
He said, "Hey, Dan, you are good at this shit."
I think, Jang, he was opening up my eyes,
and I was like, "Hey, man, maybe I am. Maybe he's right. Maybe I'm good at this."
So he was changing my life, yeah.
Since I was a child, I was fighting for my life, you know, by myself.
Every day I came from school, I have a lot of bruises in my face.
My pants was destroyed.
But I didn't want to tell my mom,
so she thought
I was maybe too wild, you know.
When I'm 14 years, I was living on the street.
In the school break, I didn't want to go out,
because I knew outside there was
a queue of people that wanted to fight me.
I saw a Bruce Lee movie.
From that day, I knew what I'm going to do.
I do all this kicking because I saw this on the movie,
I exercised every day, you know.
I never think I'm going to be a big movie star.
It's like…
It was a dream, you know. It feels good.
Now I can be my own Bruce Lee.
[whirring, buzzing]
When I met Jason, the only thing I thought,
"My God, he was built for cinema with that face."
He was like a beautiful version of Quasimodo.
And he had these techniques
of fighting and brutality like a panther.
And yet, he was gentle and kind, like a butterfly.
And that combination already kind of, you can say,
he created the character of Mr. Chiang right in front of me.
And I just followed along the way.
I just looked back and then played myself when I was young.
I've always had an open mindset on putting all my chips on something new.
So, yeah, it's not the first time that I just went out and did something mad
that I didn't know anything about,
but I just wanted to go 100% on it.
I got the opportunity to try out
playing as an actor with my role, Nicklas.
And at that time, I really did not enjoy where I was.
So I decided to say "Fuck it," and just go.
Within two weeks or something like that,
I've gotten the job and started filming.
So, it was a quick decision of just saying yes and just trying it out.
[in Danish] All the girls…
The nice girls in the bar,
they want you,
and they want to be eaten by fucking Nicklas.
[in English] He had that incredible face, so it was automatically him.
There was an enormous amount of locked up emotions
that I think could be channeled in a very effective and inspiring way
through creativity, which is certainly what acting is.
It's a creative process.
It's been absolutely incredible.
It's been a very fun experience, so it's been giving me a lot of good times
that I will remember for the rest of my life.
[in Danish] Here, a cut to this,
where she is kicking him away,
and then kicks him over.
[Jørgensen] Thank you, all,
for this great experience and cooperation.
[in English] We did have some meetings in the writers' room,
with some of these actors who had the real life experiences,
who could also correct certain scenes or dialogues
where they would use different words.
[in Danish] Bang, bang, bang! And then you turn around.
From there you can…
[in English] I have no acting experience whatsoever.
It was the second casting, and she was like, "Yeah, don't hold back."
And I was like, "Are you sure?"
And she was like, "Yeah, just give me all you got." [chuckles]
And I was like, "All right."
And then she started… She asked me something.
And I was like, "Yeah!"
Bah bah bah bah bah bah bah!
And I was really shouting my lungs out.
And after… I looked at her, and she was so calm, she was like,
"You did good." [chuckles]
[gunshots firing]
[exclaiming]
When I read the script, I think I am Mother Hulda.
I just got the feeling.
I have to practice because I was not educated like an actor.
I don't have the education in this branch.
I am also a single mum to a son.
So I got that feeling, "Okay, if my son was taken away,
how do I feel?"
So the tears just came out. So I got the feeling that I can play her.
I think I understand her.
[sniffles]
I met Nicolas the first time in the summer of '95.
It was the casting for Pusher.
We start to talk very openly,
stuff like the street life,
the dope experience, and immigrants, milieu.
So, this moment when I met Nicolas,
it was important for me in my life.
[Refn, in Danish] Zlatko knows that. He's very experienced.
[in English] We have a past, me and Zlatko.
All right.
[in Danish] But you're a lucky coin.
[in English] I don't thrive on taking a chance on people,
but I know that if you can come in a situation
where performers that have not a lot of experience with them,
to let their guards down and be 100% themselves,
you mostly touch magic.
My dad is a weird dude.
He thinks in film.
He has his work and he has his family.
We are a team, in a way.
He was very much dependent on me, because otherwise, he couldn't go away
and work for ten months and do Drive, or…
So it's been like a collaboration, in a way.
Like, how do we do this?
Like, for instance, with Only God Forgives,
we moved to Bangkok for six months, and Lola went to school there and like…
He's a very family-oriented guy.
But, you know, Liv has just been reading the scripts,
and me and my sister have been kind of not really involved
with what his work has been up to.
So I think he's always used to looking outwards
and finding people outside of his family,
compared to this time, where he kind of looked inward
and saw what the family could do.
You know, even my sister is participating in the show.
So I think that's also kind of a fun little family trip.
[Liv] I just feel like I'm always a part of his work, in a way,
even though I'm not always
on the set every day.
Then the whole developing of the scripts he talked to me about,
like, maybe a character, or I read the scripts.
I mean, it's always nice to film with someone that you're close to
and have a good relationship with.
But sometimes I'm like, "I got this.
I can do this on my own, you know.
You don't need to be screaming in my ear."
But you know, it helps with her anger coming out.
So I guess it works both ways.
[in Danish] More!
[grunts]
And… Scream!
[imperceptible]
That was really good, honey.
That was good. We'll take it one more time, angry again.
[in English] I never thought it was going to be her.
It wasn't so much on my radar.
But as I had the idea for the character very late in the process,
we were almost near the end of shooting…
And there had been a coffin on set in Nicklas's estate,
that I thought was a really cool prop, and I kept on bringing it back
every time we were shooting there, until one day I was like,
"Maybe we should put somebody in the coffin."
"What if he has a sister?"
No, it should be a stepsister, because then we can have
more interpretation, because she's actually part of the Miu world.
And that got the ball rolling.
And so, we were casting, and I wasn't necessarily
getting what I was looking for outwards,
until I think Liv said, "Well, maybe it's because
it's right in front of you, if you really think about it."
And obviously casting your family members is an intimate process.
What if it doesn't work?
So I tricked her by casting her without her knowing it,
while she was doing homework,
because she was in her finals in high school.
And he came in one day,
and since my mom had been helping on the show,
I just thought he wanted my help to see an outside view of someone
who does… have no idea what's going on.
I went out to the kitchen.
I said, "Can you please say these lines?"
And she's like, "Why?"
I say, "Can you say the goddamn lines?"
She's like, "Why?" I said, "Just say the lines."
And she's like, "Fine, I'll say the lines."
And I acted out a couple of lines, which was Rakel's lines.
And he was like, "Great, thanks." And I was like, "You're welcome."
And she said it with such conviction, and clarity, and natural… that I was like,
maybe, in a way, I had already created Rakel as a kind of rebellious version
of what I had at home, which was a 19-year-old daughter.
And the next day he was like,
"Well, you know, I really liked you for the part."
"Would you want to play her?"
And I was like, "Sure, why not?"
"See what happens."
[mysterious music playing]
I'm a fetish personality.
I like fetish.
I like detail. I like attention to detail.
And fashion is part of that.
Fashion is also… You know, revolutionary fashion is an extension.
Fashion is a mirror into who you are.
Yeah, Miu is very much wearing a sort of a suit,
sort of an armor for her.
Nicolas was very clear from the beginning that he wanted a tracksuit.
It's something everyone is familiar with.
It's armor, in a way. It's a piece of utility clothing.
It's built to last, built to be durable, um, built to withstand the elements.
But mainly the protective aspect of it, I thought was very interesting.
I think I took a few more risks, or a lot more risks this time,
because it's very diverse.
Generally, just researching women throughout history
who have in some ways been fighting
on the path of right, if you like.
Almost like, it's a kind of quest.
So I found looking at Joan of Arc quite helpful,
in how she looked with the short hair and the armor that she wore.
And tried to adapt that into sportswear
or something that could also be perceived
in a contemporary situation, like a coat, or a puffer vest,
or a track suit.
[mellow music playing]
[indistinct chatter]
Normally, we didn't plan very much. It was very much working as a process.
Developing as the script would develop and change, we would adjust.
We ended up doing a big flower makeup
for a dream sequence that Miu had.
We've been shooting in this mansion house,
and there was all these beautiful flowers that we used on set.
And the set designer was taking them away
and they were standing outside,
and I just thought, "Do you mind if I grab some of these flowers?
I'd like to… I don't know what I'm going to use them for,
but I'm just going to put them in my William Blake book."
Then one day, Nicolas asked me,
"Can you make Miu into some sort of demon?
She's having this dream sequence,
and she's standing up against this wallpaper with flowers.
Maybe you can be inspired by that."
Everyone knows he's obsessed with movies.
I don't think that's a secret, and his brain just never stops.
So when we're in the car, and even on set, he plays music.
And he plays different music to get different feelings
out of the different characters,
and I think music is a big part of him relaxing and being able to think.
Music is, you know, heals and it inspires.
By choosing a piece of music for a specific day or a scene,
not just helps the actors, but it helps the crew.
It helps the cameraman.
It helps the designers.
It helps the make-up.
It helps everyone.
I could also sense that sometimes if I would lose it,
then Jang would just know that he has to play a song
to remind those senses.
He quickly found out that I am very fond of classical music.
So we've been listening to quite a lot of classical music to set me in the mood.
And I react quite a lot to music.
And so that's been very helpful to set me in a very grim mood.
[imperceptible]
Since it's my first acting job,
it was fairly new to me, but I actually really like it.
Now, I don't think I can do without it.
Because it kind of… I mean, it depends what you play,
but it, you know, kind of, gets different feelings out in you.
So we would play a lot of music, and it would either be kind of
horror-themed music, or if it was like a sad scene,
or something else to kind of ease you
to get in the mood, to make your feelings move a little bit.
[in Danish] You've been a naughty boy.
[in English] Nicolas is good at painting you a picture before you start the music.
And sometimes, he'll have two things that are at odds with each other,
and that's exciting,
because something happens there.
He can mention a group and then a movie,
and these two things have nothing to do with each other.
You get something that's never heard before.
We don't score characters.
We do it by shapes and colors.
You score the darkness and you score the light.
And sometimes, you score a little light in the darkness.
[dramatic music playing]
Whenever I'm done with something, I exorcise it from my existence.
And it kind of no longer really exists anymore.
It's now in the hands of billions of people on the Internet to…
react to.
[mellow music playing]