Man against the elements. It’s a favourite theme of director Baltasar Kormakur. Just think of the inexperienced climbers of Everest’or the couple all at sea in the middle of the Pacific in Adrift. For his latest, however, his cast was up against a giant, four-legged animal. A rogue lion.
Beast stars Idris Elba as a widowed father, on holiday with his teenage daughters on a South African game reserve. Everything goes to plan until a gang of poachers kill a group of lions and the lone survivor, an enormous male, turns rogue and attacks every human it sees. It turns its attention to Elba and his family, tracking them relentlessly and matters eventually come to a head with a man v beast showdown.
In this exclusive interview, Kormakur talks about the many challenges of shooting the film on location in Africa, including the extremes of temperature that meant night time was colder than in his home country of Iceland. Some of the film’s many long takes were shot at night as well under the moonlight, a big challenge for its DP, Baltasar Breki. He also reflects on the movies that inspired the film’s atmosphere and why Idris Elba was such “a gift” in the lead role.
Beast is released in cinemas on Friday, 26 August.
