Cinema for me is…
Daniel in 23 frames
1. Describe yourself in ten words.
Tall, calm, restless, curios, hungry, confused, energetic, nerdy, clever, and of course, European.
2. Your best quality? Your worst habit?
Best quality: Always worrying that I’ll never amount to anything.
Worst habit: I can eat like 20 tarteletter in one sitting.
3. Your dream job?
No idea – Kierkegaardian angst and all that.
4. What do you like most about your country?
Its high level of egalitarianism.
5. Your favorite dish in your country?
Tarteletter.
6. Which word or phrase in your native language do you like the most and what does it mean?
“Tomme tønder buldrer mest” which roughly translates to “Empty barrels rumble the most”. Basically, it means that the people who shout the loudest are often the ones who know the least (very relevant for Facebook comment sections).
7. What European capital have you visited lately?
Madrid.
8. Other than your own, which European country would you love to live in?
Spain.
9. What does Europe mean to you? 3 values.
Solidarity, shared history and multilateralism.
10. What film made you fall in love with cinema?
Lars Von Trier’s Idioterne (1998, DK).
11. Your favorite film theatre? What do you like about it?
I’ve only been once and don’t even remember the name of the place, but once on Santorini I visited an uncanny theatre. It was a beautiful place, but it had no staff except the woman who sold us our tickets and we just went in and sat where we pleased. I don’t understand Greek, so the movie made no sense, and still, I’ve almost never enjoyed a film more. Every movie theatre should be as free and beautiful as that one.
12. Who is your movie hero?
Augusto in Il Bidone (Federico Fellini, 1955, IT).
13. Which movie director would you like to be?
Tough question – Ingmar Bergman or Federico Fellini.
14. Briefly describe your favorite scene.
Ingmar Bergman’s Sommaren med Monika (1952, SE): A deep black encloses around Harry as he stops to look in the mirror, holding his newborn baby in his arms. Monika, his girlfriend, has slept with another man and neglects to take care of their baby. Should he leave the woman he once so loved or leave towards an uncertain future? This, he’s contemplating as the deep black encompassing him starts to flicker between a blinding white and the somber black.
15. What are the 3 best European films you have seen in the last year?
Les quatre cents coups (François Truffaut, 1959, FR)
La Dolce Vita (Federico Fellini, 1960, IT)
Sommaren med Monika (Ingmar Bergman, 1953, SE)
16. Which film character do you most identify with?
Antoine Doinel from Les quatre cents coups (François Truffaut, 1959, FR)
17. Your favorite soundtrack or song?
The soundtrack to Trainspotting (Danny Boyle, 1996, GB). The perfect mix of comical and sad, just like the film.
18. If you had to live in a movie, which one would you like it to be?
La Dolce Vita (Federico Fellini, 1960, IT). I would love to see 1960’s Rome.
19. Your life becomes a bio-pic. Who plays the role of you?
Louis Garrel for young Daniel. I’ve been told we look alike for some reason. And of course, Mads Mikkelsen for old Daniel.
20. Which talent would you most like to have?
For some reason I never learned to play an instrument, so probably to learn to play the piano. Or the sax, just because of how sexy it is (imagine me doing the whole Eurovison thing).
21. What is your most treasured possession?
My notebook.
22. What do you consider your greatest achievement?
Becoming who I am. I know the law of Jante forbids me saying this, but I’m just really happy with the person I have become.
23. What is your motto?
I don’t have any, actually. Maybe I’m just not a motto kind of guy.