A biological family and their companions part-found-family, part-hired-help live in harmony in a subterranean bunker.
But the arrival of a stranger smashes the synthetic veil of their strictly organized world.
DEADLINE: I saw your film in San Sebastian, which is a great festival.
Joshua Oppenheimer.JB Lacroix/WireImage.
And it was one of the best screenings Ive been to in some time.
The crowds over there are so engaged and they were really vibing with the film.
You could feel the emotion in the room.
JOSHUA OPPENHEIMER:Thats so nice.
Ive only experienced positive screenings too with this film.
But I remember screenings ofThe Act Of Killingwhere whole rows would just walk out.
It would be like, there goes the third row.
DEADLINE: Thats surprising.
I remember watching The Act Of Killing and it was so huge for my generation of film friends.
It showed in London at the ICA for like a year.
I hadnt realized it was a polarizing film.
Does that reaction weigh on you?
OPPENHEIMER:I dont think about it very much.
I have to think about whatever I need for the project.
Its like a child.
If someone loves the child, Im delighted.
But if they dont, it doesnt weigh on me.
DEADLINE: Are you based in Copenhagen?
OPPENHEIMER:Im actually based in Malmo, across the bridge from Copenhagen.
But thats only as of the last couple of years.
DEADLINE: Do you consider yourself a European filmmaker?
Because this film feels very European.
OPPENHEIMER:Im curious what you mean by that.
Its definitely an American story and its set somewhere in America.
Its also American in part because the genre is American.
We do it better or I should say worse than anyone else.
But at the same time, I do see myself as a European.
Its a miracle this got made.
This is a musical with live singing shot largely in a salt mine.
With the current economics of the film industry, this film only exists because of European financing.
OPPENHEIMER:Yeah, what youre alluding to is important.
I would sooner chew off my arm than compromise on something aesthetically, ethically, and narratively meaningful.
And Neon really could not have been a more supportive and passionate partner.
DEADLINE: When Im watching a film that I find engaging I rarely think about craft.
How did you work in those spaces?
OPPENHEIMER:We were all outside of our comfort zones.
This is my first narrative film.
It was so nourishing and energizing.
DEADLINE: I read that you did a lot of research on billionaire bunkers.
What did you find?
And where did you look?
But after The Act of Killing came out, I could not return to Indonesia.
So I started researching oligarchs who had made economically analogous situations.
He had this obsession with wanting to live forever.
We went and visited this bunker.
It wasnt finished yet.
It was a former Soviet command bunker in Eastern Europe.
I realized I wasnt going to do that.
After that, I knew what I was going to do.
I would make a narrative film and it would be a musical.
I visited Kansas where these early nuclear missile storage silos underground have been transformed to create subterranean skyscrapers.
DEADLINE: This film will be released during a new Trump presidency.
I guess the film almost predicts much of the isolationism he touts.
Do you feel nihilistic about the future?
OPPENHEIMER:I never feel nihilistic.
But what Trump will try and replace it with is not at all hopeful.
Now were releasing the film during another Trump term.
The film feels at home in a way I hadnt thought of.
I was desperately hoping and working to prevent this electoral outcome, phone banking from Europe.
You said do I feel nihilistic.
This film is about two forms of hope.
Thats not really hope at all.
It may be too late for the family inThe End,but its not too late for us.
