Entrevista: Peder Pedersen 
Y he aquí, queridos lectores, nuestra quinta entrevista: en esta ocasión, tenemos aquí presente a Peder Pedersen, un director de cine dánes mejor conocido por sus vídeos musicales humorísticos, algunos cortos animados y comerciales de LEGO, Kellogg's, McDonald's, etc. No obstante, entre sus trabajos más conocidos, se encuentra la popular canción "Barbie Girl" de Aqua y algunos cortometrajes de LEGO para Lucasfilm, entre ellos LEGO Indiana Jones y los Cazadores del Bloque Perdido o LEGO Star Wars: Bombad Bounty. He aquí la entrevista, cuál por supuesto, se encuentra en inglés:

1. Tell us about yourself, Peder. When we're your born and which were your inspirations to become involved in the filmmaking industry? Any inspirations?

PEDER REPLIES >>> I was born i 1971 in a city in Denmark by the name of Randers. I grew up in a social housing area with lots of kids. Every weekend they showed 16mm prints of films for all the kids in a basement made to look like a cinema. This is where my fascination for movies started - watching black and white classics like KING KONG and CREATURE FROM THE BLACK LAGOON as well as IN SEARCH OF THE CASTAWAYS, THE NUTTY PROFESSOR and FISTFUL OF DOLLARS. After each screening we went outside and played heroes and villians. Later our neighbor got a VCR and we spent way too much time watching everything in all genres including martial arts movies, exploitation you name it. I am a total film buff sparked especially from SUPERMAN, EMPIRE STRIKES BACK and INDIANA JONES. When I was 13 I watched INDIANA JONES AND THE TEMPLE OF DOOM two nights in a row at the cinema and from then on I knew I wanted to make movies.

2. From all your works, which you consider to be your best? Any of your commercials?

PEDER REPLIES >>> I am very fond of the LEGO INDIANA JONES minimovie because doing that was a lot of fun and also because it was kinda dream come true mixing LEGO with INDIANA JONES

A couple of my lesser-seen music videos including Psyched up Janis’ BE MY BABY and Superheroes SOMEONE ELSE I think are some of my best work. I am very proud of my latest musicvideo for Powersolo titled LONELY GAL which is a horror-comedy with a social comment, made partly with iPhone and old-school film techniques.


3. How you were hired to direct the Barbie Girl song for Aqua? Did you expected it to become quite popular?

PEDER REPLIES >>> Well, this was quite funny since at the time I was a very young aspiring director and had only done a few videos one of which was the first Danish video to be shown on European MTV [Psyched up Janis - THE STARS ARE OUT]. I was doing a commercial and during the shoot while setting up a scene we listened to the national Danish radio where they played BARBIE GIRL… and everybody on set, myself included, shook our heads over this weird and somewhat annoying song. Next day I got a call from an art-director by the name Peter Stenbæk. He had designed Aquas logo and CD-covers and needed someone to direct the video. At first I was reluctant, but Peter shares my love for old movies, kitsch. Pop-culture and we soon agreed that the only way to do a video for this song would be to go in the opposite direction of the other 90s type video where a lot was about looking cool, being serious and dark. We had a lot of fun shooting the video and just did what we thought was right for the song without thinking too much about how it would be received. To put it mildly we were blown away by how popular it got!

4. How you were hired by Lucasfilm to direct LEGO Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Brick? Did you met George Lucas, how he was? (I would love to meet him!)

PEDER REPLIES >>> 
I had been making commercials for LEGO for quite some time and a lot of them featured animated CG in a style that LEGO liked a lot. When the idea of doing a mini-movie came about I think I pushed hard make them consider me, including showing them my old drawings for an INDIANA JONES -inspired (unpublished-) comicbook called INDY JUNIOR - I made even before YOUNG INDIANA JONES CHRONICLES. So I was hired by LEGO, not LUCASFILM, although I think there was some kind of vetting between the two companies. Unfortunately I did not get to meet Lucas or Spielberg, but I did go to Lucasfilm, ILM and visited Skywalker Ranch where I got access to the props-room… and at that point I was like a kid in a candystore. 

5. When making LEGO Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Brick, are there any ideas that you wanted or would have liked to use but were either dropped or vetoed by Lucasfilm?

PEDER REPLIES >>> 
We had many gags and references we wanted to put in the film but we were locked at the (app.) 5 minutes duration and also we had to work from the LEGO sets available. Meaning we had to include and use the variation of sets LEGO had for sale at the time. Other than that, we were given quite some liberty to create the storyline. I think everybody could see how in love we are we INDIANA JONES and that we had great knowledge of the films and characters. RAIDERS OF THE LOST ARK, JAWS and AN AMERICAN WEREWOLF IN LONDON are the films I have watched way too many times. Almost an unhealthy number of times.

6. How you chose which Indy movies would be parodied in the short film? I felt that Temple of Doom and Last Crusade weren’t referenced like Raiders and Kingdom

PEDER REPLIES >>> I wanted desperately to do something more from TEMPLE OF DOOM. There is only a very quick reference to the mine cart-chase. Again we were limited to using the LEGO sets. At the time there weren’t any from TEMPLE OF DOOM and LAST CRUSADE had, I believe, only the motorcycles and we combined that with the truck and horse from RAIDERS.

7. While you did LEGO Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Brick, did you were given creative freedom by Lucasfilm to contradict the timeline? The actual Indiana Jones canon makes impossible for Mutt Williams and Henry Walton Jones, Senior to interact together…

PEDER REPLIES >>> Yeah, I know we mess up the timeline. I think as long as the story made sense in itself everybody was fine with it. It’s an homage - and also - a branded content - so we needed to show the products but in a way that didn’t feel forced or too commercial. With respect to the films and characters. 

8. How you chose to insert those Easter eggs to Star Wars and E.T. the Extraterrestrial? Did you knew that E.T. II was actually planned back in the early ‘80s?

PEDER REPLIES >>> Haha, yes, I know. It was a big thing back then, the idea of a sequel to E.T. The end credits and both Spielberg and Lucas watching was my idea. My homage to two of my biggest idols.

9. Respect to LEGO Star Wars: Bombad Bounty, how did you came up with the idea to use Jar Jar Binks, a character who was absent from the original trilogy, during a humorous retelling of it?

PEDER REPLIES >>> We needed a hook to hang the story which again had to include the available LEGO sets. We needed a character who is funny and could be the basis of many gags, so for us it came quite naturally to use Jar Jar. He had been given a lot of well, hate, and we thought it was fair for him and Lucas that we showed him some love. And I love to take fantasy epic things and combine them with everyday things like cleaning and such.

10.   The cameos of Indiana Jones and Mola Ram were intentional? It was you who decided to include them?

PEDER REPLIES >>> I remember watching TEMPLE OF DOOM and when Indy and Short Round go into the temple dungeons the first time there is a hieroglyphic wall decoration of R2-D2 and C-3PO. It might be the first time I noticed these in-jokes, and of course watching more Spielberg, Lucas films and especially the films of John Landis and Joe Dante those in-jokes, references, homages… and easter-eggs gave the films so much more for the observant and attentive members of the audience. So of course, I do the same, almost in everything I do. 

11. From all those LEGO shorts films you made for Cartoon Network, which one was your favorite? Any chances you can go to Disney and make more of them with new Star Wars and Indiana Jones movies on the way?

PEDER REPLIES >>> INDIANA JONES is my favourite, because I am such a huge fan of those adventure movies. But also BOMBAD BOUNTY is quite fun, especially when Jar Jar accidentally blows up the Death Star. I don’t know if any more minimovies are planned, but they’re certainly great fun and a privilege to do, so if someone would ask I’d probably jump onboard without hesitation.

12.   Do you have any new projects for the future from which you would like to speak with us?

PEDER REPLIES >>> Right now, I am finishing new LEGO commercials - and we have busy writing 1st draft for a low budget horror movie that we’ll hopefully get to make sometime in the future. 

Peder, we’re very grateful that you allowed us to interview you. You’re such a good film director and your commercials are the best seen in television. We can’t wait to see which other projects you have for the future!

Y bueno, he aquí la quinta entrevista que tenemos en El Recoveco del Geek. Entrevistar al Señor Pedersen fue, como todas las demás entrevistas, una experiencia agradable y marca la quinta vez que entrevistamos a un artista que trabajo en Indiana Jones. Además de que "Barbie Girl" es una canción que muchos habremos escuchado en nuestra infancia...¿O solo yo?

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