‘Passengers’ Director Morten Tyldum Explains Why Alan Turing Was the Right Subject For His First English-Language Film – Awards Season Flashback

[Editor’s Note: This post is presented in partnership with Spectrum. Catch up on this year’s Awards Season contenders and the latest films On Demand. Today’s pick is “Passengers.”]

Given the casting and The Weinstein Company’s involvement with  “The Imitation Game,” it might come as a surprise to many that the film is, in fact, Norwegian director Morten Tyldum’s first English-language film.

Tyldum, however, is anything but an amateur when it comes to filmmaking. His last film, “Headhunters” was both a critical and box office success. It is the highest grossing Norwegian film of all time and in his review, Roger Ebert described the film favorably from the very first sentence. “It’s not often a thriller keeps me wound up as well as ‘Headhunters’ did,” wrote Ebert back in 2012. I knew I was being manipulated and didn’t care. It was a pleasure to see how well it was being done.”

So why take a risk and opt to make a small independent film in English rather than continue on the path that he was already on?

In the videos that follow Tyldum explains how he came across the script, became captivated by the story of Alan Turing and how his sentimentality towards Turing shaped production process.

“We were this family on a mission,” says Tyldem at one point, “We wanted to spread the legacy of Alan Turing, everybody took it very seriously.”

Morten Tyldum

Daniel Bergeron

This feature was originally published on February 6, 2015.

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