Say hello to “The Badgers,” because they’re here to stay.
“It’s going to be a trilogy that takes us on a much bigger journey,” Norwegia director Paul M. Lundø told Variety.
“We already have the first draft of the sequel and we have synopses for all of them. We really planned it this way. I love trilogies from the ’80s: ‘Indiana Jones,’ ‘Back to the Future’. It’s all very dear to my heart.”
In Lundø’s family film, echoing old classics yet set in the present, orphaned Berny (Nils Elias Lea Olsen) dreams of becoming a scout and one of “The Badgers” – just like his late father. But foster mother Gerdy (Caroline Johansen) won’t hear about it.
According to David L. Leader, producing for 73 Eyes Film Production, expanding the story into a franchise has always been the goal. “It has been our vision from the get-go,” he said.
“People want solid stories that take them where they can’t go – even back to their own childhood. With animation taking over, there’s been a vacuum in the market for live action [family films]. But if you have a good film, people will want it. I believe it as a producer and as a father.”
Sold by Picture Tree International, “The Badgers” was shown at the Norwegian International Film Festival Haugesund after world-premiering at Locarno. It debuts exclusive clips here.
“It’s a love letter to the 1980s movies that defined me and a love letter to my own kids. I wanted to give them the world of Indiana Jones and ‘The Goonies,’ but I also wanted to make something for the whole family,” admitted Lundø, who also used to be a scout.
“It’s a very old, romantic organization. The original idea behind it was so simple: What does it mean to be a citizen? In a way, it’s a microcosmos of entire society.”
His protagonist, who identifies as a boy, needs to learn how to navigate it.
“The adults try to define him, but he needs to find his own way. At first, he’s cheating and pretending to be something he’s not. He’s not his father.”
What makes it harder is that grown-ups around Berny are just as lost. Enter Gerdy: a self-proclaimed activist trying to be “the voice of the voiceless,” even though nobody’s asked her to.
“This film is very much a political satire, but light-hearted. I love all these characters, even Gerdy, because I know these people. They are my friends!,” laughed Lundø. “I didn’t want this to be too didactic, but there had to be some scary parts; you should be afraid, and then you should cheer. Bernt gets a vaccine after a badger bites him and that’s the film [in the nutshell]. At times, we need to be uncomfortable in order to gain strength.”
Watching “Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom” as a child gave him nightmares – “This poor person was being lowered into lava and I had to stop, because my parents came back. It still haunts me!” – but it also inspired many games. Now, by committing to making a film with child protagonists, he had to face another fear.
“I was really scared. David sent me to a course where I could learn how to direct kids and I loved that, but every single person there had the exact same problem,” he recalled. “Kids are unpredictable. You never know what the end result is going to be. I realized we had to turn it into a game, too.”
He noted: “I wanted to give kids something that would make them go out and play in their own backyard, something that would convince them adventures are just around the corner. All we need to do is put down our phones.”
So far, it seems to be working.
“The biggest compliment I’ve received so far was when I heard that kids reenact the scene of them crawling into the badger’s den. I miss the freedom of my childhood and I want it for my own kids, but I’m also a scared parent. There are a lot of real dangers out there – and real badgers. I’m not encouraging anyone to crawl into an actual den, but sometimes you have to face that.”
‘The Badgers’
Courtesy of Picture Tree International
