VF: we decided were the most courageous ones. SF: "Do whatever you want." It was difficult because children do not want to. VF: We did casting rounds where we tied the actress on a chair and told the twins - in the end, we had three pairs - we told them "She kidnapped your mom, you have to find out where your Mom is." That is what we were looking for with the house, with all of the characters, that you could feel something behind the surface. SF: You would have to feel an abyss, something hidden behind the surface. We were looking for beautiful children, fragile children you could identify with in the beginning, but they also had to have a secret to them. Twins can't play it because both twins always chose the same one! It was quite an interesting casting situation. "I see something which is pink" - and the other twin would know it immediately. We used this game in the casting, and twins cannot play this game actually, because they always know. It was a game we had in the film, but we cut it out. The original film title was "Ich seh Ich she" - " I Spy", like the game: "I Spy with my little eye". VF: The casting was very fun because we played games with them. It seems to be really difficult but it's so specific: we would call schools and they would know if there were twins that age. We worked with them chronologically, so we revealed to them day by day the story. VF: Part of why they are so natural is the working method we did with them.
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How did you find those boys, Elias and Lukas Schwarz? I am sure everyone is asking you that. In the first place, we wanted it to be a thrilling film, and once the thrill ride is over and the film is over, then you can see all of these themes in the film, but only in retrospect. SF: We didn't want to make a film that you can watch from a distance. That's what we tried to play through with all of those images. You are different depending on different circumstances. VF: We think that you have several identities. We are interested in what makes you become you. SF: The first idea was the mother coming home, and then we came up with the idea of two boys - her sons - and then we came up with the idea that the brothers should look the same, because the film is, like you said, about identity, and the masks we wear, and what's underneath beautiful surfaces. Aside from the fact that there is a long history of scary identical twins in films, I wondered your thoughts on how all of those things work together. The little boys put on masks at one point, but also, they are identical twins, so they look exactly the same anyway.
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Every scene has some element of mirroring in it, the pictures on the wall mirroring the dolls in the fireplace, and so on. The film is so interesting about identity. We watched many different films together. I used Severin as a babysitter and I would pay him by renting him video cassettes because he was so into films. VF: We have known each other for 20 years. If I write alone and I have an idea I'm not sure about, it may take a week to decide to write it down or to drop it. If you imagine writing alone, it's a very lonely thing. SF: People say, "It must be really slow to work together, because you have to decide on everything together" but we think it's faster, actually. It's about writing a really suspenseful film together. It's not about vanity or ego or being right. VF: If I have an idea and I tell him the idea, and he said, "It's bullshit" I would drop it because I know it's not good.
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If I have a feeling a scene is good or bad, I don't have to talk to her only because I know she feels the same. We have developed a very similar idea of what we like. We have the same ideas that we have developed over 20 years by watching films and discussing them.
#Where to watch goodnight mommy series#
And there was one moment in the series when a child said the words, "It's not Mom. It's supposed to be a happy moment because the mother is so beautiful - in the standards of society - they look young again, they have good teeth now, but if you look closely at the children, you always can see a massive irritation because. They stage this magic moment on the red carpet and there is the family waiting for her. There was a German docu-soap series which inspired us, and it's about women getting facial operations, and separated from their families for months as they get their teeth done, their hair done, and after months they appear totally different in front of their families. Veronika Franz: The basic idea was that a mother comes home and the children don't recognize her or doubt that she is their mother. How do you work together as a team in writing the script?
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I sat down with the directing/writing duo in New York recently to discuss the extremely enjoyable (and extremely extreme) "Goodnight Mommy."