Antti J. Jokinen Talks ‘Kalevala: The Story of Kullervo’

“Kalevala,” a compilation of epic poetry drawn from Karelian and Finnish folklore and mythology, is full of violence, but director Antti J. Jokinen – who has adapted the book for his film “Kalevala: The Story of Kullervo,” set in the 1100s and centering on the tragic hero Kullervo – has “no interest” in that.

“It won’t be a super violent film. We have fight sequences, the swords are heavy and the actors have been training for a year now. But it’s more interesting to show the impact violence has on people,” he tells Variety.

Jokinen has already dealt with a similar dilemma in “Purge,” taking on human trafficking and sexual cruelty. “I cut out a lot of [the violence] from the original book but its writer Sofi [Oksanen] was adamant: ‘Don’t clean it up too much.’ The violence towards women needed to be shown. This time, I had more freedom, because everyone can interpret ‘Kalevala’ any way they want. These characters are not one-dimensional: these are men who feel. They are not just raping and pillaging.”

Currently shooting – “We started in Lapland and moved to North Karelia” – Jokinen is focusing on Kullervo, who also inspired J.R.R. Tolkien. The “Lord of the Rings” author wrote about him in “The Story of Kullervo.”

“This character is very Shakespearian and his story is like a Greek tragedy. I think the audience is ready for that, because what’s the relationship you have with your parents, biological or adopted? Even if there is a big lie beneath it all, would you opt for revenge?,” he wonders, admitting he won’t change his misadventures “too much.”

“I can’t. It’s the epic of Finland! It’s said that our whole identity comes from it.”

A co-production between Jokinen’s Storm Inc. and Marko Röhr and Johanna Enäsuo’s ReelMedia, the film will be distributed in the Nordics by SF Studios, while REinvent handles sales. It will also mark Jokinen’s return to bigger productions following the 2020 biopic “Helene” about painter Helene Schjerfbeck. Later, he was attached to the thriller “Omerta 6/12” and ultimately replaced by Aku Louhimies.

“With ‘Omerta,’ I was trying to make two movies and a five-episode series, and it just melted me,” he recalls.

“I’d been having health issues and I thought I would make a smaller film next. But I wanted to tell this story. My wife said: ‘This is very big.’ I replied: ‘I can’t find anything else!’ I would be happy to make a franchise out of it. We don’t have that many cultural IPs in Finland and ‘Kalevala’ seems to be one of them. But I will take it one movie at a time.”

The film’s cast includes Elias Salonen, Eero Aho, Ilkka Koivula, Olli Rahkonen, Krista Kosonen and Johannes Holopainen. It will also serve as a showcase for Finnish nature, promises Jokinen. “The whole thing is epic, because Finnish nature is epic. It would be a crime not to show it. Location scouting alone took us one year. Now, we are driving every day for an hour or two, and then the whole crew has to walk for another hour to get to this pure forest nobody has ever shot in.”

He took all fantasy elements out of the story, but Nordic mythology is still a big part of it.

“These people believed in certain things, not unlike Native Americans. They felt they had to beware of the spirits lurking in the forest, they were bear worshippers, they believed in shamanism. There was this idea that nature is watching us and if it doesn’t like the way you behave, it will punish you.”

Jokinen, who’d also worked in the U.S., didn’t necessarily plan to take on Finland’s most sacred text.

“It’s not like I am sitting at home, thinking: ‘I am going to be an ambassador of Finnish culture.’ But since I am here, I should be making these movies,” he says.

“I had massive Hollywood dreams, but for me to push to make a U.S. film out of Finland… It would fail. I still get offers from Hollywood to make horror films, even though ‘The Resident’ [with Hillary Swank] was a disappointment to me. It tested well and more people started getting involved. I didn’t know what the film was about anymore. Then they asked me to come [to Finland] and make ‘Purge.’ I loved it and I fell in love with the woman I’m still married to today [actor Krista Kosonen].”

“This book is very famous here, yes, but people don’t really know what it’s about. ‘Kalevala’ is like [sixth president of Finland] Mannerheim – there will always be someone saying you shouldn’t touch it. But you can’t be afraid of that.”

Unlike planned cuts to the culture budget.

“Of course I am worried – also for other filmmakers, just coming out of film schools. It’s unfair to say people aren’t trying to make bigger films in Finland. They try to make what they can finance, but they have bigger, more commercial films in mind. Like [‘Sisu’ director] Jalmari Helander. We need funding and the government should realize it’s financing the cultural heritage of Finland,” he observes.

“I want ‘Kalevala’ to be entertaining and big, too. I just want to stick to my fucking guns and make it unique.”