When Simon Settergren was small crowned his father himself king of the sunken Atlantis. The son was sometimes the crown prince in his father’s fantasy world. In the real world was his father mentally ill and diagnosed with schizophrenia.
” I grew up with a lot of guilt over my dad, much loneliness, codependency, and silence. We never talked about his illness. A few years ago I felt that I wanted to make something constructive of it difficult I experienced during my childhood, and hopefully get others to feel less alone, ” says Simon Settergren on premiäraktuella the ”King of Atlantis”, where he plays himself.
the script already as a 22-year-old, but it was not easy to get the project off the ground because there was a lack of money. But when Simon Settergren dared to sent his script to Philip Zandén, he received unexpectedly a pacifier.
” I had absolutely other plans for the summer, had been working very much and just wanted to have a vacation. But this script, and the role that Simon’s dad in the movie, was just too good. It is seldom you get to read a script that is so pure and unadorned. A skeleton that focuses on story and dialogue – and that is not full of a lot of emotional descriptions and literary pretensions, ” says Philip Zandén.
– in Addition, it was nice to get a role that felt like a real challenge. I’m a little tired of being typecastad as a jewish doctor or lawyer, the roles that either I or Johan Rabéus tend to be offered, laughing Zandén and watching content on Simon Settergren over a bunch of empty coffee cups in a meeting room of the film’s distributor, Folkets Bio.
Philip Zandén says that, although he was given permission to borrow some patterns and mannerisms from Simon’s dad, but that he picked much from within himself.
” I talked of course with my dad when I began to write. He was of course a little worried for he knows, of course, also shame about their situation sometimes, ” says Simon Settergren.
But he understood that this was important for me and would not stand in the way. He has a heart of gold, great sense of humor and has always given me unconditional love. Dad himself said that ”it is better to be able to laugh at the misery” and felt confident that Philip Zandén would play him, ” says Settergren.
Today, he is both pleased and proud of the film, and has even described it as a kind of revenge. He thinks that it makes all the turmoil he has gone through anyway can lead to something good. Dad laughed actually out loud when I showed the film to him.
Simon Settergren got a bit boosted with the script when he practiced with Suzanne Osten during the recording of the autobiographical drama about his mentally ill mother, ”the Girl, the mother and the demons”. Where got Settergen also a sense of confirmation that he was on the right path, that there is room for many different kinds of stories about living with the mentally ill.
this is not some docudrama about schizophrenia, but in the main, a warm and entertaining love story between a father and a son.
that, although he was given permission to borrow some patterns and mannerisms from Simon’s dad, but that he picked the very inside of itself:
– It is very interesting to this role, as well as the entire movie, asking questions about what normality actually is? We all – regardless of diagnosis – checking between a lot of subconscious impulses, strange notions and forbidden fantasies as you try to keep in check, but may not always succeed. Not I in all cases, laughing Zandén of the tells about a train ride to Malmö, sweden when he was a little ”tossig” of the rattling glass doors of the carriage.
” I have already met a great joy for people who’ve seen the film. It applies to both people with their own experiences of mental illness and others. There have been many interesting conversations. Several have said they like that I embody both the abnormal and normal sides. No man is just sick, there are always healthy sides as well.
Zandén also says that he appreciates that the film partially has a light komediton.
– this is not some docudrama about schizophrenia, but in the main, a warm and entertaining love story between a father and a son, I can relate strongly to. I think this is a great quality. We are still in the entertainment industry, ” says Philip Zandén.
he shows up in a different – but essentially different – role based on a real person; then minister of foreign affairs Carl Bildt in the ”438 days”, which depicts the Swedish reporterduon Martin Schibbyes and Johan Persson captivity in an ethiopian prison.
– It is really ridiculous, I am not at all like him! When by chance I met with Bildt for the recording and introduced me, so he said to me that I am way too short. But I have learned to talk just like he, smiling Zandén and gives a hint about how his Carl Bildt will let.
