The king is dead. Long live the “King of Fucking Everything.”
Finnish director and screenwriter Tina Rimi is planning to follow up her hit show Queen of Fucking Everything with a feature film dedicated to one of its supporting characters.
“I already have the script,” she told Variety in Gothenburg. There, “Queen” was nominated for Best Nordic Series Screenplay. Lymi co-wrote the piece with East Film’s Juha Lehtola.
“It’s not at all what people expect. It’s about responsibility and guilt for one’s actions. It’s about a man who disappears. When a woman is insecure, she only hurts herself, whereas a man in the same position hurts everyone around him. He hasn’t grown up yet, and he’s obviously not really the ‘king who does it all.’ Again, it’s an ironic title,” she said.
“It’s interesting to make this film, and you can only do what interests you. I have a very personal relationship with the man who leaves. I’ve always wondered: How can someone do that? How can someone leave their children? When my father disappeared, I always wondered what happened to him. My mother once said, ‘He’s not bad. He’s just weak.'” That word has bothered me for about 40 years. ”
Apart from the movie, season 2 of “Queen” is also in progress, which is a story about Linda, a real estate agent who turns to crime after her husband suddenly disappears and she becomes burdened with debt. The show recently won five Golden Venla Awards in its native Finland, including Best Drama Series, Best Original Screenplay and Best Director for Rimi.
“I can’t explain why people love this show, but the point is that we never do things that already exist. And all the characters are relatable, even if they’re crazy and awful. Nobody’s just good or bad. Everyone’s both, as we all are.”
She added, “When I look at Instagram and see other people’s gorgeous lives, I feel so small. ‘I love my hobbies. I love my family. I have a lot of friends.'” And you’re home, alone, feeling like shit. But if you look behind these photos, that’s not true. There’s a lot going on behind the scenes. ”
Rimi didn’t want to make a show that pretended to be something it wasn’t. “This isn’t a Finnish series trying to be American, or something Scandinavian,” she said. Nordic noir remains the dominant genre in the region. “It’s a hybrid of drama and pitch black humor with thriller elements. I had a clear vision and I followed it.”
Linda, played by Laura Marmivaara, is not the only attractive female character that Rimi has brought to the world recently. Stormskerry Maya, a box office hit set in the 19th century, further cemented her transition from actress to director.
“As a writer and director, I don’t just write about women. I write about human beings. But as women, we carry a lot of weight. Even the adjectives used to describe women are completely different. If a man is bossy, he is ‘determined.’ Women are ‘difficult’ bitches,” she said.
“We’re being watched and we’re being judged. Especially if you succeed, you’re a witch. And witches get burned.”
Interestingly, Rimi will soon be starring in another TV series she wrote, tentatively titled ‘The Punisher’, and another female character.
“She’s in her 50s and she’s a nice person who gives everything to others and takes nothing for herself. And then… she stops doing it. There will be blood flowing,” Rimi teased.
“She has a small and beautiful world. Everything takes place in the countryside. She is a make-up artist, a hairdresser and dreams of becoming a manicurist. She wants to have beautiful nails decorated with palm trees and diamonds. But there is a bad man in the village who destroys everything. And she stops being nice.”
Still, Rimi says anger isn’t always the answer.
“I don’t mean to be offensive, but my character is, for some reason, offensive,” she laughed. “Except Maya. She refuses to hate anyone and I respect her so much. She’s my type of heroine.”
“As a woman, especially if you’re the boss, you have two choices: be a stupid girl or be a mother. We don’t wear corsets anymore, but we kind of wear them. We operate within a very small space.”
“In the Nordic countries, there are laws that say everyone is equal, that women have to be paid the same as men, and that you can’t beat your wife. But this is a very small corner of the world, and we haven’t had such laws for a long time. If we don’t talk about it, they could disappear again.”
