What in Stålenhag's original format, the book "Passagen", is a dark story about broken teenagers is in the film version a family-friendly action adventure with Chris Pratt and Millie Bobby Brown in the lead roles.
The journey from book to film began in 2017, when the film siblings Muschietti, who among other things were behind the film adaptation of Stephen King's "It", were tied to the project.
They are good at making films about young people but still with adult content, says Stålenhag.
However, during the work, the people tied to the film were replaced while the content changed. Stålenhag is okay with the tone shift from cyberpunk thriller to Hollywood entertainment.
They (Anthony and Joe Russo) are good at what they do. I have nothing against that type of films, I loved them when I was little. The film has its heart in the right place, that's the most important thing for me.
Answers and Defense
Neither critics nor fans are as forgiving or understanding as Stålenhag. The film has been uniformly panned by reviewers. On social media, fans of Stålenhag's original are spewing gall over Netflix's glossy version.
It has gotten terrible reviews, so we'll see if there will be more films for me. I might become radioactive, says Stålenhag.
On
Anxiety
The relationship with fans and being noticed for his creation does not see as unproblematic.
I have probably rather had anxiety about it becoming big. That's the difficult side, he says and continues:
It's difficult to have a large audience and the whole machinery that is on social media and virality and so on. I get anxiety just from seeing it. You get "imposter syndrome".
Living the Dream
Whether there will be more films based on his work, Stålenhag does not know at present. He does not rule it out, at the same time as he is not actively striving for it.
I'm working on my next book now. It will take place in the USA, that I can almost say. I have traveled around last year and taken a lot of photos.
Born in 1984 in Sundbyberg, but grew up on Mälaröarna outside Stockholm.
Started painting landscape pictures early on, often with bird motifs, inspired by Gunnar Brusewitz and Lars Jonsson.
His pictures have been released as stories in, among other things, the books "Ur varselklotet" (2014), "Flodskörden" (2016), "Passagen" (2017) and "Urtidsbilder" (2019).
"Ur varselklotet" was released in early April 2020 as an American TV series with the title "Tales from the loop" on Amazon Prime.
"Passagen", which in English has been given the title "The electric state", premieres on Netflix on March 14 and is directed by the Russo brothers ("Arrested development", "Community", "Avengers: Endgame", "Avengers: Infinity war").
