Lift the Kidnapping Story, Director Rako Prijanto Makes 'MONSTER' a Film with Minimal Dialogue

Kapanlagi.com - Director Rako Prijanto works on a thriller titled MONSTER. The film, produced by Falcon Pictures, is an official remake of THE BOY BEHIND THE DOOR released in 2021.

Unlike the American version, the Indonesian remake becomes a film with minimal dialogue. It will rely more on the skill of the child actors in expressing themselves.

"This film is a non-verbal film. It's about a nine-year-old child who experiences a tragedy and how intuitively he faces that situation. There is innocence that we want to highlight. Because the character is nine years old, we (the audience) have to sit at that age," said Rako, interviewed at Empire XXI, Yogyakarta, on Wednesday (11/29).

1. Difficult Shooting Without Dialogue

The Publicist

The main actor of the film MONSTER which premiered at the Jogja-Netpac Asian Film Festival (JAFF) 2023 is child actor Anantya Kirana. He plays the role of Alana, a nine-year-old child who tries to save his friend when he is kidnapped.

Anantya admitted that shooting this film was quite tense for him. Besides the difficult scenes, it was also because he didn't have many dialogues.

"The shooting process was tense because the scenes were quite difficult for me, especially without dialogue. So I had to rely on expressions and that was quite challenging," said Anantya on the same occasion.

2. Scenario Changes Along the Way

The screenwriter of MONSTER is Alim Sudio whose ability is unquestionable. He admitted that initially this remake had dialogue like the original film. However, it later underwent a creative process change.

"The minimal dialogue process happened in the umpteenth draft. The initial version of the script was thick and normal with dialogue. The challenge was how to eliminate all of that and make it a visual language. Basically, it's from the perspective of children. If we adults see it, we might think more logically. But if children are in that situation, we imagine what intuition can emerge from them. We preserve their childlike innocence," said Alim.

(kpl/abs/sry)