https://youtube.com/watch?v=Sw3Yr54jCsg%3Fsi%3D3l0ZPPwFFMyd6gBD

The most ambitious people who heroically succeed don’t allow even the most terrifying obstacles prevent them from achieving their dreams. Both the filmmakers and the characters in the new thriller, ‘The Dive,’ are unwaveringly undeterred in their mission to combat at-times threatening obstacles that the ocean presents to them as they seek their otherwise fulfilling professional and personal goals in the water.

‘The Dive’ was helmed by genre filmmaker Maximilian Erlenwein (‘Stereo’), who worked as a cinematographer and shot magazine features while he studied directing at the German Film and Television Academy Berlin. He also co-wrote the drama with Joachim Hedén (‘Breaking Surface’). RLJE Films is releasing the feature in theaters and everywhere you rent movies today, Friday, August 25.

In ‘The Dive,’ a deep-sea diving trip at one of the world’s most remote spots becomes a fight for survival for sisters Drew and May (Sophie Lowe and Louisa Krause) when a catastrophic landslide sends rocks tumbling into the sea. After being struck by the rockfall, May now lies 28 meters below the surface, trapped by debris and unable to move. With dangerously low levels of oxygen, it is up to Drew to fight for her sister’s life. She must put her own life in jeopardy and risk paying the ultimate sacrifice. But with no help in sight, time is quickly running out.

Erlenwein generously took the time last week to talk about co-scribing and helming ‘The Dive’ over Zoom. Among other things, the filmmaker discussed how directing the feature was challenging at times, as shooting so many scenes underwater can become dangerous, both physically and emotionally. He also expressed his gratitude to Lowe and Krause for agreeing to star in the thriller, especially since they didn’t have any diving experience before production on the feature began.

Film Factual (FF): Along with Joachim Hedén, you co-wrote the script for the new thriller, ‘The Dive.’ How did you approach building the story for the movie together?

Maximilian Erlenwein (ME): This is a remake of a Swedish film that came out a few years ago called ‘Breaking Surface.’ The company that owns the remake rights to that film approached me about the project and gave me the script. My first reaction was that I didn’t want to do a remake because they’re usually not good.

But then I read the script, as I’m a scuba diver myself. I did a lot of diving when I was younger because I love it. When I read the screenplay, I said, “If I can do my own take on it, and shoot everything for real underwater in the ocean, I have to do it.” So that was the origin of it.

FF: In addition to helping build the drama’s story, you also directed the feature. How did you approach helming the film?

ME: It’s very challenging to shoot underwater. Filmmaking is difficult enough, but shooting underwater is ridiculous. There are a lot of safety issues, of course; scuba diving is amazing and beautiful. But it’s also very dangerous, or course, especially when there’s panic involved with the actors, and they start to worry for real.

There are a ton of things to consider when you’re shooting underwater and not on land. Communication, for example, is very difficult, as you can’t walk over to the actresses and cinematographer after a take and talk to them. So you can only communicate over the intercoms, but sometimes they stop working.

There can also be weather issues, and you may not be able to shoot because of the currents. There can also visibility issues underwater, which can change from one second to another, and you can’t see each other anymore.

So it was really tough, but also really fun to do it like that, completely in nature. To be able to go out onto the boat every morning was great fun.

FF: Speaking of the cinematography, how did you approach working with ‘The Dive’s Director of Photography, Frank Griebe, to determine how you would shoot the project, especially the underwater scenes?

ME: Frank Griebe is a fantastic Director of Photography from Germany. The reason why I wanted to make the film was because of my love of scuba diving and the ocean. Although it is an anxiety-inducing, terrifying thriller, I also wanted to make it as beautiful as possible. I wanted to show as much of the element of the ocean as possible.

Scuba diving is like flying on another planet, so we wanted to also capture that and make it immersive for the big screen. We wanted to make these big, wide shots that you can’t really do with CGI and VFX; you have to do it underwater. But the whole idea was to do everything for real.

With a thriller like this one, we couldn’t compete with films that have multi-million-dollar VFX budgets. So the idea was to make everything feel as real as possible.

FF: You also mentioned working with the actresses earlier, and the thriller stars Sophie Lowe and Louisa Krause. What was the casting process like for the movie?

ME: I was really lucky. At first, we were looking for actresses who could actually dive, but that didn’t work; there are just too few. So then we started looking for actresses who were crazy enough to do this, and were willing train.

So after a long casting process, we found Sophie and Louisa, and I was lucky they agreed to be in the film. I can’t emphasize enough how difficult it is to act under water and give these kinds of performances.

If you act terrified or panic underwater, it’s really close to the real emotion, and then you really panic. Obviously, you can’t do that underwater because it can become really dangerous. So we had to make sure that they trusted in themselves and the team.

They had to become really good divers. We had a few months to train them, and they loved it. We were lucky with that, as we couldn’t foresee that.

I was always nervous that I was going to get the call that they wanted to jump off of the project because something happened to scare them. If you have one bad experience in diving, especially in the beginning, you’ll become too afraid to go into the water anymore.

So I feel so lucky that we found Sophie and Louisa; they did an amazing job. They were so dedicated to the film. For them, it was all about establish the trust between them. They didn’t know each other before the shoot, but they came to like each other a lot. They became like sisters, in a way, which really helped. So it was a great experience working with them.