really inspiredbyAukrust,andhewantedtochange the toneofwhathewasdoing,”
recallsRemo.“Hewas fascinatedbyAukrust’s lavishhumour,whichhadasortof
burlesquequality,with jokesupon jokes, likeacake. Itwasquiteadulthumour.”
AukrusthadalreadywrittenshortstoriesaroundFlåklypa,andhadcreateda
radioshow,
FlåklypaRadio
. Itwasagreedhe’dwriteascreenplay forCaprino to
turn into
FlåklypaTVandRadio
. ItwassooncommissionedbyNRKasaTVseries,
basedon looselyconnected,anarchicscenes involving thecharacters thatwould
eventuallyappear in
FlåklypaGrandPrix
.
“Itwasabsurdly funny,andwe thought itwouldworkwhenwesawthescript
and talkedabout it–butsomehow it justdidn’tcometogetherasaTVshow,”says
Remo.“Itwas just tooburlesque,andduringproductionwestartedhavingdoubts.
That’swhen, in1972,wecalled inErikDiesenandSverreChristophersen fromNRK.
WhenErikfinallyspokeupafterseeing it,
FlåklypaTVandRadio
wasscrapped.”
ButRemostruggledtosee twoyearsofworkwasted.“Westill lovedthe
charactersbutwerealisedwe’dmoved too far fromwhatpeople lovedaboutCaprino
films.So Ihadthe ideaofkeepingthecharactersbutcomingupwithsomethingthat
wasmorewhatweknew:asimplenarrative, thatmoved fromA-Zandfittedwith
ourethosofmaking familyfilms.Wedecided tochangethepersonalities,especially
ofSonnyandLambert.Lambertbecame lovable insteadofsour,andSonnybecame
achirpyoptimist.Withthatchange, thewholething feltmoreuniversal.”
Crucially,Aukrustdidn’t throwa tantrumattherebrandingofhiscreations,
andthenewscriptwasa four-waycollaborationbetween IvoandRemoCaprino,
AukrustandhiscollaboratorKjellSyversen.“Oncewe’dfiguredthat itwasgoing to
beasimplertale, theprocessofwriting thescriptwentquitesmoothly,”saysRemo.
»
“Mygrandfatherasked Ivo: ‘Areyougoing todo some serious
workor spendyourwhole lifeplayingwithpuppets?’”
n
/055
