Ahead of its release on SkyTV, the cast and crew of The Death of Bunny Munro attended a press junket in London to promote the miniseries. In a sit down with director Isabella Eklöf, we asked her some questions surrounding her involvement and passion for the show.
*Please note some of the interview has been edited, cuting out stutter and transition words to allow the conversation to read more fluidly.
Hailey: To first ask you, I just wanted to know, how did you get involved with the project?
Isabella: I read the book, about fifteen years ago. When people started asking me what I wanted to do, it’s one of the things I returned to. And so, I was chasing it while it was going to be made into a feature. It was at different production companies and it finally ended up at Clark & Welland, and I had my agent go after them and then they took me.
Hailey: So, you’d say it was like a passion project.
Isabella: Yeah, definitely.
Hailey: For casting. I am not sure how much you were involved in it. But for a British audience, Matt Smith is liked a lot. Did you know you wanted him? Or how did he end up being your Bunny Munro?
Isabella: He was on board before me. I think he is a brilliant choice. I did binge Doctor Who when it came out. So I was very aware of him. And The Crown as well, by the way. And I think he’s just a very very talent, emotionally intelligent, thoughtful and professional actor who has done a brilliant job in the series.
Hailey: I found that recently I have not been that invested in a series.
Isabella: Good.
Hailey: And then that title.
Isabella: Yeah, it’s a good title. We have to thank Nick Cave for that.
Hailey: The theme song, I found the way that right before each opening credits, the way the episode leans into it, you know it is going to start. Did you do that on purpose?
Isabella: Yeah it is a musical buildup.
Hailey: And then the theme song, when choosing it. The quote, “we got to love one another or die”, did it come from the song? or did it come from the book? How did you choose it.
Isabella: So that came from, have you sen the whole thing?
Hailey: Yeah!
Isabella: *SPOILERS*
*In short, here Isabella explains where the song came from and how songwriter, and original writer of the novel, Nick Cave created it.
Hailey: Oh, that’s interesting. I did not notice that. But, I noticed each episode is a buildup. As well as, did you mean to do a buildup with or subtle hints with the serial killer throughout.
Isabella: Yeah yeah totally. He is becoming closer and we’re seeing him better and better every time.
Hailey: Did you want for someone like me who hasn’t read the book. Did you want us to think of the book or did you want us to think of the show as like its own?
Isabella: I don’t care. *Laughs*
Hailey: Just enjoy it.
Isabella: Yeah exactly. I mean I love the book personally, so I’d love if people see the show and then go out and read it. Because it’s a brilliant book. But it doesn’t really matter either way. I think they both work separately as well.
Hailey: There’s times where you have Bunny and Junior together and then separate. But when they are together, did you want the audience to see Bunny through Junior’s eyes. Because during his downward spiral, you see Junior noticing it more.
Isabella: So what we did was change main character throughout the series. So we start with Bunny as the main character and we end with Junior as main character. So we made a very conscious shift throughout the series to switch the perspective to Junior’s. You know, as the old generation goes down, the new generation takes over.
Hailey: When, as Bunny spirals, how was it like working with Matt on showing that more and more each episode?
Isabella: I mean, with an actor like Matt who is like very meticulous, reads the script over and over, knows his lines really well, you don’t really have to tell him that much. It’s in the writing and you just need to give him the safety and the comfort to allow him to go all the way. And of course, talking to him about the things but not really telling him what to do necessarily that much. He’ll just try something and we’ll maybe tweak it and try again. But it was all him going there. And he was, you know, he was going there. And I think he enjoyed that very much. Being allowed to scream and go crazy and not hold back.
Hailey: Did he want to sing? Or who wanted him to sing?
Isabella: That was actually my idea. In the book, there’s this speech that’s a bit “meh” and I think Nick Cave also thinks it’s a bit “meh”. *Laughs* and I think we needed him not to have a speech because that would twist it the wrong way, the whole point is that he’s trying to appeal to these women and they reject him. And the best way for him to do it is to sing his heart out, but with a really horrible song if you listen to the lyrics, it’s really a narcissist’s love song. And I’ve always thought of this song this way and so I introduced it as a concept and it worked.
Hailey: Yeah, because I’ve heard the song in quite a few things recently so when you heard it there you knew he wants the forgiveness but it doesn’t come in the right way.
Isabella: He’s not getting that. It doesn’t matter how heartfelt you are. What you’ve done you’ve done. That’s the point.
Hailey: I know some TV shows you have different directors on different episodes. Did you enjoy directing the whole thing and would you want to direct another whole series again? Or how different is it directing a series?
Isabella: YEah I’m not really into television at all, this is sort of a long film for me. So yeah, that’s why. I mean I would’ve said yes to this anyways because it’s Nick Cave and Matt Smith and it’s a brilliant piece of writing. But I think this was the best of both worlds for me being allowed to direct something that’s long form but that’s really just a very epic film to me.
Hailey: Yeah, that makes sense. Do you think it would have worked as a film? Or do you think episodic works better so the viewers can see it?
Isabella: I think it needs the length to fold itself out. And it could’ve been a three and a half hour film, you know that’s not unheard of. And maybe it could be. Maybe it could be recut into that, that would be interesting. But I think as you know how media works, there’s a very obvious venue in the miniseries and I think that’s a great way to fold it out.
Hailey: It’s getting released weekly isn’t it?
Isabella: Online it’s going to be all at once.
Hailey: Oh okay. Because I know I watched it all at once but I feel like as a viewer if you were watching it weekly, you’d be anticipating it.
Isabella: Yeah for sure.
Hailey: Which I think is hopefully going to be part of the enjoyment of watching the series.
Isabella: But I can see binging it as well. I can see the value of that.
Hailey: Like you said. For me there’s little TV I watch, so being actually wanting to know what happens next was very good for [The Death of Bunny Munro].
Isabella: Yeah it’s got some good cliffhangers.
Hailey: Yeah. After doing this, do you have any ideas of what you’d want to do next?
Isabella: Yeah, we launched Dogma 25 at Cannes this year. So we’re five filmmakers from Denmark who are revitalizing the Dogma concept. And wrote our own rules. And if you’re not familiar with it.
Hailey: I did a bit of it in film school.
Isabella: Yeah so it was a movement in Denmark in the 90s that became international. That was back to the basics. Using TV cameras and no light and no props. You know. Some brilliant movies came out of it, and it became a whole thing. And now we’re sort of reinventing it with new rules. One of which is that we’re not allowed to use the internet and we have to write the script by hand, so it’s very much back to the backbone of filmmaking.
Hailey: Yeah…The last question I have is, as Bunny is a salesman of beauty products. If you were to be a salesman, what do you think you could sell the best?
Isabella: *Laughs* That’s a fun question. What could I sell? Board games maybe.
Hailey: Do you have a favourite board game?
Isabella: No there are so many. I love them all. The problem is that part of my enjoyment is learning the rules. So I like new board games every time and there’s just so many good ones. I enjoyed, we’re doing Frost Table right now. Fucking epic game we’ve been playing it for two years almost, it just never ends. It’s a legacy game.
Hailey: Well that’s good. And thank you very much and thank you for the show.
Isabella: Thanks for coming.
It was an honour getting to discuss The Death of Bunny Munro with Isabella. From only just six episodes she is able to create such a compelling world for Nick Cave’s story to be told. Using Pete Jackson’s adapted screenplay and the talent of Matt Smith, there is no shortage of anticipation in the series.
Keep an eye out and be prepared to binge the entire show once it is released on SkyTV on the 20th of November 2025.
