Video Interview: Fabrice Du Welz – Alleluia

We sat with Belgian director Fabrice Du Welz at the 2014 Toronto Film Festival, where his latest feature, Alleluia, played in the Vanguard line-up (it premiered earlier that year in the Directors’ Fortnight at Cannes, where we initially caught the film). The second part of his Ardennes trilogy, which began with his excellent 2004 debut, Calvaire, du Welz sat with us to dish about his projects, including the truncated US release of his 2008 film Vinyan, and the incredible difficulties he experienced on the set of Colt 45, another 2014 title yet to be released stateside.

Alleluia is a perverse examination of familiar material, a reimagining of the famed Honeymoon Killers we’ve seen depicted in various features from the past several decades. Reuniting Du Welz with his Calvaire star Laurent Lucas, he gets a remarkable performance from Spanish actress Lola Duenas in a film that’s fun, violent, and impressively styled. In our interview, we discuss the length between projects, the difficulty in getting material such as this made in Europe, and future considerations. He’s currently in post-production on his English language debut, Message from the King, which we hope to see premiere late this year (but may be held until 2016).

Doppelgänger Releasing releases Du Welz’s Alleluia in theaters and VOD this Friday, July 17th. Here is our review of the film, and we partnered with Spotful on the info-filled teaser below. Click on the spot at the end for our sit down with the filmmaker.