‘Tolkien’ Director Dome Karukoski Talks Love Story ‘Hippo Love’

Finnish director Dome Karukoski is ready to take things slow with “Hippo Love.”

After “Tolkien” – a 2019 biopic about the early life of the “Lord of the Rings” author – “Tom of Finland,” series “The Beast Must Die” with Jared Harris, and first Finnish Netflix Original “Little Siberia,” Karukoski’s next film is a simple love story. 

“One of the reasons I felt so strongly about the book [by Emmi-Liia Sjöholmin] was because it was so simple. It’s just two people talking – and falling in love,” Karukoski tells Variety in Helsinki. 

“This is an adult love story. They are in their 40s, discussing divorce, kids, sex and the sacrifices they’ve made. I’m 48 and that’s what struck me.”  

In “Hippo Love” – debuting exclusive first-look stills ahead of its bow at the Finnish Film Affair – two heartbroken strangers warm up to each other at a wedding party in Greece. Touko (Aku Sipola) is still technically married – Eevis (Pihla Viitala) is about to separate from her partner. But Touko’s wife, famous pop star, is also in attendance. 

“You are at a wedding, celebrating someone else’s ‘pure love,’ and you’re in the midst of your own divorce and your own pain. This juxtaposition felt super intriguing to me,” says Karukoski, excited to turn to a two-hander after “enormous productions.”

“I think it’s a good timing for a film like that – also for me, personally. I’ve had three burnouts. I’m not in the top 10 of director’s burnouts, but I’m getting there.”

He adds: “When you’re inside the studio system, it can feel like the film is made by assistant directors. Everything is so huge – you’re just trying to survive the production and get everything done. It becomes all about the next car chase and the next explosion. With a smaller scale, it’s easier to forget your vanity and focus on art.”

Sipola and Viitala – joined by musician Jenni Vartiainen in her first role on screen – are “everything” in the film, produced by Marko Talli for Yellow Film & TV. “It’s about their small gestures, small moments. Then the story got bigger, more intriguing and human. But it’s still two people looking at each other.”

Viitala already voiced the audiobook version of Sjöholmin’s novel. “With Aku, we actually ended up chatting about kids and breakups after a party. He was much more sensitive than I’d have ever guessed. When I got the book, he was my first call. I said: ‘I think this is for you.’”

“It’s about people engaging in conflict, engaging in love. It’s the kind of poetry that’s easily forgotten when you’re doing a large-scale production. Normally, when I’m looking at the rough cut, I’m thinking of several different ways of committing suicide. But this is a film that feels like a hug. I needed it.” 

And as for that title?

“When hippos make love, they go underwater and the female kind of suffocates. In any strained marriage or partnership, you feel suffocation, so how do you find freedom and enjoyment within it? These two have hit an emotional wall. That’s life – it’s an ongoing journey of trying to find something that makes you feel emotions you’ve never felt before,” he observes. 

“We are always told: ‘You have to find your person.’ Then you’re supposed to be with that person for the rest of your life – and if you fail, you’re a failure. There’s something beautiful about learning to get over that disappointment and all these expectations others have for us. They are the ones keeping us underwater.” 

He related to his characters, he says. 

“I wouldn’t say this film was like therapy, but it surely was therapeutical.” 

Already developing a film in the U.K., set in the soccer world and centered around a small-time agent trying to survive it, Karukoski isn’t planning on leaving Finland anytime soon. Even despite planned cuts to the culture budget, which he has spoken out about. 

“I want to be close to my kids. My son is 11, my daughter is 6. I have maybe one or two good years with my son. Then I’ll be lucky if he answers my calls,” he laughs, admitting he’s also writing a story about fatherhood.

“Tolkien grew up without a father – I met mine when I was 14. I always try to find something I can relate to. But this is the most personal thing I’ve ever written.” 

“We will see how it goes with all the cuts and the difficulties we’re facing now as an industry, but I was so relieved when Guillermo del Toro admitted he wrote 17 or so scripts that were never financed. 17?! At least I wrote less than that.”