Pittsburgh weather challenged 'A Man Called Otto' director Marc Forster

A movie director can face many challenges — temperamental actors, filming delays, budget overruns, temperamental actors.

For director Marc Forster, the biggest challenge of making “A Man Called Otto” certainly wasn’t working with Tom Hanks, whom he labeled a consummate professional. It was something much more elemental.

“To be honest, the greatest challenge was sometimes the weather in Pittsburgh,” Forster said Monday from New York City, prior to an evening premiere screening. “In the morning, sometimes it was like Alaska, a big snowstorm. In the afternoon, it was like Florida and all the snow was gone.”

The PG-13-rated movie filmed in and around the city from February to May 2022.

“A Man Called Otto” is the second film adaptation of Swedish author Fredrik Backman’s 2012 novel, “A Man Called Ove,” following the 2015 Swedish film that shared its name with the book.

Hanks’ character is a curmudgeonly rule-follower who takes it upon himself to police every person, animal and delivery driver who chances to enter his neighborhood. He also is contemplating suicide following the recent death of his wife.

It takes the relentless attention of a new neighbor constantly interrupting his plans and convincing him, reluctantly, to reengage with the joys of life.

“The character of Otto felt to me very Shakespearean, like Hamlet,” Forster said. “Because of the Shakespearean nature, I thought this story could be told in every culture, in every country. I’m from Switzerland, and it could be a Swiss movie.

“Shakespeare has been done in every language across the globe, and I thought that Fredrik Backman’s book had a similar DNA,” he said. “I thought it really should be seen by a wider audience.”

Hanks had read the book and seen the original movie and was eager to take on the title role, Forster said.

“We all raised our hand (on the project) at a similar time — Tom, the writer David Magee, my creative partner Renee Wolfe,” he said. “We met at the office and decided to make the movie together.”

Hanks’ wife, Rita Wilson, co-wrote and performed an original song for the movie and also co-produced the film with her husband.

Linking past and present

As in “Ove,” Forster familiarizes the audience with Otto’s life through a series of flashbacks.

“I wanted to make sure you got enough information from his past to connect him to the present and understand him in the present,” he said. “In the original movie, he goes into the flashbacks for a much longer time. I wanted to shorten those flashbacks, before it becomes much harder to come back to Otto himself.”

The young Otto is played by Hanks’ and Wilson’s 27-year-old son, Truman Hanks. The casting wasn’t a case of Hollywood nepotism, Forster said.

“I was looking for someone who looks like a young Tom Hanks, a young Otto, and I couldn’t find someone,” he said. “His parents said, ‘Oh, you know, he looks like Tom, but he doesn’t want to be an actor. He doesn’t want to be in front of the camera.’

“But I met him and convinced him that he could do this, and he was really terrific.”

Marisol, the character who takes on Otto as a human reclamation project, is played by Mexican stage and screen actor Mariana Treviño.

“She knocks at Otto’s door and he keeps trying to shut the door in her face, but she doesn’t give up,” Forster said. “She has the persistence of not letting go, because she knows this man needs help and there is a heart in there. She is the one who cracks it open.

“Sometimes I look at myself and I wonder, if I was that neighbor, would I have that persistence to reach out and help someone? I love the power and the strength of that character.”

Human connection is obviously at the heart of the story, Forster said.

“We’re living in such a divided world right now, and this movie is a life-affirming story about a community coming together,” he said. “Ultimately, our hearts connect us all. The story has more relevance today than when it was written, post-pandemic when so many people are experiencing loneliness.

“Loneliness was already the DNA of the story, but it became even more important, partly because of the pandemic and partly because people are so involved with their phones and technology that they’ve lost that human contact,” he said. “I think that human connection, and being in community, is the most important thing that brings us joy and happiness.”

In that vein, Forster said he hopes people will see the movie in the company of others.

“I hope that people go see it in a theater, so you experience together the laughter and tears,” he said. “I think that’s what the world needs. It’s a movie that’s needed.”

“A Man Called Otto” began a limited theatrical release Dec. 30, including in theaters in Pittsburgh and Greensburg. Even in limited release, it ranked fourth at the domestic box office for the weekend of Jan. 6-8.

Its U.S. wide release date is Friday.