As The Summer Book hits theatres in Denmark, we chat with director Charlie McDowell and executive producer Lily Collins on the making of the film and how the book further sparked their love of Scandinavia
Lily Collins and Charlie McDowell have long been emphatic fans of Tove Jansson. Moomin paraphernalia dots the couple’s home (not to mention an original drawing or two by Jansson herself) and Collins even co-hosted a Moomin podcast in 2023 to spread the gospel far and wide. Plus, the couple’s first daughter just so happens to be named Tove (though this could just be a coincidence).
So it’s only fitting that the couple would bring to life a film adaptation of Jansson’s most beloved novel. Directed by McDowell and executive produced by Collins, The Summer Book, which lands in Danish theatres May 15th, follows a tight-knit family as they enjoy an idyllic summer at a cabin in the Finnish archipelago.
Glenn Close as Grandmother and Emily Matthews as Sophia in 'The Summer Book'. Photo: The Summer Book
Glenn Close was aged up for the role . Photo: The Summer Book
“I remember [The Summer Book] sort of depicting my relationships with summer, which was on Martha’s Vineyard, the island off the coast of Massachusetts,” says McDowell, who wears a Moomin x Rue de Tokyo shirt when I reach him and Collins in Copenhagen via Zoom. “It was very much this experience of coming together with the family, living under one roof, just spending months together, you know? You go your separate ways during the year and have your own experiences, but you always come back to this place.” At the time, McDowell had never been to Finland and Jansson’s words were a portal into its extraordinary landscapes.
Having first read the book in his 20s, McDowell rediscovered the book during Covid, sharing it with Collins, who read it for the first time. “I knew about the Moomins because I had travelled a lot to Japan and they’re really big there,” she says. “Weirdly, the first trip I ever took to Tokyo, I had collected all these Moomin things but I didn’t really know the culture and history behind them.” The couple describes being a Covid-specific headspace where both nature and being together with loved ones – the two primary themes in The Summer Book – felt especially resonant. “We were all trapped in our homes so we would drive to the beach, we would take hikes by ourselves, we were trying to be immersed in nature as much as possible – we were craving that more and more,” says Collins. “Reading the book this time, it felt like for me if you could take away everything – your possessions, and you didn’t have work – the only things that I cannot live without are nature and my relationships with my friends and family,” says McDowell. “And I remember telling Lily, ‘You know, they’ve never made this into a film’.”
Director Charlie McDowell was warned never to work with children, animals or on an island. He did all three. Photo: The Summer Book
Photo: The Summer Book
Given the importance of nature to the story, there was never a question that McDowell would shoot on location in the Finnish archipelago, on a remote island near Kotka. Not only did this choice present some logistical challenges (McDowell oft says he learned in film school “don’t shoot on an island, don’t work with kids, don’t work with animals – I did all three”), it also required the film’s big star, Glenn Close, to travel to Finland for the duration of the shoot. “It was a big ask and it was an adventurous thing to do, and it definitely took someone like Glenn, who was willing to have that experience,” says McDowell, noting that Close lives outside the “Hollywood system” on a ranch in Montana and hasn’t partaken in the psychical tweaks of some of her colleagues.
Still, to play the role of the grandmother, 78-year-old Close was aged up via makeup and prosthetics. “When I met Glenn in person, I was like, ‘I have more wrinkles than Glenn does’, she has flawless skin,” says McDowell. “I’m like, ‘Glenn, this character is nearing the end of her life, you look like you’re going to be alive for 30 more years’.”
Charlie McDowell and Lily Collins at the Danish premiere of The Summer Book in Copenhagen. Photo: @lilyjcollins
Filming on location in Finland did have its perks and McDowell and Collins soon found themselves partaking in a key part of the local culture: saunas. “Oh god, we sauna-ed every day,” says Collins. “I would text Lily if I was coming back at midnight, and I’d be like ‘turn the sauna on’,” adds McDowell.
Bringing this movie to the screen didn’t just introduce the couple to the power of the sauna, it ignited their relationship with Scandinavia at large, quite literally changing the course of their lives. “In a certain way, the book is what brought a lot of our love and connection to Scandinavia and the Nordic countries,” says McDowell, noting that they had already begun falling in love with Copenhagen, where they now own a home. “It made us say, now let’s experience summerhouse culture. We’ve travelled all over Scandinavia – our honeymoon was in Scandinavia. Our love for these countries had already begun, but I would say the book really got us to immerse ourselves in the culture in a way we probably wouldn’t have without it.”
*The Summer Book arrives in Danish theatres on May 15. Tickets are available here. *