Following the success of Daybreak I wrote an extensive screenplay, an exposé of Swedish political and social history from 1940 to 2000, portrayed through the rise and fall of a comedian. My working title was The Murder of an Ex-Comedian. It turned out, however, that my producer at the time lacked the ability, or perhaps the interest, to handle such an ambitious project. In short: he simply wasn't up to the task. To my great dismay the project was shelved, but years later I returned to it and transposed much of the material into a novel. I also managed to extract the arch of the story and transform it to a stage production that had a successful run at Folkteatern in Gothenburg. In the late summer of 2004 we shot my novella film Cannery Dreams (Rensa fisk). This short has some memorable moments, especially some truly great scenes with Peter Andersson and Marie Richardson. It was there and then, in a shabby “Trollywood” apartment -- realizing that The Comedian would not come about -- the idea was born to make a movie with these giants of Swedish theater, Peter and Marie.

I wanted to create a tighter film, more intimate, with the dramatic intensity of a chamber play. The pre-production process proved to be a challenge on different levels. To begin with, I had to start fresh with a new crew, as half of the old one had quit [was fired?] due to a drunken brawl at the wrap-up party of Daybreak. With a new team (and unfortunately still) the same wobbling producer, not to mention a shoe-string budget, I felt almost like a rookie out from film school...

Let me, however, point out that Mouth to Mouth does contain several breathtaking sequences that I feel proud of to this day. Some even consider it my best film to date. As always, I am perhaps too self-critical for my own good, believing that in this film the parts may be better than the whole... Or perhaps not, I havent’t viewed this film in a long, long while.

In the end, this film was invited to the Berlinale (The Berlin International Film Festival) in the category “Dieter Kosslick’s Choice”. Of course, such an outstanding honour surprised and thrilled us all, all except my kill-joy producer: “We have no money for neither subtitling nor promotion.”

At that very moment I knew that our film was doomed. And my sole reminiscence from the day of the premiere is inhaling oxygen at the emergency ward, that’s how stressed and overworked I was. Eventually, the film was screened all over the world, not least in Australia, where Jane Campion saw it. Our menacing character “Morgan” (Magnus Krepper) became the equally repugnant character “Puss” (congenially portrayed by David Dencik) in the second series of Top of the Lake.

Perhaps my most lasting lesson from this film project is this: I learned first-hand that a follow-up must be meticulously and passionately prepared and pursued, lest it falls in the shadow of a previous success.

Thank heavens for Anna Takanen, at the time Creative Director of the Gothenburg Municipal Theatre. She offered me the job to direct Harold Pinter’s Ashes to Ashes. For the next dozen or so years, I worked mainly in the theatre, writing and directing. And wondering if I would ever direct a film again.