SNOW JOKE

An avalanche causes more than just panic in Downhill, as Will Ferrell and Julia Louis Dreyfus put marriage under the microscope in this remake of sly Swedish comedy-drama Force Majeure. Total Film joins them on the slopes to find out more.

- JAMES MOTTRAM AND ADAM TANSWELL

February 2019. Total Film has packed its ski boots and set off for the Austrian ski town of Ischgl. It’s where the production of Downhill is currently shooting.

The film crew looks incongruous on the snow-filled streets and quaint cobbled roadways, but the locals have been welcoming, and the production’s enjoying the crisp white powdered slopes and the “lively” nightlife, as the guidebooks claim. “This is quite a raucous town,” chuckles co-writer/director Nat Faxon. “Julia has been going out every night and we have been trying to keep up… but haven’t been able to.”

The ‘Julia’ in question is Julia Louis-Dreyfus, the Veep star who here teams up with the inimitable Will Ferrell; the pair play a married couple who arrive in Austria for a rejuvenating ski holiday with their two children. “This movie is very much about the relationship between a husband and wife and how that sort of unravels – or not – over a period of five days,” explains Louis-Dreyfus, who plays Billie.

The inciting incident is a natural disaster that becomes quietly devastating for those involved. When the family are enjoying a tranquil moment on a balcony overlooking the Alps, an avalanche strikes nearby. Although everyone remains unharmed, the family are left in a state of shock over the reaction of Ferrell’s Pete, who panics and flees without a thought for his loved ones.

TAKE TWO