“It’s such a life-affirming film with so much hope”: Marc Forster and Mariana Treviño on A Man Called Otto

An English language remake of 2015’s A Man Called Ove, Marc Forster’s feature finds Tom Hanks in an uncharacteristically cantankerous disposition in the film’s title role. Otto lives his life as a curmudgeon, taking his rage out on everyone around him, and soon attempts to take it out on himself in the ultimate act of self-destruction. The icy cage which protects his heart slowly but surely begins to thaw, however, when a family moves in across the street, the pregnant matriarch of which, played by a vivacious Mariana Treviño, strikes up an odd couple friendship with the bad-tempered patriarch of his community. What follows is a tender, almost comfortingly predictable tale, which champions the virtues of friendship and community.

The Upcoming had the privilege of speaking to the man at the helm of A Man Called Otto, Forster, about executing the tonal balance towed by Hanks and Treviño, and the translation of the story’s central themes to an American setting from its Swedish origins.

We also had the pleasure of chatting to Treviño, as genial a presence as her character, about her role as Marisol and providing the film with the comedic and dramatic balance that drives it, as well as the broad adjustment to being the on-screen driving force of a big-budget production alongside the global icon that is Hanks.

Matthew McMillan

A Man Called Otto is released nationwide on 6^th January 2023. 

Watch the trailer for A Man Called Otto here: