Night Country Managing Director Florian Hoffmeister Breaks Down the Finale

A pivotal moment comes as the fourth season of “True Detective: Night Country” reaches a thrilling conclusion in episode six. Law enforcement officers Liz Danvers (Jodie Foster) and Evangeline Navarro (Kali Reis) meet at the entrance to the ice cave. After reaching a dead end, Liz decides they should turn back, but just as they do, the two end up falling into the lower levels of the cave.

“The maze really works. You have no idea where they are going,” says cinematographer Florian Hoffmeister.

It refers to the ice caves in the fictional town of Ennis, Alaska, where the show takes place. The HBO series follows a dual narrative. One is the 6-year-old unsolved case of Annie K., the other is the unnatural murders of the Tsalal researchers.

Join Variety Inside the frame, Hoffmeister says, “It was very obvious that this series would be very much about lighting. »

And he wasn't wrong.

The production was filmed in Iceland, but more importantly for Hoffmeister, the darkness was so deep that if a person turned off the light, they would disappear. “That’s the kind of darkness I want to portray,” he says.

With many night shots and low lighting, Hoffmeister had to find creative ways to light the set in a way that looked real. Likewise, Issa López, the creator of “True Detective: Night Country,” wanted everything to be authentic.

When it came to that gripping sequence, López was adamant that Danvers and Navarro's actual journey through the caves had to be long enough and confusing enough that the reveal was never in question.

Hoffmeister explains: “We really had to make sure that this (station) was far enough away that you could never connect these two points before you actually went down into the ice tunnel world. »

The whole thing was made up of three different parts. One was the entrance, another was the middle part of the journey and finally the ice cave part that led to the station.

Tunnel lighting presented a technical challenge for Hoffmeister. There couldn't be any light because it was underground and it was dark. There should be no light in the ice tunnels. He couldn't put them in there with flashlights.

Hoffmeister says: “It might be a legitimate way to approach the subject from a cinematography and visual storytelling perspective, but then you would completely lose the sense of scale that really addresses the feeling of loss. He continues: “We had to find a lighting system that would allow the audience to get a sense of scale, while still maintaining the illusion that it is completely dark. »

Once this was done, Hoffmeister was to follow the headlights. “If they were at the wrong angle, it would create flare in the camera lens and the actors would disappear.”

The other challenge was how to move the cameras around this space. “We were very adamant that we didn't want to use a handheld because it would make it look like another person is there. The Icelanders therefore built a small two-wheeled cart. This allowed Hoffmeister and his team to mount a camera on the cart with a stabilized head and shoot it. He adds: “There were a few sections where you could remove the walls and get passes. »

All of this leads to the reveal that Raymond Clark, Tsalal's only surviving scientist, is alive. And that's when Danvers and Navarro discover where the tunnels lead: the Tsalal research station and an underground laboratory.

Upon reflection, Hoffmeister says, “I think this episode really strikes a balance between really moving performances. If you think about Jodie Foster's article in the middle, where she's barely surviving, and then earlier, that rant against Navarro for talking about her lost son. He continues: “There were real action sequences. I think it's a very rich visual experience.

Watch the full video above.