De Daltons

In an interview with VPRO Gids magazine in 1999, director Rita Horst explained that she and screenwriter Robert Alberdingk Thijm wanted to create a series showing a "safe nest with a mother who is always around", and with a "timeless appeal". She said she had to resist a tendency to get cynical and introduce domestic strife and confrontation between the parents themselves, or the parents and the children, though without becoming sentimental or moralistic. She realized she took a risk by going against the then current trend in this respect, reinforced by her choice to use straightforward, fixed shots with the camera on a tripod, instead of fast action and cuts. At the same time, she stressed that the power struggle between the brothers, often considered small by comparison, was definitely meant to feel dramatic.

Featured in Zomergasten: Episode #16.2 (2003)