Biography

Knútur Haukstein Ólafsson is known for A Thunderbolt for Michelle (2021), Major Pink: Hope (2015) and Drakúla (2016).

Frequently writes scripts with certain actors in mind.

Often uses religious symbols in his work.

Favorite film directors include: Akira Kurosawa, Stanley Kubrick, Alfred Hitchcock, Sergio Leone, Martin Scorsese, David Lynch, Sidney Lumet, Christopher Nolan, Wes Craven, John Carpenter, Quentin Tarantino, Guillermo del Toro, Tim Burton, Nicolas Winding Refn, Ana Lily Amirpour, Martin McDonagh, Alexander Payne, Derek Cianfrance, Darren Aronofsky and more.

Favorite actors include: Marlon Brando, Robert De Niro, Al Pacino, Jack Nicholson, Daniel Day-Lewis, Gary Oldman, Anthony Hopkins, Morgan Freeman, Michael Caine, Denzel Washington, Christian Bale, Johnny Depp, Brad Dourif, Edward Norton, Ryan Gosling, Samuel L. Jackson, Chadwick Boseman, Christoph Waltz, Peter Sellers, Geoffrey Rush, Jim Carrey, Bryan Cranston, Peter Dinklage, Bela Lugosi and Claude Rains.

Loves Horror films. Some of his favorite Horror movies are Dracula (1931), The Invisible Man (1933), Psycho (1960), Rosemary's Baby (1968), The Exorcist (1973), The Texas Chain Saw Massacre (1974), Halloween (1978), Alien (1979), Friday the 13th (1980), The Shining (1980), The Evil Dead (1981), The Thing (1982), Fright Night (1985), A Nightmare on Elm Street (1984), Scream (1996) and The Conjuring (2013).

Favorite actresses include: Audrey Hepburn, Meryl Streep, Kate Winslet, Helen Mirren, Maggie Smith, Sally Field, Cate Blanchett, Frances McDormand, Tilda Swinton, Melissa Leo, Charlize Theron, Lupita Nyong'o, Courteney Cox, Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Laura Fraser, Lena Headey, Jennifer Lawrence, Monica Bellucci, Rose Byrne, Kate McKinnon, Emma Stone, Shailene Woodley, Lily James, Brie Larson and Uma Thurman.

[on Bryndis Haraldsdottir] She's a really good actress. It was really nice working with her because I didn't have to do anything. She's just really good. Watch out for her.

[on how he came up with the idea for the music video Major Pink: Hope (2015)] First and foremost, the song inspired me, and then I saw nothing but pink. Then I saw some type of a girl that was a lonely outcast, a female mirror image of myself. And I dug more into the 1st person psychology perspective of it and since I was dealing with lots of depression and loneliness at the time, an image of a nun started to appear before me and I started to care a lot for her and before I knew it, a whole film was constantly playing in my head that I had to get out. I think this whole creative process was about me developing psychologically and my wish was to experience freedom from suffering, and since I didn't know how to do it at the time, I chose the next best option: creating a character that I cared for and let her be free instead.

[on why his films always seem to have a little bit of a Horror element] I think it's because I just really love Horror films. I think they are really cathartic. In my opinion, there's a monster inside each of us and we are all capable of horrible things but it all comes down to self-control, and not many people are going to agree with this, but I think true horror is not to be able to die. That's why we are afraid of Vampires, the White Walkers, the Zombies and all of that stuff because it's not actually how they look, but the kind of thought that is "Oh no. This will never be over!" so yeah, Horror films, I really love them. They are so cathartic.