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.