Born in Chile 1966, Shaky González moved to Denmark at the age of seven, attending Den Danske Filmskole in 1993. He has since directed many films, including ‘Det grå guld’ (The grey gold), a comedy about three pensioners who rob a bank, which hits the cinemas on March 27.

Shaky, it’s a great name but not that common in Denmark
It’s not my real name of course, it’s a nickname. It comes from when I wrote comic books as a teenager and it just stuck. By the time I was making films, it was too late to change it.

‘Det grå guld’, was written by an Englishman. How come?
John Bell originally wrote it for an English audience, but when I received the script, it had already been translated into Danish and the humour adapted for a Danish audience.

I thought the Danes and Brits found the same things funny?
Danish humour can be quite different. They are similar in that they both appreciate dark humour, but aren’t quite the same.

Previously a lot of your work has been within the horror genre …
Yeah, I think they liked the idea of a horror director working on a film about three senior citizens.

How does one go about casting an attractive older woman?
I was involved and we were all in agreement on the three leads. Birthe Neuman is so good, she’s perfect. There was another female up for the lead, but it’s a good thing it didn’t work out as these three worked so well together.

You have two films currently in post-production …
One is a horror film called ‘Statue Collector’ and the other is a Bollywood project called ‘A place to die’. As with all indie films at the moment, money is a problem. There will be no more indie films from me for a while now, as you put your heart and soul into them, and then the film lies on the shelf for years. It’s too frustrating.

So there will be no more work from you unless it’s well paid?
Yes, and then I can run off into the sunset and retire.