Swedish leading stand-up comedian (and novelist, playwright, screenwriter) Jonas Gardell will star in People in the Sun (Mennesker i solen), a Norwegian production of his own doomsday comedy, which will start principal photography on August 9.
Gardell will be joined by Ingar Helge Gimle, Kjersti Holmen, Ane Dahl Torp, Jon Øigarden and Danish actress Ghita Nørby in the $3.4m (NOK 22m) feature which will be directed by Per-Olav Sørensen, and released by Nordisk Filmdistribusjon in March 2011.
Originally written for the stage (and Swedish actress Sif Ruud), People in the Sun is a Midsummer Eve story of two couples left alone in a camping cottage – everybody else has left for a party. What they don’t know is that the world is just about to come to an end.
Gardell has scripted several TV series as well as Danish director Susanne Bier’s features, the award-winning Pensionat Oskar and Once in a Lifetime (Livet er en schlager). His new film will be produced by Synnøve Hørsdal and Cornelia Boysen for Maipo.
The project has received $1.9m (NOK 12.3m) production support from the Norwegian Film Institute, which has also – for the first time – given slate funding to two director-producer teams to enable them to each develop and realise two feature film projects.
The recipients are Erik Poppe (whose Troubled Water/De Usynlige), his scriptwriter Harald Rosenløw Eeg, Paradix producer Finn Gjerdrum, and writer-director Sara Johnsen (Upperdog) and 4½ producer Turid Øversveen.
Also in August Danish director Christian E Christiansen, whose short, At Night (Om natten) was nominated for an Oscar, will start ID:A, a thriller scripted by Tine Krull Petersen, with Swedish actress Tuva Novotny and Flemming Enevold in the leads.
The Danish Film Institute and a regional fund have chipped in $1.2m (DKK 7.1m) for the story of a woman who wakes up on a beach after having been assaulted. Suffering from amnesia, she tries to regain her memory, while being chased by unknown pursuers.
Described as a ”classical film noir” Christiansen’s third feature after, most recently, Zoomers, which will shoot in Denmark, Germany and France. Louise Vesth will produce for Zentropa Entertainments, and Nordisk Film will handle the domestic launch in the autumn of 2011.
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