Danish director Jorn Faurschou and producer Henrik Moller-Sorensen have attracted three major local names to head up the cast on the $3.3m (DKR22m) historic drama Dagen Og Vejen.

Kim Bodnia (Bleeder, Old Men In New Cars) will play the self-centred and powerful lead, while actor-director Erik Clausen (Fish Out Of Water) and Peter Gantzler (Italian For Beginners) will assume other central characters.

The story is set in 1918 in rural Denmark and John Stefan Olsen adapted the novel by John Nehm, who's works were previously adapted into classic Danish films like Johnny Larsen (1979) and Fish Out Of Water (1993).

Jorn Faurschou's directing credits include the children's films Body Switch (1995) and Albert (1998) as well as several episodes for the two hit TV-series Taxa and Unit One. The latter won an Emmy last year.

Henrik Moller-Sorensen produces for his ASA Film Production in collaboration with Niels Bokkenheuser of Easy Film.

They have secured funding from the Danish Film Institute, Nordic Film & TV Fund, FilmFyn and TV2/Denmark as well as labour unions LO and SiD. Distributor Scanbox has invested in the film and will distribute through its deal with Angel Film, and Scanbox's Jorgen Kristiansen will act as executive producer. The film will shoot in Copenhagen and on Funen in Denmark from June 16 until Aug 29, 2003. The producer plans to announce the female lead during this year's Cannes Film Festival.