Danish actor Caspar Kjaer Jensen will play writer Hans Christian Andersen in Nikolaj Arcel’s biopic My Fairytale Life.
The casting of newcomer Jensen was unveiled at a presentation by The Five Nordics, the umbrella organisation for the five Nordic film institutes, today (May 13) in Cannes.
My Fairytale Life will tell the story of Andersen, a socially awkward nobody who moves to Copenhagen with dreams of conquering Denmark’s cultural elite and becoming a famous artist. But the last thing he wants to be known as is a children’s fairytale writer.
Speaking at the presentation, Arcel said that Jensen was the first of 80 actors to audition for the part. ”I could have stopped there,” said the filmmaker. ”He was clearly the right choice. He was the only one who came into the casting room and said ‘I am Hans Christian Andersen’.”
Arcel is teaming with Anders Thomas Jensen to write the film, with the pair having previously written 2023’s The Promised Land. Produced by Louise Vesth and Tine Mikkelsen for Denmark’s Zentropa Entertainments4, the film is currently financing with principal photography scheduled for late 2026.
Other projects presented at The Five Nordics showcase included Isabella Eklof’s Mr. Nawashi, the first film in the Dogma 25 initiative of low-budget Nordic titles, with Netflix joining the initiative as a funding and distribution partner this week. “It’s an attempt to make something that is 100% authentic and exactly as it was,” said Eklof of the film, which follows a BDSM relatinoship.
Icelandic director Grimur Hakonarson is close to shooting European co-production A Favour, a 1960s-set drama about two brothers, which was presented by its producers; while director Ilja Rautsi presented a trailer Christmas horror-comedy Red Snow, produced by Finland’s Bufo and sold by Charades.
Director Eivind Landsvik was also present to show a clip from his feature Low Expectations, which has its world premiere in Directors’ Fortnight next week. The film is produced by Synnove Horsdal from Norway’s Maipo Film, who also presented a clip from Arild Frohlich’s Vampyr at the showcase. Based on Steffen Kverneland’s 2016 novel about a struggling author obsessed with the artist Edvard Munch, the film currently in post-production. “We read the book and it screamed to be adapted for the big screen,” said fellow producer Cornelia Boysen.
“The Nordic model is not about making the same films, it’s about creating the circumstances for many different production models and voices to succeed together,” said Kjersti Mo, Norwegian Film Institute director, in remarks during the presentation.
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