“Mythological action road movie” Mortal ready to shoot in the Norwegian fjells
- After filming The Autopsy of Jane Doe in the USA, Norwegian director André Øvredal returns to Norway for his next outing
After filming his first Hollywood production, the English-language mystery-horror-thriller The Autopsy of Jane Doe [+see also:
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film profile], which starred British actor Brian Cox and US thesp Emile Hirsch in the leads, and allegedly being connected to numerous US projects, Norwegian director André Øvredal has returned to the local film industry to shoot Mortal in the Hardanger region of Western Norway.
US actor Nat Wolff and Indian actress Priyanka Bose will star with an otherwise mainly Norwegian cast in the €6 million feature. It is “an exciting project inspired by our own history and cultural heritage”, said Norwegian producer John Einar Hagen, who will stage the project with Aage Aaberge (Kon-Tiki [+see also:
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Øvredal, who rose to international fame after the horror-drama Troll Hunter [+see also:
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interview: Andre Øvredal
film profile] (2010), has delivered the story about Norwegian-American man Eric, who has been hiding in the fjells for three years after surviving and repressing a traumatic event. Realising that he possesses powers he can neither control nor understand, he seeks help from a young female psychologist: his story turns out to be closely linked to Norwegian mythology.
“My goal is to again bring the amazing Norwegian mythology to both Nordic and worldwide audiences, this time through a modern, action-orientated character journey,” explained Øvredal, who described Mortal as “a road movie in the fantasy genre, a sort of mythological action-drama, which is logistically quite difficult. But I can’t wait to start filming.”
With €0.8 million in support from the Zefyr regional media fund, the adventure-fantasy-actioner will be co-produced by US producer Brian Kavanaugh-Jones, of Automatik, and British producers Ben Pugh and Rory Aitken, of 42. With the premiere scheduled for 18 November 2018, Nordisk Film will handle Nordic distribution, while Los Angeles-based IM Global is in charge of the international sales.
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