News

Exclusive: ICM Partners veterans Chris von Goetz and James Robins Early have teamed to launch Adventure Media, an artist-driven management and production company. Aaliyah Williams has joined the company as a founding partner, manager and producer.

Von Goetz, Robins Early and Williams bring different experience to the partnership. Von Goetz is transitioning to management after becoming one of the business’ top TV lit agents during 25-year career at ICM Partners and predecessor Bwcs. During his 12-year tenure at ICM, Robins Early worked in feature film in addition to scripted TV, while Williams is a Peabody-nominated TV and film producer who most recently has been under a first-look deat at CBS Studios for her company Just A Rebel. The trio knew each other from ICM where Von Goetz and Robins Early worked and Williams was a client.

Adventure is starting with an extensive roster of talent — including most of Von Goetz...

In today’s film news roundup, Gael García Bernal, Nazanin Boniadi and Jason Isaacs are starring in “People of the Book”; “Easy Does It” and “1 Interrogation” find distribution; NewFilmmakers Los Angeles goes virtual.

Castings

“Mozart in the Jungle” star Gael García Bernal, Nazanin Boniadi (“Homeland”) and Jason Isaacs are attached to the historical drama “People of the Book” for Good Films Collective.

The film is based on the 2008 novel and New York Times bestseller from Geraldine Brooks about a book conservator who comes to Sarajevo to restore the Haggadah manuscript. The film will be helmed by Academy Award winner Danis Tanovic (“No Man’s Land”) from a script by Petter Skavlan (Kon Tiki).

Good Films Collective has made a deal with upcoming “Morbius” director Daniel Espinosa to develop “The Execution” about the background to the 2018 murder of Jamal Khashoggi, how it happened, why it happened and what happened in the aftermath.

Exclusive: Less than two months ago, Good Films Collective head Miriam Segal was in a spin, and described to Deadline how she was battling to keep her company afloat and her employees engaged as she and her son came down with Covid-19. She is feeling better now, especially after putting together several new projects that have strong elements and hot button subjects.

Gael García Bernal, Nazanin Boniadi (Homeland) and Jason Isaacs will star in People of the Book, a film that Good Films Collective has put together, based on the New York Times bestseller from Pulitzer Prize-winning author Geraldine Brooks. Pic tells the moving history behind the creation of the Sarajevo Haggadah — an illuminated manuscript that contains the illustrated traditional text of the Passover Haggadah which accompanies the Passover Seder. It originated in Barcelona in 1350, and the film will tell the journey taken by people from different cultures and religions...

“The Great Century” is being adapted as an epic drama series by Dramacorp-Pampas Studios, which has landed the rights to Swedish author Jan Guillou’s book series.

Guillou is known for his “Hamilton” spy-thriller novels, which Dramacorp-Pampas Studios has brought to TV as “Agent Hamilton.” That project had an international premiere at Mipcom and has presold widely, with a second season already greenlit.

Petter Skavlan will take on the task of bringing “The Great Century” to TV as head writer. His credits include World War II thriller “The 12th Man” and Oscar-nominated “Kon-Tiki.”

“The Bridge Builders” is the first installment of “The Great Century” saga. It opens in Norway in the early years of the 20th century and follows three siblings from a poor fishing family as they set out on a lifetime of adventure, laying the foundations for what will become a dynasty spanning Norway, Sweden and Germany. The action moves from Norway,...

The Norwegian Film Institute has joined the project with funding.

The new adaptation of Swedish period drama The Emigrants is set to be directed by Erik Poppe who will replace long-attached filmmaker Daniel Espinosa, who left the project because of schedule conflicts.

Espinosa was first announced as the director of the literary adaptation in 2015. But the Swedish director, who wrapped shooting on Marvel superhero film Morbius in June, has since stepped down.

He has been replaced with Norwegian director Poppe, whose credits include The King’s Choice and Utoya - July 22.

Sf Studios produces with Norwegian co-producers Paradox, Poppe and...

Stars: Nikolaj Coster-Waldau, Carice van Houten, Guy Pearce, Søren Malling, Nicolas Bro, Eriq Ebouaney, Ella-June Henrard, Paprika Steen, Jacob Lohmann, Thomas W. Gabrielsson, Younes Bachir, Diem Camille G. | Written by Petter Skavlan | Directed by Brian De Palma

Brian De Palma, “sort of”, returns to cinematic screens with Domino after a seven-year hiatus after his Rachel McAdams and Noomi Rapace starring feature Passion, released in 2012. I say “sort of” because De Palma’s latest hasn’t had the most conventional release. Originally shot in 2017, Domino has had a tirade of troubles during post-production and has ultimately distanced himself from the final product. Leading to a very limited cinema release and landed without a thud on most On Demand services.

It’s a strange consequence from De Palma to cut ties with his feature because after viewing said film there isn’t much difference in the crafting of Domino from what the...

Nikolaj Coster-Waldau is dangling off a rooftop. To his left, he can see his best friend through a window, dying from a slit throat. To his right, he can see the murderer, also hanging for dear life. It’s a hell of a scene, a hell of an image, and yet — we feel nothing.

That’s “Domino,” a couple of interesting set pieces in search of a reason to exist, from director Brian De Palma. For most of his career, De Palma has been hailed as a modern master of suspense, or at least a dynamite visual stylist. And although many of his films — including “Carrie,” “Blow Out” and “Dressed to Kill” — are now classics, even misfires like “Snake Eyes” and “Passion” usually have some bravura cinematic showpieces that make them worth watching.

The best that “Domino” can boast are some general concepts for exciting set pieces. Moments like the...

You do not have to squint very hard to see Brian De Palma in Domino. Not literally, mind you … he doesn’t usually take his Hitchcock fetish to constant-cameo lengths. But he’s there in the ominous zoom-in to a gun that a Copenhagen cop named Christian (Game of Thrones‘ Nikolaj Coster-Waldau) has left on a chair in his apartment. He’s there in the sequence of Christian hanging perilously off a tall building’s breaking rain-gutter, chasing after the man who attacked his partner — a Vertigo reference writ large.

Even more than his studio-dominating, awards-securing, and fiercely independent (or so the canonized story goes) New Hollywood contemporaries, it could be said that Brian De Palma (save one or two studio jobs he’s since downplayed) makes movies exclusively for himself. His interests so clearly front-and-center, appreciation has become a kind of plug-and-play auteurist game: the pieces–the split diopters, slow zooms, split-screen, Pov shots, etc.–are ready to run, spark a smile or a groan, and spur comments about the nature of voyeurism, visual storytelling, etc.

It’s tempting, and not exactly inaccurate, to commend Domino, his first feature since 2012, by winnowing down myriad complications to the notion that merely looking at it is to feel his presence. But what are we looking at here? Impulses to just review what’s on the screen–in the case of un film de Brian De Palma, the screen, the screen-within-the-screen, for...

The process of bringing “Domino” to the theaters has been difficult and well-documented. While the film has seemingly sat on the shelf for a while, with filmmaker Brian De Palma sharing some harsh words about the working conditions, the upcoming terrorist thriller is finally arriving on the big screen later this month. And no matter what, more De Palma is always a good thing.

Read More: Summer Movie Preview: 35 Films You Shouldn’t Miss

In honor of the film’s impending release, we are happy to bring our readers an exclusive look at a clip from “Domino.” For those that haven’t been following the progress of the film, “Domino” is written by Petter Skavlan and directed by the aforementioned De Palma.

Continue reading ‘Domino’ Exclusive Clip: Brian De Palma’s Upcoming Thriller Features A Mini-‘Game Of Thrones’ Reunion at The Playlist.

If you were ever hoping for a pairing between Jamie Lannister and the Red Witch Melisandre on “Game of Thrones,” look no further than the action thriller “Domino,” which stars Nikolaj Coster-Waldau and Carice van Houten.

The “GoT” actors star alongside Guy Pearce in the new thriller from Brian De Palma, his first film in seven years since 2012’s “Passion.” “Domino” finds De Palma going back to the well of crime and conspiracy as he’s explored in films like “The Untouchables,” “Scarface” and “Mission: Impossible.” Petter Skavlan wrote the screenplay.

In the film, Coster-Waldau plays a Copenhagen police officer who seeks justice for his partner’s murder by an Isis member named Imran. On the hunt for the killer, Christian and a fellow cop are unwittingly caught in a cat and mouse chase with a duplicitous CIA agent (Pearce) who is using Imran as a pawn to trap other Isis members.

Harrowing physical adventure “The 12th Man” retells the story of Jan Baalsrud, the sole survivor of a thwarted Allied sabotage mission against the Nazis in occupied Norway. Wounded, hunted, often near-death, his long but ultimately successful escape to Sweden was already dramatized onscreen in 1957’s “Ni Liv” aka “Nine Lives,” an Oscar nominee considered one of the greatest Norwegian features ever made. (More recently it was also the subject of documentary miniseries “In the Footsteps of Jan Baalsrud.”)

One might not automatically set expectations quite so high for a new version directed by Harald Zwart, who’s scored some major hits both at home (comedy “Long Flat Balls” and its sequel) and internationally (the “Karate Kid” remake) as well as some thoroughly mainstream duds. But “12th Man” easily reps a personal best for the helmer, and is a stirring adventure by any standard. It opens in New York and Los...

Domino

It’s been six years and several failed projects later, but American auteur Brian De Palma is back with his latest, Domino, a Copenhagen set crime thriller written by Norway’s Kon-Tiki (2012) scribe Petter Skavlan.

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Exclusive: Carice van Houten is teaming with fellow Game Of Thrones regular Nicolaj Coster-Waldau to star in Domino, the suspense thriller from Brian De Palma penned by Kon-Tiki scribe Petter Skavlan. Production got underway this month and will travel to locations in Belgium, Spain, Denmark and The Netherlands befitting its international auspices. Coster-Waldau and van Houten now star as police officers who go rogue while tracking down the killer of their police partner…...

Iconic director Brian De Palma is on board to helm ‘Domino,’ a thriller written by Norwegian scribe Petter Skavlan (“Kon-Tiki”), with Nikolaj Coster-Waldau and Christina Hendricks set to star. According to Variety, production on the film is set to start in the summer.

Read More: Alfred Hitchcock and Brian De Palma’s Films Get Side-by-Side Comparison in Video Essay – Watch

“Domino” follows a Danish cop (Coster-Waldau) who, with the help of a fellow police officer (Hendricks), sets out to track down his partner’s killer in Copenhagen. The film is being produced by Michel Schønnemann for Schønne Film in Denmark. Antonio Perez Perez of Maestranza in Spain and Jaqueline de Gooeij of Zilvermeer in Belgium are co-producers.

Read More: 50 Movies to See This Summer

During his six-decade career, De Palma has helmed a long list of acclaimed films such as “Scarface,” “Mission: Impossible,” “The Untouchables,” and “Carlito’s Way.”

“I...

According to The Hollywood Reporter, prestige TV veterans Nikolaj Coster-Waldau (from Game Of Thrones) and Christina Hendricks (from Mad Men) are in talks to star in a new thriller from Brian De Palma. The movie is called Domino, and it’s about a police officer in Copenhagen whose partner is murdered, driving him to team up with another cop who happens to be the dead partner’s mistress in hopes of getting revenge. Unfortunately, they end up getting “caught in a cat-and-mouse chase with a duplicitous CIA agent,” so this won’t be one of those straightforward quests for vengeance. If these talks work out, Coster-Waldau will play the cop and Hendricks will play the other cop, but the Hollywood Reporter story doesn’t say who might play the duplicitous CIA agent.

Domino was written by Kon-Tiki‘s Petter Skavlan, and along with Chinese thriller Lights Out, it will be...

Im Global to launch Cannes sales on Nikolaj Coster-Waldau, Christina Hendricks thriller.

Brian De Palma is preparing to direct the thriller Domino this summer based on a screenplay by Kon-Tiki writer Petter Skavland.

Coster-Waldau will play a Danish police officer who goes rogue to pursue a terror suspect after his partner is killed in Copenhagen.

Hendricks is the police officer who joins him on the journey across Europe. What the pair do not know is their target is in fact on the trail of an Isis cell.

Michel Schønnemann produces for Schønne Film in Denmark and Antonio Perez Perez’ Maestranza in Spain and Jaqueline de Gooeij of Zilvermeer in Belgium are co-producing.

Backup Media arranged financing and ICM Partners represents Us rights.

“I have been a huge fan of Brian De Palma ever since I saw Scarface in 1983,” Schønnemanns said. “So it is with grade pride that I look forward to produce Domino, a script...

Project after project has come to Brian De Palma‘s door with no signs of movement past some sort of initial agreement — something good enough to get the trades and blogs writing, at least — thus making it easy (or easier) to accept that the 76-year-old’s filmmaking days have come to an end. (Which would be okay by me — Passion makes for a hell of a last note.) Now, though, it might just be time to split that diopter: there’s a title that has a script, backers, stars, and a supposed starting window.

Variety tells us De Palma, Christina Hendricks, and Nikolaj Coster-Waldau (Game of Thrones) have come aboard Domino, from a script by Kon-Tiki‘s Petter Skavlan and with a summer start thanks to the international efforts of Backup, Maestranza, Schønne Film, and Zilvermeer. It sounds like a De Palma picture in the basic outline: a cop (Coster-Waldau...

Game of Thrones star Nikolaj Coster Waldau and Mad Men star Christina Hendricks are in talks to star in veteran director Brian De Palma's thriller Domino.

Petter Skavlan (Kon-Tiki, Sophie's World) wrote the script for the film. The story follows a Copenhagen police officer (Coster Waldau) who is seeking justice for his partner's murder by a mysterious man called Imran. He teams up with a fellow cop and his late partner's mistress (Hendricks) to hunt Imran down, but they are unwittingly caught in a cat-and-mouse chase with a duplicitous CIA agent that will take them from Scandinavia to the sun-drenched...

Danish, Swedish and Australian production team says Jørn Utzon’s fight for his radical design is ‘perfect movie material’

The controversial history behind one of the world’s most recognisable buildings, the Sydney Opera House is to be the subject of a new feature film made by an international team.

The film will be produced by Swedish-Australian Jan Marnell and Australian producers Marian Macgowan and Peter Herbert, with Danish executive producer Ole Søndberg (Girl with the Dragon Tattoo), Swedish executive producer Lars Weiss, and a screenplay from Petter Skavlan, who wrote the Oscar-nominated 2012 film Kon-Tiki.

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A feature film about the design and construction of the iconic Sydney Opera House is in development as a Danish/Swedish/Australian co-production.

"Utzon: The Man Behind the Opera House" follows Danish architect Jorn Utzon, who upset the conservative Australian architectural establishment when he won the coveted international competition to design an Opera House on Sydney's Bennelong Point.

Utzon found an unlikely champion and friend in the working-class Labor Premier of New South Wales, Joe Cahill, even as his radical design fell victim to domestic politics, petty jealousies and budget constraints. Utzon was abruptly forced to resign in 1966 before his masterpiece was completed.

Jan Marnell, Marian Macgowan and Peter Herbert are producing the film which Petter Skavlan ("Kon-Tiki") is penning the script for.

Source: Nixco...

Jørn Utzon in Sydney.

The story of the Sydney Opera House's creation is set to be turned into a film in a co-production between Australia, Denmark and Sweden.

Per The Hollywood Reporter, the film's working title is Utzon: The Man Behind The Opera House.

The film will be exec produced by Ole Sondberg (the original The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo) and Right 2Know.s Lars Weiss alongside Swedish-Australian producer Jann Marnell from Right2Know and Aussie producers Marion Macgowan (South Solitary) and Peter Herbert.

The film will focus on Danish architect Utzon.s battles with the Nsw government which eventually led to his resignation from the project.

Petter Skavlan, the writer of Kon-Tiki, is writing the script, and said "the battle between the architect and the corrupt Askin government" was "perfect movie material.".

Producer Marnell said the story encompassed "creativity versus bureaucracy and political manoeuvring ranging from friend to foe.

Danish major Nordisk Film has selected the team that will front its push into Norwegian productions led by Harald Zwart’s 12th Man

Harald Zwart’s Second World War epic 12th Man has been named as the first feature to be produced by Nordisk Film Norway.

“We are planning a 55-day shoot from March 2016 in the northern region of Troms, on a $8.4m budget,” said head of production Aage Aaberge.

“Post-production will be rather long, because of extensive work on VFX, so the premiere will be early autumn 2017.”

Nordisk Film Production CEO Henrik Zein, said Aaberge will lead “the best production team in Norway”, which will also comprise producers John Einar Hagen, Sigurd Mikal Karoliussen, Elisabeth Kvithyll, development producer Kristoffer Metcalfe, development and production coordinator Live Bonnevie and production controller Tove Mar.

“There is so much happening in Norwegian film and television drama, and we want to be part of this development,” Zein added.

““More...

Child 44 director Daniél Espinosa is to helm a new adptation of period epic The Emigrants for Scandinavian major Svensk Filindustri.

Details of the project were announced at the annual press conference held in Cannes by Swedish regional fund Film Väst.

The Emigrants tells the story of Kristina and her husband Karl-Oskar, who emigrate from Sweden to America in the 1850s. Determined to flee poverty, religious persecution, and social oppression, they head across the Atlantic in search of a better life.

An earlier adaptation of EspinoVilhelm Moberg’s acclaimed novel was made in 1971 by revered director Jan Troell that was nominated for five Academy Awards and won a Golden Globe for Best Foreign Language Film.

The Emigrants will be scripted by Petter Skavlan (Kon Tiki.) It is to be produced by Fredrik Wikström Nicastro at Svensk Filmindustri, and co-produced by Film Väst. Shooting is scheduled to begin in 2017, in the Västra Götaland region of western Sweden.

Another...

Hollywood director returning to Norway for war drama following The Mortal Instruments: City of Bones and Karate Kid reboot.

Nordisk Film’s return to movies continues apace with the Danish major boarding Harald Zwart’s 12th Man.

The long-gestating film is set during the Second World War and centres on Norwegian resistance hero Jan Baalsrud.

It will mark a return to Norway for director Zwart, who scored a hit at the box office with the reboot of The Karate Kid in 2010. He most recently directed Ya adaptation The Mortal Instruments: City of Bones, which underperformed when released in 2013.

12th Man centres on the true story of Baalsrud and three other commandos who were trained by the British to mount an assault on the Nazis.

They arrived by fishing boat to destroy the German air control tower at Bardufoss in Troms on March 29, 1943. But their mission was betrayed and Baalsrud was the only man to evade capture.

Hiding...

Directors: Joachim Rønning, Espen Sandberg; Screenwriters: Petter Skavlan, Allan Scott; Starring: Pål Sverre Hagen, Anders Baasmo Christiansen, Gustaf Skarsgård; Running time: 118 mins; Certificate: 15

He may not wield a hammer and a red cape is surplus to his sartorial requirements, but the Thor at the centre of the epic adventure Kon-Tiki has more than enough drive and passion to compensate. Nominated for an Oscar and Golden Globe way back in 2013, the wait for this gem to wash up on UK shores has been a long but ultimately rewarding one - not unlike the central narrative of the film.

Based on the stunning true tale of a Norwegian's quest to prove historical 'fact' wrong, this impressively immersive movie places you right at the heart of Thor Heyerdahl's (Pål Sverre Hagen) brave but borderline suicidal mission in 1947 to cross 4,300 miles of the Pacific Ocean in a balsa wood raft built without modern...

Although the 1950 documentary of Thor Heyerdahl's epic 4,300 mile Pacific journey was compelling enough to earn an Oscar win, this 2012 cinematic effort from directors Joachim Rønning and Espen Sandberg brings the story of Kon-Tiki to a whole new generation.  Less raw than the documentary, Kon-Tiki paints a portrait of Heyerdahl (Pål Sverre Hagen) as a stubborn and rebellious young man who defies authority in the quest for answers.  That being said, the highlight of Kon-Tiki remains the journey itself, although the colorful cast certainly makes the ride all the more enjoyable.  For those who who are interested in picking up the Blu-ray in the hopes of discovering more historical information, there's only a cursory look at the events of the real Kon-Tiki and the original documentary is, sadly, not included.  Hit the jump for my Blu-ray review. The Feature Written in part by Petter Skavlan after a number of drafts from previous screenwriters,...

The European Film Academy will hold the 26th European Film Awards in Berlin on December 7th, 2013. To make fans part of the celebration every year the audience gets to choose the winner of the Efa People's Choice Award. This  year one lucky fan will also have the chance to attend the awards ceremony and be part of a fantastic event that brings together Europe's greatest film stars, directors, actors and actresses.

Audiences in the past have  awarded the honor to Jean-Pierre Jeunet's beloved Amelie, Lars von Trier's Dancer in the Dark, and incredibly 3 times to Spanish master Pedro Almodovar (All About My Mother, Talk to Her, Volver).

To vote and for a chance to win a trip to the 26th European Film Awards click Here

The Nominees Are:

Anna Karenina

UK, 124 min

Directed By: Joe Wright 

Written By: Tom Stoppard 

With: Keira Knightley, Aaron Johnson, Jude Law, Matthew Macfadyen, Domhnall Gleeson, Alicia Vikander

The Best Offer (La Migliore Offerta)

Italy, 130 min

Written & Directed by: Giuseppe Tornatore 

With: Geoffrey Rush, Jim Sturgess, Sylvia Hoeks, Donald Sutherland

The Broken Circle Breakdown

Belgium, 100 min

Directed by: Felix van Groeningen 

Written by: Carl Joos & Felix van Groeningen 

With: Veerle Baetens, Johan Heldenbergh, Nell Cattrysse, Geert van Rampelberg, Nils de Caster

The Deep (Djúpið)

Iceland/Norway, 92 min

Directed by: Baltasar Kormákur 

Written by: Jón Atli Jónasson & Baltasar Kormákur 

With: Ólafur Darri Ólafsson, Jóhann G. Jóhannsson, Stefán Hallur Stefánsson, Björn Thors, Thorbjorg H. Thorgilsdótir

The Gilded Cage (La Cage Dorée)

Portugal/France, 90 min

Directed by: Ruben Alves 

Written by: Ruben Alves, Jean-André Yerlès, Hugo Gélin

With: Rita Blanco, Joaquim de Almeida, Roland Giraud, Chantal Lauby, Barbara Cabrita, Lannick Gautry

I'm So Excited (Los Amantes Pasajeros)

Spain, 90 min

Written & Directed by: Pedro Almodóvar

With: Javier Cámara, Carlos Areces, Raúl Arévalo, Lola Dueñas, Cecilia Roth

The Impossible (Lo Imposible)

Spain, 114 min

Directed by: J.A. Bayona

Written by: Sergio G. Sánchez & María Belón

With: Naomi Watts, Ewan McGregor, Tom Holland, Samuel Joslin, Oaklee Pendergast

Kon-Tiki

Norway, Denmark, UK, Germany, Sweden, 113 min 

Directed by: Joachim Rønning & Espen Sandberg

Written by: Petter Skavlan

With: Pål Sverre Hagen, Anders Bassmo Christiansen, Tobias Santelmann, Gustaf Skarsgaard, Odd-Magnus Williamson, Jakob Oftebro, Agnes Kittelsen

Love Is All You Need (Den skaldede frisør)

Denmark, 111 min 

Directed By: Susanne Bier

Written By: Anders Thomas Jensen & Susanne Bier

With: Pierce Brosnan, Trine Dyrholm, Paprika Steen, Kim Bodnia

Oh Boy

Germany, 83 min

Written & Directed by: Jan Ole Gerster 

With: Tom Schilling, Marc Hosemann, Friederike Kempter, Michael Gwisdek

Searching for Sugar Man

UK/Sweden, 83 min

Directed by: Malik Bendjelloul...

Norway’s Oscar nominee for Best Foreign Language Film Of The Year is finally sailing in on DVD and Blu-ray. From Anchor Bay Entertainment and The Weinstein Company, Kon-tiki is available to own now and will remind you of how Hollywood used to do movies. This is one you will want to add to your collection.

From the directing duo of Joachim Rønning and Espen Sandberg (Max Manus: Man of War, Bandidas), Kon-tiki is based on the amazing true adventure of Thor Heyderdahl (Pål Sverre Hagen), a Norwegian explorer in 1947 who embarks on the voyage of a lifetime to prove a point.

In 1947, the world is gripped with excitement as the young Norwegian adventurer Thor Heyerdahl (Pål Hagen) embarks on an astonishing expedition – a journey of 4,300 nautical miles across the Pacific Ocean on the Kon-Tiki raft. From his days living in the Marquesas with his wife Liv (Agnes Kittlesen), Thor...

Chicago – Mention the name Thor Heyerdahl or his sea-faring vessel “Kon-Tiki,” and half-remembered images of a voyage across the sea in a ship that looks like it was built on “Gilligan’s Isle” might cross memory neurons. Why, when and how he did it is brought to screen in the excellent and appropriately titled “Kon-Tiki.”

Rating: 4.0/5.0

In the name and hope of man’s innate instinct to explore, “Kon-Tiki” serves as a lesson for visionaries, and was nominated for Best Foreign Language Film at the recent Oscars. Thor Heyerdahl simply had a higher calling to see what is “out there” and prove a point while doing it. The film meticulously and lovingly recreates the journey of that haphazard boat, and crispy reproduces the particular time frame in which it was done. All the sharks, odd sea life, storms, challenges and triumphs are explored, as well as a nicely wrought examination...

Los Angeles -- The Norwegian directing team of Joachim Roenning and Espen Sandberg, whose biopic of World War II resistance fighter Max Manus was a huge hit on home turf, have turned to another native hero for "Kon-Tiki." One of the most-vaunted escapades of the 20th century, Thor Heyerdahl's 1947 Peru-to-Polynesia expedition by raft gets glossy big-screen treatment in this efficiently told action-adventure. Delivering visual drama and understated character study, sometimes in disappointingly formulaic fashion, the feature has its incisive moments but falls short as both epic and intimate portrait.

With effective immediacy, the directors dramatize some incidents from Heyerdahl's 1950 Oscar-winning documentary about the trip, and cinematographer Geir Hartly Andreassen pays tribute in re-created B&W footage of the building of the raft. Too much of the action, though, devolves into close encounters with sharks, scenes that leave the on-deck characters adrift rather than helping to define them.

The film,...

One of the five of this year’s nominees for the foreign film Oscar is Norway’s seafaring adventure Kon-Tiki. The epic film follows Norwegian explorer Thor Heyerdal portrayed by Nordic Ryan Gosling doppleganger Pal Sverre Hagen and his journey across the Pacific on a wooden raft. The Weinstein Company-backed the picture based on the true story from Petter Skavlan and released the first official domestic trailer. Kon-Tiki was helmed by directors Joachim Ronning and Espen Sandbergand and also stars Gustaf Skarsgard, Odd Magnus Williamson and Anders Baasmo Christensen. Heyerdahl was an ethnographer who wished to demonstrate diffusionist anthropology theories by sailing from Peru to the Polynesian...

The domestic trailer for Kon-Tiki has arrived and you can check it out in the player below, courtesy of Yahoo! Movies . Set for a limited release on April 19, Kon-Tiki is directed by Joachim Rønning and Espen Sandberg from a script by Petter Skavlan. Starring Pål Sverre Valheim Hagen, Anders Baasmo Christiansen, Gustaf Skarsgård, Jakob Oftebro, Odd Magnus Williamson, Tobias Santelmann and Agnes Kittelsen, the film is officially described as follows: In 1947, the world is gripped with excitement as the young Norwegian adventurer Thor Heyerdahl embarks on an astonishing expedition - a journey of 4,300 nautical miles across the Pacific Ocean on the Kon-Tiki raft. From his days living in the Marquesas with his wife Liv, Thor suspected that the South Sea Islands had been settled...

A dramatic recreation of Thor Heyerdahl's daring crossing of the Pacific Ocean via raft will sail into the United States courtesy of The Weinstein Company. The indie studio picked up the domestic rights to Hanway Films' "Kon-Tiki" and will also distribute the film in Canada, the United Kingdom and Italy. The true-life story is Norway's official Oscar entry in the best foreign language film race. Named after Heyerdahl's makeshift craft, "Kon-Tiki," is directed by Joachim Roenning and Espen Sandberg with a script by Petter Skavlan.  The Weinstein Company plans to release the English...

The Weinstein Company has acquired rights to “Kon-Tiki” for the U.S., Canada, UK and Italy from Hanway Films. An English-language version of the movie, which is Norway’s Oscar entry for best foreign-language film, will be released in theaters in 2013. Directed by Joachim Roenning and Espen Sandberg, “Kon-Tiki” tells the true story of Thor Heyerdahl and the small crew of friends who sailed with him from Peru to Polynesia in an epic battle against nature. Petter Skavlan wrote the screenplay for the project, which played at the Toronto International Film Festival and, this week, at AFI Fest. Heyerdahl’s own documentary on the voyage won the Academy Award for best documentary in 1951. “We are extremely honored to be bringing this epic story to audiences everywhere,” said TWC’s Harvey Weinstein. “Roenning and Sandberg have really captured a special story, portrayed through incredible performances from the...

The Weinstein Co. has acquired from Hanway Films "Kon-Tiki" distribution rights for the Us, Canada, UK, and Italy. The film, which recently played at AFI Fest, is Norway's entry for the Best Foreign Language Oscar and screened at Toronto earlier this fall. Co-directed by Espen Sandberg and Joachim Ronning, "Kon-Tiki" tracks the 1947 expedition of anthropologist and explorer Thor Heyerdahl during his sailing journey from South America to the Polynesian Islands on a wooden raft. The $16.1 million film is Norway's most expensive production to date, and has already grossed more than $13.4 million there. "Kon-Tiki" stars Pål Sverre Valheim Hagen, and was written by Petter Skavlan. The Weinsteins will release the film in 2013. Here's a selection from our AFI Fest review: Norway's Oscar entry and enjoyably supersized “Kon-Tiki” follows the real-life adventures of explorer Thor Heyerdahl, who, in 1947, embarked...

AFI Fest 2012 presented by Audi, a program of the American Film Institute, today announced the remaining sections and films that will screen in the festival.s World Cinema, Breakthrough, Midnight and Shorts programs. AFI Fest, which annually presents the best of world cinema in the movie capital of the world, will take place November 1 through 8 at the historic Grauman.s Chinese Theatre, the Chinese 6 Theatres, the Egyptian Theatre and the Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel.

World Cinema showcases the most anticipated and prize-winning international films of the year, Breakthrough highlights work discovered only through the submission process and Midnight.s selections are always haunting. Both World Cinema and Breakthrough feature a number of films making their North American or U.S. Premieres, including The Angels. Share, Greatest Hits, Laurence Anyways, Nairobi Half Life, Pieta, White Elephant and Zaytoun.

Two of the shorts in competition are from AFI Conservatory.s recent class of...

Today, AFI 2012 announced its complete lineup, after previously debuting its New Auteurs, Young Americans, Galas and Special Screenings we finally get a look at the Midnight, Breakthrough, Shorts, and deliriously good World Cinema Selections.

The Shorts section, with almost too many to count, features new work from Nacho Vigalando, Nicolas Provost, and even Shia Labeouf (Cannes selected), among many others. The four Midnight titles all played in Tiff 2012’s Midnight Madness selection, and here we see John Dies at the End making a stop here after originally premiering at Sundance. They’ve nabbed three North American premieres in their Breakthrough section, including Kid from Fien Troch, Nairobi Half Life from David Tosh Gitonga, and Oh Boy from Jan Ole Gerster. But AFI has managed to really impress with it’s World Cinema selections. Just as they nabbed Cannes premiere Holy Motors for their Special Screenings, they’ve nabbed several high...

One of the hottest Norwegian young talents Pal Sverre Valheim Hagen is set to topline Jeremy Thomas’ production Kon-Tiki, one of the Scandinavia’s most ambitious films.

Hagen (Troubled Water, Max Manus), who plays Thor Heyerdahl, will be joined by a slew of Scandinavian perspective actors forming his team, including Odd-Magnus Williamson (Reprise), Tobias Santelmann, Anders Baasmo Christiansen (Vegas), Jakob Oftebro (Max Manus) and Gustaf Skarsgard (The Way Back).

The real-life adventure tale Kon-Tiki is the story of Norwegian biologist Thor Heyerdahl, intrigued by Polynesian folklore and led by the mythical hero Kon-Tiki, suspected that the South Sea Islands had been settled by an ancient race from thousands of miles to the east, he decided to prove the possibility of his theory by duplicating the legendary voyage. Therefore, Heyerdahl together with his team went on 4,300 mile expedition on a fragile wooden raft from Peru to Polynesia to prove the islands...

Alexander Skarsgard ("True Blood") is attached to star in the action thriller "The Elephant" for Studio Babelsberg, Monster Film and Northern Alliance Group reports The Wrap.

Based on Magnar Jonsgaard's novel "Black Rain", the blond hunk will play a Norwegian roustabout who tangles and then bonds with a redneck American driller as they attempt to stop a building oil rig explosion in the frigid North Sea.

Hans Petter Moland ("The Beautiful Country") directs from a script by Petter Skavlan. The title itself is slang for an oil field of immense size.

Casting is currently under way for three American stars. Shooting will kick off either in late Fall or early 2011.

There Will Be Blood examined our greed for oil. The doc expose Gasland wowed audiences at Laff and on HBO. And now comes a new movie that looks at oil. Norway's Monster Film and Northern Alliance Group are co-producing an oil thriller, The Elephant, to be directed by Hans Peter Moland (The Beautiful Country). The Little Film Company will sell rights to the film, which was written by Petter Skavlan, inspired by Magnar Jonsgaard’s novel Black Rain about American drillers' search for oil in the frigid and often lethal North Sea, where Jonsgaard worked on several oil platforms during the 70’s. "Elephant" is slang for an oil field that produces at least 500 million barrels. "This story changed an entire society,” states Moland, who recently won ...