Kormákur dives into The Deep

by Annika Pham

06/04/2010 - Within the week, Iceland’s top director-producer-actor, Baltasar Kormákur, will start production on The Deep (Djúpið), a thriller about surviving under extreme circumstances.

The Deep will be Kormákur’s seventh feature film and his fifth in the Icelandic language, following 101 Reykjavik, The Sea, Jar City [trailer] and White Night Wedding [trailer]. Based on a play by Jón Atli Jónasson, itself inspired by real-life events, The Deep tells the story of Gudlaugur, a young fisherman who swam in the icy Atlantic Ocean for over five hours to reach the shore of the Westmann Islands while his five comrades perished.

The film is both an account of what happened some 26 years ago and an allegory of Icelanders’ current struggle to swim out of their country’s troubled economic waters. Jónasson co-wrote the script with Kormákur, while Norwegian DoP Harald Paalgard (The Art of Crying [trailer]) is lensing the film.

The Deep is produced by Agnes Johansen for Kormákur's company Blueeyes Productions, in co-production with Norway's Egil Ødegård (Filmhuset). The film was supported by the Icelandic Film Centre, Norwegian Film Institute, Nordisk Film & TV Fond and Eurimages.

Europa Distribution will release the title in Norway in February 2011.

Kormákur is also actively developing two ambitious English-language projects: the remake of Óskar Jónasson’s Reykjavik Rotterdam [trailer]; produced by UK-based Working Title; and a US-financed Viking project to be shot in Iceland.