TrustNordisk introduces new Adler-Olsen copper in Cannes

by Jorn Rossing Jensen

11/05/2012 - A new Nordic investigator enters the crime scene: Deputy Detective Superintendent Carl Mørck and his assistant Hafez al Hassad, of Copenhagen’s Department Q for "cases of special focus". At Cannes, Denmark’s TrustNordisk will start presales for The Keeper of Lost Causes, the first in a series of four thrillers by Danish author Jussi Adler-Olsen, which have sold 6.5 million copies in 32 countries – 1.3 million in Denmark alone.

Danish director Mikkel Nørgaard, who has signed local blockbuster Clown: The Movie [trailer] (2010), now sold for a US remake, and several episodes of the Borgen/The Government television series, will direct the film, which will shoot from October. Nikolaj Arcel, who scripted Millennium 1, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo [trailer, film focus], and most recently directed the award-winning A Royal Affair [trailer, film focus], will write all four installments in the series, produced by Louise Vesth for Zentropa Entertainments/TV2-DK.

TrustNordisk has more killings on the presales list, The Fjällbacka Murders, two features and 10x90min TV films from Swedish author Camilla Läckberg’s bestselling thrillers, produced by Sweden’s Tre Vänner, with Claudia Galli and Richard Ulfsäther in the leads as Erica Falck and Patrik Hedström. It will also tout Swedish veteran director Jan Troell’s Truth & Consequence, and Danish director Lars von Trier’s Nymphomaniac, now announced as shooting in two parts.

Representing Danish director Thomas Vinterberg’s The Hunt in official competition, TrustNordisk will have market screenings – by invitation only – of Swedish director Babak Najafi’s thriller, Easy Money II [trailer], following up on the 2010 success; Norwegian director Roar Uthaug’s actioner, The Escape; Icelandic director Reynir Lyngdal’s thriller, Frost; and Finnish director Antti Jokinen’s adaptation of Sofi Oksanen’s award-winning novel, Purge.