04/06/2009

The listed public company Unibet, one of the largest online gambling operators in Europe, has become the main investor of Renny Harlin’s historical biopic Mannerheim as part of the film’s new group of private investors. The news was announced yesterday by production company Solar Films.

Finland’s biggest feature project ever, budgeted at €10m, was on the verge of going into production in March when in a last minute decision distribution group Nordisk Film pulled out of the project. Since then, producers Markus Selin and Jukka Helle have been trying to find new financiers. Unibet is one of seven private companies to board the ambitious project.

According to Selin, all the financing is now in place although negotiations are still underway to replace Nordisk Film and its sales arm TrustNordisk as the film’s Scandinavian and international distributor, respectively. “When Nordisk Film, a shareholder in Solar Films, told us they wanted out of Mannerheim because they found it too risky, we agreed mutually that we could look for other distributors. Ideally, I’d like to find German, French or UK world distributors (outside Scandinavia),” said the Finnish mogul.

Principal photography is scheduled to start on August 17 and the main winter shoot will last from September 28 to November 27. The film will be shot in St Petersburg, Lithuania as well as in various Finnish locations. Harlin, the Hollywood director of Finnish origin, is set to arrive within the next two weeks in Finland to put the artistic team back together. Oscar-winning make-up artist Greg Cannom (Mrs. Doubtfire) will still be responsible for aging lead actor Mikko Nousiainen.

Base on a script by Heikki Vihinen and Marko Leino, Mannerheim centres on the life of Finnish war marshal and statesman C.G.E. Mannerheim (1867-1951). The film produced by Solar Films’ sub-company Liberty Production is set to premiere on October 22, 2010.