06/10/2011

While the adaptation of Norwegian author Jo Nesbø’s Headhunters [+see also:
trailer
film profile] is celebrating a bonanza at the Scandinavian box office - Morten Tyldum’s thriller has reached 480,000 admissions domestically, selling 90,000 tickets in Denmark and the largest Norwegian opening ever, with its Swedish premiere set for November 4 – Nordisk Film Distribution AB is preparing the launch of the next Nesbø adventure, which is not to be found in booksellers.

Nesbø had not written the story, when he pitched it to Norwegian director Magnus Martens (pictured) – ”but he liked the outline, so I went home and started putting it down - finally a project where I could include in things I had not seen on films but really wanted to, such as a hell of a shoot-out in a porn shop”, Martens said.

Jackpot, which will premiere in Norway on December 2, is produced by Martin Sundland and Are Heidenstrøm for Fantefilm, renowned for its Cold Prey [+see also:
trailer
interview: Roar Uthaug
film profile] franchise, and stars Mads Ousdal, Kyrre Hellum, Arthur Berning and Andreas Cappelen - TrustNordisk will handle international sales.

Four scruffy ex-criminals are working at a factory producing plastic Christmas trees in nowhere land, between Norway and Sweden. They are also gamblers, who never win – until they take a NOK 1,739,361 jackpot, which you cannot divide by four. Then, one of them is found by the police with eight dead bodies...

Also a journalist, a BCom and lead singer of the Di Derre rock group, Nesbø recently saw his Harry Hole novel, The Snowman, published in the US, which went to No 10 on the New York Times’ bestseller list. The Hole series has been translated into 25 languages, contributing to his worldwide sales of 8.5 million books.