23/08/2012 - With a €9.6 million feature about the 18th century nobleman and naval officer already in pre-production, Denmark's Nimbus Film has announced an additional version at €6 million

Norwegian producer John M. Jacobsen, of Filmkameratene AS, is already in pre-production with a €9.6 million historical drama about the Norwegian-Danish nobleman and naval officer Peter Wessel Tordenskiold (or Tordenskjold), a 18th-century sea hero.

But this has not prevented Danish producer Lars Bredo Rahbek, of Denmark's Nimbus Film ApS, from announcing that he will stage a €6 million epic about the the legendary warrior. “After all, Tordenskiold is such a stout character that his shoulders should be broad enough to carry two films,” he said.

Filmkameratene's Tordenskjold is scripted by Danish writers Mikael Olsen and Gert Duve Skovlund for Norwegian director Morten Tyldum (Headhunters [+see also:
trailer
film profile]), and is due to shoot from next summer in collaboration with Denmark's Zentropa Entertainments.

The new Tordenskiold will be helmed by Icelandic director Dagur Kari (The Good Heart [+see also:
trailer
film profile] (2009), Noi the Albino (2003) from a screenplay by Norwegian author Erlend Loe, who has so far penned 14 features. Rahbek will produce for Nimbus with Yngve Sæther (of Norway's Motlys AS).

"I always thought you should never make films about a time before the camera was invented, but Loe’s script gives a new perspective to the genre," said Kari. "The straightjacket of the myth sometimes overshadows the real human being; we want to depict a man who is probably closer to ourselves than we think," explained Loe.

Filming will start in late 2013 on locations in northern Europe for Tordenskiold, who was born in Trondheim, Norway (then a tributary to Denmark). He served in the Royal Danish-Norwegian Navy during the Great Northern War (1700-1721) - his greatest achievement came in 1716 when he destroyed the fleet of Swedish King Karl XII at the Battle of Dynekilden.