09/10/2015 - Swedish director Tomas Alfredson, Universal Pictures and Working Title executives met with Norway’s culture minister and Oslo’s culture councillor in Oslo

The possibility of using Oslo as the filming location for The Snowman [+see also:
trailer
film profile], the adaption of Norwegian author Jo Nesbø’s 2007 novel about the anti-authoritarian, anti-sobriety detective Harry Hole, became stronger yesterday (8 October) after a meeting in Oslo between Norwegian culture minister Thorhild Widvey, Oslo’s culture councillor Hallstein Bjercke and executives from Hollywood’s Universal Pictures and the UK’s Working Title.

“We discussed details of incentive schemes, and whether it would be possible to film the entire thing in Norway – in such an event we would shoot in Oslo, Bergen and a few different regions,” Jeff LaPlante, Universal’s new president of physical production, told Norway’s NRK. LaPlante was satisfied with the rebate programme, although he would have liked a higher cap than €5 million.

Next year Norway will introduce a 25% rebate for international feature films and TV series shot in Norway (news) and the City of Oslo will contribute funds to the production, if it is centered in Oslo and not in Stockholm, which was also under discussion.

Swedish director Tomas Alfredson, whose Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile] (2011) won him a BAFTA Award for Best British Film and grossed €58 million worldwide, will direct the film from a script by Matthew Michael Carnahan; Alfredson attended part of the meeting in Oslo, then left to scout out locations.

La Plante confirmed that American-German actor Michael Fassbender (who will shortly be appearing in cinemas as the lead in UK director Danny Boyle’s Steve Jobs [+see also:
film review
trailer
making of
film profile]) is a candidate for playing Harry Hole. Pre-production will begin in one-two weeks, and principal photography will start in January for the film, which will be produced by Universal-owned Working Title.

When The Snowman was published in the US, it went straight to No. 10 on the New York Times’ bestseller list. It follows Harry Hole’s search for a missing woman – the only trace of her is her pink scarf, now worn by a snowman in the yard. The plot thickens when he finds out that over the last decade 11 women have vanished – all on the day of the first snow. A serial killer is apparently on the loose.