18/03/2009

Renny Harlin’s biopic about the legendary Finnish war marshal and sixth president of Finland, C.G.E. Mannerheim, has been postponed by several months, due to last minute financial difficulties.

The €10m Mannerheim, produced by Solar Films, was set to roll between March and June. Hollywood-based Finnish filmmaker Harlin was ready, alongside hundreds of crew members involved in the historic project, for the biggest film project ever in Finland. Three millions euros had already been spent on pre-production.

Plans were put on hold, however, when Nordisk Film, co-owner of Solar Film and distributor of the film, decided mid-February to pull out of the project due to a lack of international co-financiers.

Since then, Solar Films’ managing director Markus Selin has actively tried to fill the financial gap with alternative funding, primarily from Finnish sources, hoping to keep the ball rolling. However, the hopes of saving the planned winter shoot started to melt as days and weeks went by. Until Monday, when Selin released a statement saying that the project has been put on hold for several months.

Our intensive negotiations during the last few weeks have been productive, but there’s still a lot of work to do to finalize the financing. We still need three to four weeks for preparations, so the snow will have melted by then,” he said.

Shooting on Mannerheim is now set to start next summer, with the winter scenes scheduled for later in the year. The film’s premiere is tentatively set for autumn 2010.

C.G.E. Mannerheim was an iconic figure in Finnish history and the project has received co-financing from the Finnish Film Foundation, Finnish broadcaster MTV3, and various Finnish patriotic circles, including the Champion of Liberty Association. Top Hollywood talents are associated to the project alongside Harlin, such as make-up artist Greg Cannom (Mrs Doubtfire) and set designer Steven Lawrence (Casino Royale [+see also:
trailer
film profile]).