FILM OF THE WEEK
INTERVIEW | preview: Arn -- Tempelriddaren (Arn -- The Knight Templar) |
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| Written by Boyd van Hoeij | |
| Tuesday, 25 December 2007 | |
 Joakim Nätterqvist on horseback in Peter Flinth's 'Arn -- Tempelriddaren' (Arn -- The Knight Templar). Photo (c): Svensk Filmindustri Today, on Christmas day, Arn -- Tempelriddaren (Arn -- The Knight Templar), the most expensive Scandinavian production ever, will premiere in Sweden, with the Norwegian premiere set for Boxing Day. The ambitious project had a total budget of over 210 million Swedish Crowns (about €22 million) and entails not one but two films, with the the other film (called Arn -- Riket vid vägens slut / Arn -- The Kingdom at the End of the Road) scheduled to premiere around the same time next year. The material will also be used for an upcoming, six-part TV series that will be broadcast at a later date. The Arn epic is directed by Danish director Peter Flinth, most recently responsible for the excellent Mankell adaptation Wallander -- Mastermind, and is based on the bestselling Crusades trilogy of novels by Swedish author Jan Guillou. They tell the story of the fictional Swedish Knight Templar Arn, played in the films by relative newcomer Joakim Nätterqvist.  Joakim Nätterqvist. Portrait by Fabrizio Maltese. Though the books have been bestsellers in Scandinavia and several other European countries including Germany, it remains to be seen whether the cinema-going public is ready for a Crusades epic so shortly after the lukewarm reception of Ridley Scott's Kingdom of Heaven, in which heartthrob Orlando Bloom was sent off to the Holy Land. True, the yarn of Arn comes with a very different angle and the unusual combination of the cold and damp northern reaches of Europe and the scouring heat of the Holy Land. In Guillou's fictional tale, Arn is a young child brought up in a monastery during the second half of the twelfth century. For breaking his vow of chastity before marriage, he is banished to the Holy Land for twenty years, though he remains in contact with his fiancée Cecilia Algotsdotter (Sofia Helin from Masjävlar / Dalecarlians) throughout this period -- a period that saw the making of Sweden as well as the continued struggle for the Holy Land. Throughout his twenty years in the Middle east Arn becomes an experienced Knight Templar and even finds the great Muslim leader Saladin (Indian actor Milind Soman) on his path and saves his life -- though he is the biggest enemy in all of Christendom.  Sofia Helin. Portrait by Fabrizio Maltese Further talented on board includes Swiss actor Vincent Pérez as the monk who educates Arn, Mads Mikkelsen as the king of Denmark, Bibi Andersson, Jakob Cedergren, Simon Callow, Steven Waddington and Michael Nyqvist. Part of the cast was at the Cannes Film Festival in May to present the first footage from the project, and where the stars posed for european-films.net photographer Fabrizio Maltese. Though the budget for the project shot in Sweden, Morocco and Scotland may seem a lot for a Scandinavian production (even a historical epic), it needs to be taken into consideration that the budget will allow for the trilogy's story to be told in two feature films and a six-part TV series to be broadcast later by a Swedish broadcast that is a partner in the project (they came in when another TV channel bowed out during post production). The film will be released in Sweden on a massive 205 screens, when popular epics such as the Lord of the Rings films monopolising only around 160 screens a few years ago. The Norwegian release will debut on around 70 screens, while the Danish and Finnish premieres are scheduled for January 11 and January 22, 2008 respectively. |
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