We are excited to announce that Danish director Thomas Vinterberg has now started shooting his new drama THE ALCOHOL PROJECT with multi award-winning actor Mads Mikkelsen in the lead!
The film started shooting on May 1st 2019 and will shoot until June 28th 2019. With a budget of EUR 4.5m, the film is expected to have its local theatrical release in Denmark in autumn 2020.
With this new highly anticipated modern drama, Vinterberg re-unites a major part of his team from the heartrending drama THE HUNT (2012), which took the world audience by storm and was nominated for a Golden Globe®, an Academy Award® and the Cannes Palme d’Or.
Vinterberg's reunion includes fellow Academy Award®-nominee scriptwriter Tobias Lindholm as well as internationally acclaimed actor Mads Mikkelsen, Thomas Bo Larsen and Lars Ranthe, who will play the leading roles together with Magnus Millang, who has equally featured in Vinterberg's previous dramas.
The reunion for this new project fosters high expectations within the film industry, as Managing Director of TrustNordisk, Susan Wendt, comments: 'THE ALCOHOL PROJECT has a captivating script with a highly relevant yet thought-provoking story that most people can relate to. You can expect a high-quality drama with a unique story and something at heart’.
Director Thomas Vinterberg adds:
'With THE ALCOHOL PROJECT, we seek to examine alcohol's ability to set people free. Examining the nature of alcohol, however, also implies acknowledging that people can be destroyed by drinking. An existence with alcohol produces life but kills at the same time. Nevertheless, first and foremost, THE ALCOHOL PROJECT is intended to be a tribute to alcohol, a re-conquest of the irrational wisdom that wrests from sense and apprehensive intelligence and looks deep into the desire for life.'
Synopsis
There’s a theory that we should be born with a share of alcohol in our blood. That modest intoxication opens our minds to the world around us, diminishing our problems and increasing our creativity. Heartened by that theory, Martin and three of his friends, all tired high school teachers, embark on an experiment to uphold a constant level of intoxication throughout the workday. If Churchill won WW2 in a heavy daze of alcohol, who knows what a few drops might do for them and their students?
Initial results are positive, and the teachers’ little project is elevated to a genuine academic study gathering results. Both their classes and their results continue to improve, and the group feels alive again! As the units are knocked back, the experiment progresses for some and derails for others. It grows increasingly clear that while alcohol may have fuelled great results in world history, some bold acts carry consequences.
Cast and crew
Vinterberg is acknowledged for his impressive portfolio of heartrending dramas, including THE CELEBRATION (1998) which won the Cannes Film Festival Jury Prize and was nominated for the Palme d’Or and a Golden Globe®, award-winning THE HUNT (2012) and Silver Berlin Bear-winning THE COMMUNE (2016). For this new project, he re-teams with award-winning and highly acclaimed scriptwriter Tobias Lindholm, who also acted as co-scriptwriter on Vinterberg's THE HUNT (2012) and THE COMMUNE (2016).
THE ALCOHOL PROJECT will star an exclusive Danish A-list cast, including Mads Mikkelsen, who won the award for 'Best Actor' at Cannes Film Festival 2012 for his role in THE HUNT. Mads Mikkelsen has obtained great international success already and starred in several blockbusters, including ROGUE ONE: A STAR WARS STORY (2016), DOCTOR STRANGE (2016) and CASINO ROYALE (2006). In 2011, he received the European Film Academy’s honorary award of European Achievement in World Cinema.
In addition to Mads Mikkelsen, Thomas Bo Larsen (THE WAVE, 2015; THE HUNT, 2012), Lars Ranthe (Emmy Award®-winning RIDE UPON THE STORM, 2017-2018; THE HUNT, 2012) and Magnus Millang (THE COMMUNE, 2016), the main cast will include actresses Susse Wold (THE HUNT, 2012), Maria Bonnevie (RECONSTRUCTION, 2003; I AM DINA, 2002) and Helene Reingaard Neumann (THE COMMUNE, 2016).
Produced by Sisse Graum Jørgensen and Kasper Dissing for Zentropa Entertainments3 in co-production with Film i Väst, Zentropa Sweden, Topkapi Films and Zentropa Netherlands with support from Danish Film Institute, TV 2 DENMARK, Eurimages, the Netherlands Film Fund, Svenska Filminstitutet, the Netherlands Film Production Incentive and the MEDIA Programme of the European Union.
Nordic distribution in co-operation with Nordisk Film Distribution, international sales by TrustNordisk.
© 2020 Zentropa Entertainments3 ApS, Zentropa Sweden AB, Topkapi Films B.V. & Zentropa Netherlands B.V.
Final shooting draft available for interested buyers.
