Mikkel Norgaard will direct the thriller, the second in Zentropa's "Department Q" franchise.
BERLIN - Danish stars Pilou Asbaek (Borgen) and David Dencik (A Royal Affair) have joined the cast of crime thriller The Absent One, the second in a planned franchise based on the Department Q novels by writer Jussi Adler-Olsen.
Mikkel Norgaard, director of the first Department Q film, Locarno title The Keeper of Lost Causes, will also helm The Absent One based on a screenplay from Nikolaj Arcel and Rasmus Heisterberg, co-writers on the original The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo (2009).
Shooting for The Absent One is set to start later this month. Zentropa is producing the film, and TrustNordisk will kick off presales in Toronto this week.
Nikolaj Lie Kaas (Angels & Demons) and Fares Fares (Zero Dark Thirty; Safe House) will reprise their starring roles as criminal investigators Carl and Assad in the new film.
The Absent One focuses on a 20-year-old cold case involving brutally murdered twins and powerful interests determined to keep the truth of the murders from getting out.