TrustNordisk Grabs ‘Prize’ (EXCLUSIVE)

By Elsa Keslassy

14-05-2013

 

TrustNordisk has nabbed international sales on Hans Petter Moland´s comedy “The Prize Idiot,” starring Stellan Skarsgard and Bruno Ganz.

Penned by Kim Fupz Aakeson (“A Somewhat Gentle Man”) and produced by Paradox Film, the $6.1 million pic stars Skarsgard as an upright citizen who, following his son´s sudden death, embarks on a revenge rampage that gets him embroiled in a drug war between Norwegian and Serbian mobsters.

“I see ‘The Prize Idiot´ as a reinvention of a Western but set in the mountains. It deals with such topics as ethnic prejudice and nationalism in a humorous way,” said Moland (pictured).

Cast also includes Pal Sverre Hagen (“Kon-Tiki”) and Birgitte Hjort Sorensen (“Borgen”).

TrustNordisk is shopping the film at Cannes Film Market, which kicks off Thursday, and has already pre-sold all rights to German distributor Neue Visionen. Nordisk Film is skedded to release it in Norway in February.

“Idiot” is one of various Scandi comedies with crossover potential being sold at Cannes. Another is Felix Herngren´s “The Hundred-Year-Old Man Who Climbed Out the Window and Disappeared,” repped by Studiocanal.

Moland previously helmed two Berlin film festival competition contenders, “A Somewhat Gentle Man” and “The Beautiful Country,” starring Nick Nolte and Tim Roth.

Moland is developing various projects, notably a bigscreen adaptation of author Hans Ruesch´s “Top of the World,” about an Eskimo who becomes a fugitive after accidently killing a missionary.