Nutley
AMSTERDAM -- Nordic production and distrib Svensk Filmindustri has inked a three-pic deal with hot Scandi-focused director Colin Nutley and his Swedish company Sweetwater for films based on the bestselling crime novels of Liza Marklund.
British helmer Nutley has produced some of Sweden's most successful films, including "Under the Sun," nommed for a foreign-language film Oscar, "House of Angels" and, more recently, "Gossip."
All three pics will star Swedish actress Helena Bergstrom as crime reporter Annika Bengtzon. The first in the trilogy, "The Bomber," begins lensing this month for an October release.
SF prexy-CEO Rasmus Ramstad told
Daily Variety that the deal includes possible options on future pics based on additional Marklund novels. The crime writer's books have sold over 1.5 million copies in Sweden, a territory of only 8 million.
"This deal is important for our long-term strategy of building up local product, but they could have wider appeal" added Ramstad, pointing out that the Marklund novels, which have sold well across Scandinavia, are also becoming popular in Germany and are published in the U.S.
Sweetwater is producing the slate in co-production with SF, with Nutley as producer and both Nutley and SF head of production Kerstin Bonnier as exec producers. Swedish commercial channel TV4 is a financial partner in the project.
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