The 12th Man is Hollywood-based Norwegian director Harald Zwart’s first Norwegian film in a decade.

It opens on Christmas day in Norway via Nordisk Film. The Norwegian epic drama features real life national hero Jan Baalsrud, the only one out of 12 resistance fighters to escape the Germans following a failed raid in 1943. The film centres on Baalsrud’s relationship with his fellow countrymen who helped him survive in the icy wilderness and reach neutral Sweden. The film received 4 stars (out of 6) in the newspapers Aftenposten, VG, Dagsavisen and 5 stars in NRKP3, FilmMagasinet.

Zwart answered our written questions while on his national press tour.

You hadn’t made a film in Norway since 2008. Why now and why with this film?
Harad Zwart: Veslemøy [Ruud Zwart-Harald’s wife and producing partner] bought the rights to the book by Tore Haug and Astrid Karlsen Scott almost 15 years ago. We’ve been wanting to do the movie ever since, but we were busy with other projects, until finally she said: “This is the right time to do the movie for you”. So we did.

I love working in Norway. The crews are amazing, the spirit is great, everyone has a certain ownership to this story, and everywhere you point the camera it looks spectacular. All the northern lights and reindeer in the movie are so called “in camera”. Only some German hardware was added with computer. Everything else is real.

The film had a healthy budget for a European film (€6.5m) although much below the $45 million Karate Kid movie or $60m Mortal Instrument: City of Bones. How did you make the most out of your budget to give it an epic dimension and what was your visual approach to the film?
HZ: I had great producers who collaborated very closely with me. Espen Horn, Veslemøy and Aage Aaberge were on top of the numbers all the time and we had daily updates. When you do an independent movie and your money runs out - you’re stuck. I was not going to let that happen. Having said this - I have to this day not gone over budget on any of my movies.

Can you tell us about the challenges of filming north of the Arctic Circle, and trying to get 1,000 reindeers as extras to obey?
HZ: The indigenous people, The Sami were amazing. I just told them where I needed the herd to go and they made them go exactly the path I had pointed out. Take after take. A small dog that was controlled by one of the Sami on a skidoo, did all the work. One small dog for one thousand reindeer! I’ve never seen that kind of control before.

How did Thomas Gullestad prepare for the heroic role of Jan Baalsrud that must have been incredibly challenging both physically and mentally?
HZ: He’s an amazing person. He was very very brave and never complained though we buried him in snow in 28 below zero degrees Celsius.  He did lots of research and dug deep inside himself to find the emotions.  We had a great time doing this journey together and the first night he arrived in Troms, Veslemøy and Espen sent him out to sleep one night in the old cabin where Jan stayed. Hotel Savoy. There’s a replica there, but it’s exactly the same. Thomas had to sleep in a WW2 sleeping bag and no phone. The strange thing is his right toe hurt him. The one that Jan lost.

The 12th Man is a film about courage, solidarity, selflessness, notions that today are lacking around the world with the rise of populism and nationalism. Do you hope this film will be an inspiration for people?
HZ: I hope so. I hope the younger generation will realize the courage our parents and grandparents had, and what risks and sacrifices they took for us to be able to live in the freedom we enjoy today. And I hope we will learn to never make the same mistakes again. 

How much are you involved in the day to day running of Motion Blur and Zwart Arbeid?
HZ: Both Veslemøy and I are a big part of it. Veslemøy started Motion Blur in Los Angeles and then we opened an office in Norway.  We still do lots of commercials through that company, and Zwart Arbeid is our feature company with a handful of great titles in development. 

What’s the status on your major TV drama The Oil Fund that you co-created and co-wrote with your friend Tom Gulbrandsen?
HZ: We’re starting to shoot this in January, and I’ve never been more excited about a TV show before. It’s a snapshot of Norway’s one trillion dollars investment fund, run by a bunch of social democrats. It’s VEEP in Norway - if you can imagine that!