How did you first get involved in Max Manus and why?
It all started two and a half years ago at the Trondheim Film Festival. They had a new pitching contest. Thomas Nordseth-Tiller - Max Manus scriptwriter - won the competition and people then suggested that he should contact us because we would probably make the best film. I personally thought his script was absolutely great, quite astonishing for a debutant. It had actually been his exam paper at the San Francisco Film School where he studied. Although Max Manus is a WWII hero in Norway, his story has never been brought to the screen before.
Max Manus is the second major Nordic production set in WWII, hitting Nordic screens this year after the Danish Flame & Citron. Is that just a coincidence or a new trend?
Timing is everything. Ten years ago, in Norway, we couldn't have made the film. First of all, we couldn't have recreated Oslo the way it looked in 1940-1945, which we can today thanks to CGI technology. Also, there was no interest in WWII. I think that the new generation is truly keen on the subject. I will not theorise why, but it is a fact.
What convinced you to get the directing duo Joachim Rønning and Espen Roenberg on board?
I have known them for over ten years. Most people think that I hired them based on Bandidas, which is not true. I had seen their short films and I felt they would be able to handle the project. The advantage though of Bandidas (produced by Luc Besson) is that they got the experience of working on a big project before Max Manus.
How difficult was it to put the financial puzzle together for such an ambitious project (NOK 55m) and what were the major artistic challenges?
It wasn't that difficult. My experience is that if you have a good project, you'll always get it financed. We got a substantial support from the Norwegian Film Institute, an unprecedented amount of MG from Nordisk Film in Copenhagen. The film was co-produced by Miso Film in Denmark, B & T Film in Germany, with support from the Danish Film Institute, Nordisk Film & TV Fond, the MEDIA Programme and Eurimages.
The biggest challenge was the shear size of the project. Some days, we had over 1,000 extras. We had to learn how to deal with the logistics. In Norway, we're not used to it.
But isn't there a real market in Norway for local blockbusters like Max Manus?
Yes. The Norwegian Film Institute is aiming at broadening the programme of Norwegian films. They want to make more ‘tentpoles' and we've been asked to think about it. The problem is that those films are so expensive to make, there can't be too many of them. There can only be one of them every other year.
It will be interesting to see how Max Manus will work abroad, although it was made for a domestic audience, which is the one we know.
Click here to see trailer.