Mannerheim will be the biggest feature film project for Mikko Nousiainen who was revealed to Finnish audiences in Aku Louhimies' feature debut Restless (Levottomat) in 2000. Markus Selin, producer and managing director of Solar Films, said that the rest of the cast will be finalised once co-production partners are confirmed by the end of the year.
Corporate deals worth around €1.1m have already been closed on the feature film project, through Infront Finland who acted on behalf of Solar Films. Those include VR Corporate group, Sinebrychoff, Neste Oil, Fortum, Muuttopalvelu Niemi, Nova Group and Kehittyvien Maakuntien Suomi. Filming is scheduled from August 2008 until early 2009.
Marshal Mannerheim was the most influential military and political leader of Finnish history from the Civil War to the late 1940s. The film project, the most expensive ever to be made in Finland, will be shot in Finnish, Swedish, Russian, English and Polish. It will cover Mannerheim's life from the early 1900s to the 1950s. International sales are handled by Nordisk Film International Sales.