Miso Film lines up Bornedal shoot, Netflix’s The Rain 2 launch

Bornedal’s DKK 60m (€8m) Danish historical feature length film will be the director's fourth collaboration with Miso Film co-founders and managing directors Jonas Allen and Peter Bose, after the series 1864, the films Small Town Killers (2017) and The Way to Mandalay (2018). The latter ranked number 2 at the Danish Top 10 and Small Time Killers was the second biggest Danish film of 2017. 

Based on a script by Bornedal, Shadows in My Eyes (Skyggen i mit øje) will focus on the bombing of the Gestapo headquarters in Copenhagen in 1945, one of the most tragic events in Denmark during WW2, when the Royal Air Force mistakenly bombed the French School in Copenhagen, killing several children and nuns.

“It’s the story of innocence versus machines, of the child who falls victim to the horrors of coincidence,” said the director in a statement.

The project, still in the financing stage, is co-produced by TV2 Denmark and SF Studios who will handle the Scandinavian distribution. International sales is yet to be confirmed. The film received the biggest production grant ever from the Danish Film Institute worth DKK 16 million (€2.4m), as part of the institute’s mandate under the new Film Agreement, to produce 2-3 high budget Danish films per year. Shadow in My Eyes is set to start shooting this fall, with a domestic release planned for late 2020. 

The Rain 2
On the TV drama front, the post-apocalyptic series The Rain season 2 will reach Netflix’s 149 million global subscribers this Friday, May 17. Season 1 was the first original Danish series commissioned by the US giant streamer. 

The 8x45’ YA series created by Jannik Tai Mosholt, Esben Toft Jacobsen and Christian Potalivo reunites again Alba August, Lucas Lyngaard Tonnessen, Mikkel Boe Følsgaard, Sonny Lindberg, Lukas Løkken and Jessica Dinnage as a group of young survivors on the run, in a world where half the population was killed by a virus carried by the rain. 

“Netflix greenlit season 2 one month after premiering season 1, but we had started developing it half a year before the launch of season 1, otherwise we would not have had time to turn it around within 12 months, notes Allen. 

Commenting on his collaboration with Netflix, the producer said: “It’s been a wonderful experience. They understood exactly the whole concept, the story, and instead of making the show on a low budget - which would have been the case for a YA series produced in Scandinavia - we were able to do on a healthy budget.” Bose ads: “After season1, we also learnt how to work even better on the second season. We knew what Netflix wanted, and they knew what we could deliver and how we would do it.”

Bose says the transfer of his key point person at Netflix, Kelly Luegenbiehl [VP International Originals Europe, Turkey, Africa] from the US to Amsterdam, also eased their collaboration. “We don’t have the time different anymore and the fact that Kelly and her team come and visit us to discuss the screenplay and other creative aspects makes things easier,” concedes the producer. 

Fremantle-owned Miso Film’s next high-end Danish TV shows are created by the internationally-acclaimed Christoffer Boe and Tobias Lindholm.  

• Boe’s psycho thriller Face to Face (Forhøret) produced for Viaplay is set to premiere this fall. The 8x30’ series tells of Danish police detective Bjørn Rasmussen (Ulrich Thomsen) who interrogates suspects in the mysterious murder of his own daughter.
• Lindholm’s The Investigation (6x44’) produced for TV2 Denmark and SVT will start shooting in August. Based on a true story, the series follows during eight months, homicide investigator Jens Møller and his team, as they try to solve the case known in the press as ‘The Submarine Murder’.

Meanwhile Miso Film Sweden headed by Sandra Harms is working on the crime series Box 21 based on Roslund & Hellström's best-selling novels, set to premiere on Viaplay in 2020. On the feature film side Jesper Ganslandt’s anticipated drama 438 Days will be released by SF Studios August 30, while Ella Lemhagen’s I’ll be Home for Christmas starring pop singer/actor Peter Jöback is currently shooting.  

Miso Film Norway headed by Are Heidenstrøm has three TV series on its slate:  

• Seizure (Anfall) produced for Viaplay is set to premiere this fall. The 8x45’ thriller created by Megan Gallagher focuses on two detectives (Anders Baasmo Christiansen, Anders Danielsen Lie) investigating an occult-like crime.  
• Witch Hunt (Varsleren) produced for TV2 Norway is a political thriller co-written by Acquitted’s Siv Rajendram Eliassen og Anna Bache-Wiig. The series is currently filming.  
• Skitten snø produced for NRK is a youth thriller directed by Katarina Launing.