WRITTEN BY: Annika Pham
Norwegian political thrillers Fury by Uthaug and Varsleren by Sørhaug received the largest TV drama grants from the Norwegian Film Institute.
Norwegian political thrillers Fury by Uthaug and Varsleren by Sørhaug received the largest TV drama grants from the Norwegian Film Institute.
The 8x50’ series Fury (Furia) directed by Tomb Raider’s Uthaug was granted NOK 6m (€616,543) towards its NOK100m (€10.2m) budget. The series produced by Monster Scripted’s Lasse Greve Alsos and Håkon Briseid for the streaming service Viaplay, is co-produced by Germany’s X-Filme.
Creator/head-writer Gjermund S. Eriksen (Mammon), has reunited an outstanding writing team including Helena Nielsen (Lilyhammer), Hege Ulstein (Aber Bergen), Stephen Uhlander (Nobel), Nikolaj Frobenius (Sons of Norway), and novice writers Embla Josefine Veier Bugge from Norway and Henner Schulte-Holtey from Germany.
Fury tells of Ragna who goes undercover on the trail of a European network of right-wing extremists to prevent a terrorist attack. Her mission sends her on a journey from an idyllic town in Western Norway to the forefront of a political battle in the heart of Europe. “This is an important story about right wing extremists in Europe: History has taught us what we can lose if we don't deal with identity struggles and contrasting political beliefs,” told Lasse Greve Alsos to nordicfilmandtvnews.com.
The Norwegian Film Institute’s Film & TV Drama commissioner Ståle Stein Berg stressed that “Fury has a local starting point and an international upshot, both in its storytelling and in its production and financing structure. The Emmy-award-winning creator Gjermund Stenberg Eriksen made a solid impression when he pitched the idea of this series at this year’s Berlinale Drama Series Days, and the project landed a co-production agreement with the major company X-Filme (Babylon Berlin).”
Varsleren (‘The Whistleblower’) created by Acquitted writing duo Siv Rajendram Eliassen and Anna Bache-Wiig was granted NOK10m (€1m) towards the series’ NOK 70m (€7.2m) budget. Eva Sørhaug (90 Minutes, Occupied) is concept director.
Miso Film’s Cecilie Aspenes, Åre Heidenstrøm, Peter Bose and Jonas Allen are producing for TV2 Norway.
In the series, the main female character ‘only tries to do her job, but ends up triggering a scandal of national scale. With a main theme about power struggle and corruption, the series goes deep into the psychological, relational and political consequences of whistle-blowing’.
Two other series received NFI production support: