International Sales
AB Svensk Filmindustri
SE-169 86 Stockholm, Sweden Phone: +46 8Â 680 35 00 Fax: + 46 8Â 710 44 60 international@sf.se
www.sfinternational.se
You will hear only the sound of my voice You will hear only the numbers counting down Calm now, there’s no reason to be afraid No reason to be afraid No reason to be afraid There’s a reason to be afraid
Synopsis
In the middle of a dark December night, psychiatrist Erik Maria Bark is woken by a telephone call from a hospital in Stockholm. Detective Inspector Joona Linna asks for his immediate help in treating an unconscious patient suffering from acute trauma. He hopes that Erik will be able to communicate with the young boy through hypnosis, enabling the police to question him. They hope to find out who so brutally murdered his parents and younger sister, in order to track down and save his older sister before it is too late. But it has been ten years since Erik last practised hypnosis, and he has promised never to do it again. Painful memories from that time make their presence felt, contributing to his decision not to help the police. When Erik finally allows himself to be persuaded, it is as if the floodgates have been opened to a torrent of unforeseen happenings. Without warning, this violent and inexplicable course of events impacts with full force on Erik’s life. His son disappears, and to have a chance of saving his life, Erik has to confront himself with the past, with the times when his research-work was laid in ruins and his marriage seemed on the verge of collapsing.
Director’s Statement Mattias Edwall
LASSE HALLSTRÖM After decades of international successes with films such as What’s Eating Gilbert Grape?, Something to Talk About, The Cider House Rules, Chocolat, An Unfinished Life, Casanova, The Hoax, Dear John and Oscar-nominated My Life as a Dog, Lasse Hallström will direct his first Swedish feature film in 25 years, The Hypnotist.
The Hypnotist is a character-driven thriller that really attracted my interest. I have always been wanting to try my hand at the thriller genre, but not many opportunities to do that have opened up for me in the US. It is not what people expect from me, so I was never really considered for them. Though I may have focused on gentler fare in the past, I will not shy away from the violent aspects of this story. I want to tell it in a real and honest way, and as always I want to see to it that the characters come alive-performances are always important to me. Having spent my first 40 years in Stockholm, I know it quite well and hope to make it a moody backdrop to the story, trying to pay attention to detail and the atmosphere of a Stockholm winter. I have always been interested in stories that are genre crossovers. The drama comedy is a genre mix that I have felt very comfortable with, and hopefully adding the thriller element won't feel foreign to me. I am looking forward to returning to work in my home country, for the first time in 25 years!
Based on International best-seller The Hypnotist
Production Facts
The Hypnotist
by Lars Kepler Director Lasse Hallström Genre Thriller Country of Origin Sweden Production Year 2011/2012 First Release September 28, 2012 Duration TBA International Sales AB Svensk Filmindustri Cast Mikael Persbrandt, Tobias Zilliacus, Lena Olin, Jonatan Bökman, Oscar Pettersson, Helena af Sandeberg, Anna Ascarate, Eva Melander. Production Company AB Svensk Filmindustri & Sonet Film AB Producers Börje Hansson, Peter Possne & Bertil Ohlsson Script Paolo Vacirca & Peter Asmussen D.O.P Mattias Montero Editor Tomas Täng & Sebastian Amundsen Production Designer Lasse Westfelt Costume Designer Karin Sundvall Make-up Designer Jenny Fred Sound Designer Aleksander Karshikoff Composer Oscar Fogelström Stills Photographer Fredrik Hjerling & Alexandra Aristarhova
Cast MIKAEL PERSBRANDT The Hypnotist Dr. Erik Maria Bark (The Hobbit, In a Better World)
TOBIAS ZILLIACUS Detective Inspector Joona Linna (Upswing, Beyond Enemy Lines)
LENA OLIN Simone, Wife of the Hypnotist (Remember Me, Chocolat)
Persbrandt is one of Sweden’s greatest actors of all time. He has worked at the Royal Dramatic Theatre in Stockholm, and has appeared in countless film and TV roles. In January 2009, he won a Guldbagge Award for best leading actor in Jan Troell’s Everlasting Moments, and in 2011 played the lead role in Susanne Bier’s film In A Better World, which went on to win an Oscar for best foreign film. He also plays the lead role in the upcoming trilogy about Agent Carl Hamilton based on the novels by Jan Guillou, as well as the role of Beorn in Peter Jackson's The Hobbit.
Tobias Zilliacus trained at the Theatre Academy Helsinki 1991-1995. After graduating from the academy, he began working at the Viirus Theatre in Helsinki where he appeared in some 20 productions and also directed for the stage. Zilliacus’s feature film debut was in Upswing (2002), after which he played the lead role in the war drama Beyond Enemy Lines (2004). In 2009, Tobias starred as the mortally ill gardener Visa Vuorio in the film One Foot Under, and most recently he played the male lead in the children’s film Iris (2011). Tobias will be playing Joona Linna in all eight upcoming thrillers based on the books by Lars Kepler.
Lena Olin trained at the Stockholm Academy of Dramatic Arts 1976-79. During the 1980s, she joined the Royal Dramatic Theatre in Stockholm where she took part in many productions directed by Ingmar Bergman. Her feature film breakthrough came with a specially written lead role in Ingmar Bergman’s TV film After The Rehearsal (1984). The role led to her landing the part of Sabina in The Unbearable Lightness of Being (1988), which became her international breakthrough as an actress. Lena Olin enjoyed a further breakthrough in 2002, when she landed the role as Irina Derevko in the American spy series Alias. The role won her an Emmy nomination for best female supporting actress in 2003.
Behind the
Production
LOCATIONS
The Hypnotist was shot in different locations in Stockholm as well as in the north of Sweden. The first winter footage was shot in December to capture the city’s Christmas atmosphere, whereas the final scenes, shot at the end of an unusually sunny and spring-like March, had to be covered in fake snow to keep their winter mood. The scenes at the cabin where Benjamin is taken by Lydia were shot during a week in Städdejaur, as well as a week at the Kronan Studio in Luleå in the north of Sweden. The end scenes with the old bus going through the ice proved a tough challenge, and were eventually shot at the Barrandov Studio in Prague in collaboration with SFX company Flash Barrandov Special Effects Ltd. The shooting took place in mid-April and completed 58 days of filming. CAMERA TECHNIQUE Camera: Alexa ST. 4:3 censor Vantage Anamorphic lens 2.0 Recording Format: ARRI RAW – 2880 x 1556 pixels 24 fps Format: 1:2,35 Cinemascope
The Kepler Film Series
The Hypnotist is the first one out in the planned series of eight films and principal shooting took off in January 2012, with a Swedish theatrical release planned for September 28, 2012. The Paganini Contract is planned for a 2013 release and the work on the script has already begun. The Hypnotist Produced by: AB Svensk Filmindustri and Sonet Film AB Producers: Börje Hansson, Peter Possne and Bertil Ohlsson The Paganini Contract Produced by: AB Svensk Filmindustri and Sonet Film AB Producers: Börje Hansson and Peter Possne Börje Hansson and Peter Possne have been involved in most of the Swedish box-office hits over the last 20 years like the Oscar-nominated As It Is in Heaven and the 2011 Swedish Oscar entry, Simple Simon. Bertil Ohlsson was executive producer for the International successes Amadeus and The Unbearable Lightness of Being, and he also produced Lasse Hallström’s What’s Eating Gilbert Grape?
Who is Lars Kepler?
Anna-Lena Ahlström
Our intention was always to remain a secret. Not even our own children knew that we were Lars Kepler. Alexander and Alexandra Ahndoril
Alexander and Alexandra Ahndoril, both established writers with several books published, teamed up professionally for the first time to write The Hypnotist. The pseudonym Lars Kepler allowed them to separate their earlier, independent work, from this new common authorship. As they wanted to be judged without prejudice, they decided to submit the manuscript to the publisher anonymously. Five days later the publisher, Albert Bonniers, knew they had a nail-biting best-seller in the vein of Stieg Larsson's novels. Still the Ahndorils did not want to reveal their true identity. With successful separate careers, and a well functioning life together with their three children, they felt no need to come clean. As expected, the media launched a huge investigation, and it did not take long before one of Sweden's largest tabloids paid them a visit at their summer house, urging them to confess that they had written one of the most widely read European books of 2010.
The Kepler Crime Novels
One month after the authors submitted the manuscript to the publisher, The Hypnotist by Lars Kepler, was at the centre of heated auctions at the London international book fair, involving some of the world's leading crime publishers. The novel was sold to 25 countries within just a few weeks of the fair, and has now been translated into 36 languages, published in over 40 countries altogether. The Hypnotist is the first novel of eight about Detective Inspector Joona Linna. The second novel, The Paganini Contract, is considered by many to be possibly even more nerve-racking than the first and has been picked up by 30 languages so far. The third one in line, The Fire Witness, was released on the date of 11/11, 2011. The remaining five novels are planned to come out one per year.
THE HYPNOTIST
Worldwide Publishers
1. Albanian 2. Portuguese Brazil 3. Bulgarian 4. Canadian 5. Complex Chinese 6. Croatian 7. Czech Republic 8. Danish 9. Uk&Commonwealth 10. Estonian 11. Finnish 12. French
Dituria Intrinseca Enthusiast McClelland&Stewart Locus Publishing Fraktura Host Gyldendal Blue Door HC Pegasus Tammi Actes Sud
13. German 14. Greek 15. Dutch 16. Hungarian 17. Israel 18. Icelandic 19. Italian 20. Japanese 21. Catalan 22. Korean 23. Latvian 24. Lithuanian
L端bbe Patakis De Bezige Bij Cartaphilus Modan Forlagid Mauri Spagnol Hayakawa Ara Amsterdam Minumsa Apgads Mansards Meda Incognito
25. Norwegian 26. Polish 27. Portuguese Portugal 28. Romanian 29. Russian 30. Serbian 31. Slovak Republic 32. Spanish 33. Simplified Chinese 34. Thai 35. Turkish 36. Us
THE PAGANINI CONTRACT
THE FIRE WITNESS
1. 2. Portugese Brazil 3. Bulgarian 4. Canadian 5. 6. Croatian 7. Czech Republic 8. Danish 9. UK&Commonwealth 10. Estonian 11. Finnish 12. French 13. German 14. Greek 15. Dutch 16. Hungarian 17. Israel 18. Icelandic
1. 2. 3. 4. Canadan (+ book 4&5) 5. 6. 7. Czech (+ book 4&5) 8. Danish (+ book 4&5) 9. UK&Commonwealth (+ book 4&5) 10. 11. Finnish (+ book 4&5) 12. French (+ book 4&5) 13. German (+ book 4&5) 14. 15. Dutch 16. 17. 18. -
19. Italian 20. Japanese 21. Catalan 22. 23. 24. Lithuanian 25. Norwegian 26. Polish 27. Portugese Portugal 28. Romanian 29. Russian 30. 31. Slovak Republic 32. Spanish 33. 34. 35. Turkish 36. US
CappelenDamm Czarne Porto Editora Editura Trei Corpus Alnari Ikar Planeta Beijing Fonghong Media Co. Sanskrit Book Pegasus Sara Crichton Books/ Farrar Strauss & Giroux
19. Italian 20. 21. Catalan 22. 23. 24. 25. Norwegian (+ book 4&5) 26. Polish 27. Portugese Portugal (+ book 4&5) 28. 29. 30. 31. 32. Spanish 33. 34. 35. 36. US (+ book 4&5)
Cast TOBIAS ZILLIACUS Detective Inspector Joona Linna (Upswing, Beyond Enemy Lines) Tobias Zilliacus trained at the Theatre Academy Helsinki 1991-1995. After graduating from the academy, he began working at the Viirus Theatre in Helsinki where he appeared in some 20 productions and also directed for the stage. Zilliacus’s feature film debut was in Upswing (2002), after which he played the lead role in the war drama Beyond Enemy Lines (2004). In 2009, Tobias starred as the mortally ill gardener Visa Vuorio in the film One Foot Under, and most recently he played the male lead in the children’s film Iris (2011). Tobias will be playing Joona Linna in all eight upcoming thrillers based on the books by Lars Kepler.
Production Facts
The Paganini Contract Based on
International best-seller The Paganini Contract by Lars Kepler
Director
Kjell Sundvall
Genre
Thriller
Country of Origin
Sweden
Start of Principal Shooting First Release Duration International Sales Cast Production Company
August 2012 September 2013 (TBC) TBA AB Svensk Filmindustri Tobias Zilliacus as Joona Linna AB Svensk Filmindustri & Sonet Film AB
Director’s Statement When I read The Paganini Contract I just couldn’t put it down until the last page. It’s an extremely fast-paced and exciting story
KJELL SUNDVALL
– perfect for an explosive and thrilling
Having directed almost 40 films in 30 years, Sundvall is one of
film. It will be a true pleasure to direct the
Sweden’s most popular directors. He has become a veteran in
second book by Lars Kepler.
the crime and thriller genre with titles such as The Last
Kjell Sundvall
Witness (1993), The Hunters (1996), The Last Contract (1998), The Threat (2004), more than 10 features of the successful Beck crime series, and most recently the box office hit False Trail (2011) with over 500,000 admissions.
“I’m very excited about passing on the baton to Kjell Sundvall. Kjell is one of
Multifaceted Sundvall has also shown great success in the
Scandinavia’s most experienced thriller
comedy genre with several award-winning titles: The Guy in
directors and The Paganini Contract should fit him like a glove”. Lasse Hallström
the Grave Next Door (2002) and box office hit In Bed With Santa (1999) with over 500,000 admissions, to mention a few. A remake of In Bed With Santa has been released in Germany under the title Meine Schöne Bescherung (2007), while a French remake is underway.
Synopsis
On a summer night, the dead body of a woman is found on board an abandoned yacht drifting around the Stockholm archipelago. Her lungs are filled with brackish water, but there are no traces of this water on her clothes or other parts of her body. The next day a man is found dead in his palatial apartment in Stockholm. The man is hanging from a noose fastened to the lamp hook in the ceiling. How did it happen? The room has a high ceiling, and there is not a single piece of furniture in the room, nothing to climb on. Nevertheless, Detective Inspector Joona Linna is convinced that it is suicide. This is only the prelude to a dizzyingly intense and dangerous course of events. There are certain agreements that cannot be broken off, even when you are dead‌
It takes a while for the man to realize that the woman is dead. In her long hair there is a clip shaped like a white dove; a peace dove. When the old man approaches the body and touches her cheek the head tips forward and a thin rivulet of water trickles from her lips, down her chin.
International Sales
AB Svensk Filmindustri
SE-169 86 Stockholm, Sweden Phone: +46 8Â 680 35 00 Fax: + 46 8Â 710 44 60 international@sf.se
www.sfinternational.se
CREDITS NOT CONCTRACTUAL