Ben Kingsley to star in “Death of an Author” film adaptation

PanARMENIAN.Net - Ben Kingsley, Benno Furmann, and Tuva Novotny will star in “Death of an Author”, the first in the “Intrigo” trilogy from Enderby Entertainment and The Amazing Film Company, Variety said.

Enderby announced in December it had signed Daniel Alfredson to direct three movies based on Hakan Nesser’s upcoming “Intrigo” trilogy of novels.

Germany’s The Amazing Film Company will co-produce and finance the three films along with Enderby and Umedia, with Silver Reel also on board to co-finance. The movies will be produced by Enderby’s Rick Dugdale and Thomas Peter Friedl, and Uwe Schott from The Amazing Film Company. Claudia Bluemhuber is senior exec producer and Ian Hutchinson from Silver Reel is the executive producer.

Fox International Production has picked up all rights for German-speaking territories.

“Hakan Nesser has fascinated millions of readers all over the world with his thrilling intrigues taking place in Maardam,” Dugdale said. “With our trilogy of feature films we have chosen a unique and extraordinary concept to bring this mysterious world to the big screen.”

Production of “Death of an Author” is set to begin this week in Serbia, Slovenia, Croatia, and Belgium, immediately followed by the shooting of “Samaria” and “Dear Agnes.” Principal photography of all three movies will be completed by the end of August and the first film is expected to hit theaters at the end of 2018.

Friedl said, “To shoot and post all three films ‘en bloc’ and establishing the umbrella brand Intrigo is a groundbreaking new approach to attract our audience beyond each of our three movies, and will open many ways for cross marketing and overlapping rights exploitation for us and our distributors.”

Nesser’s books, published by Albert Bonniers and licensed by Bonnier Rights in Sweden, have sold more than 20 million copies worldwide and are translated into 30-plus languages. “Intrigo” will be published worldwide next year.

The stories are set in an undefined country in northern Europe, where Nesser has placed many of his stories. The three films share the same psychology and narrative structure, dealing with the problems of escape, and the concepts of guilt, revenge, and atonement. The films will all be in English.

Alfredson directed Noomi Rapace in the second and third films in the “Millennium Series” trilogy — “The Girl Who Played With Fire” and “The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet’s Nest” in 2009. Sony released a remake of the first film “The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo,” starring Rooney Mara, in 2011.

Enderby collaborated with Alfredson on “Blackway,” starring Anthony Hopkins, Ray Liotta, and Julia Stiles. It’s in post-production on the political thriller “An Ordinary Man,” starring Kingsley and directed by Brad Silberling.