After the release of his elegant period spy thriller “Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy,” which received critical raves and solid box office, it was a big question of what Tomas Alfredson would do next. The director, who made a splash with his Swedish vampire movie “Let the Right One In,” had a number of potential projects on the docket (including a potential Smiley sequel), and has finally settled on one – an adaptation of Astrid Lindgren‘s beloved 1973 children’s fantasy novel “The Brothers Lionheart.” What’s more – the film looks to be the most expensive Scandinavian film in history, and a holiday 2014 release date has been set. Sounds magical!
Alfredson snapped up the rights to “The Brothers Lionsheart” last spring and tasked his “Let the Right One In” collaborator John Ajvide Lindqvist to adapt the classic book (Lindqvist wrote the novel and screenplay for “Let the Right One In”). The story, which concerns a pair of brothers who slip into an alternate realm, was known for its unflinchingly dark content and subversive themes and was adapted a number of times, most notably as a Swedish fantasy film in 1977.
According to these reports, the movie’s $50 million (a sum that wouldn’t be out of the ordinary on a medium-budget Hollywood movie) will make it the most expensive movie ever made in Scandinavian. Cinematographer Hoyte van Hoytema, who recently signed on for “Interstellar” for Christopher Nolan, has signed on to shoot the fantasy feature and the movie has been tentatively set for a “Christmas 2014” release date. A new Alfredson movie is as good a Christmas present as we could ask for.