Kon-Tiki producer Aage Aaberge (pictured) and writer Petter Skavlan, will be collaborating again under the Nordisk Film Production banner in Norway for the mega project The 12th Man to be directed by Harald Zwart (The Karate Kid).
The WW2 drama will be based on the true story of Norwegian resistance fighter and hero Jan Baalsrud and his extraordinary escape from the Germans in 1943, after surviving for two months not only the occupying Nazi forces but also the arctic wastelands of Northern Norway. According to Aaberge, the Baalsrud biopic will have an estimated budget of €10 million, like the mega-hit and Academy-nominated Kon-Tiki.
The 12th Man will re-engage the Norwegian production machine of the Scandinavian giant, dormant since 2009, and only temporarily brought back to full steam with the Thor Heyerdahl epic adventure film. Nordisk Film’s intention is to go back to feeding the mainstream Norwegian market with ambitious projects targeting the Scandinavian and international market.
“Nordisk Film Production Norway will start operating again on May 1st 2015, and I’m in the middle of recruiting staff members,” confirmed Aaberge who will return as head of the Norwegian production group which he steered between 2003-2008. His own company Neofilm, majority-owned by Nordisk Film, will be merged with the Scandinavian giant. Other projects in early development at Nordisk Film Production Norway include an Edvard Munch biopic to be directed by Erik Poppe.