18/03/2016 - Bavaria has greenlit €1.5 million for the British-German co-production

After his romantic tale Penelope and his mystery-drama Rememory, Canadian writer-director Mark Palansky is teaming up for the third time with Game of Thrones star Peter Dinklage, who will play the title role in his new thriller, The Jester. The plot is based on the short story Hop-Frog by Edgar Allan Poe. 

In the movie, a dwarf puppeteer witnesses the king’s knights cruelly kill his uncle while his secret love is kidnapped and brought to the royal court. He decides to take revenge and applies for the job of the court jester. When he wins the king's favour, it’s not long until the number of missing people starts creeping up.

For The Jester, British producer Leon Clarance of London-based Motion Picture Capital got Wolfgang Behr and Bernd Schlötterer of Aventin Filmproduktion on board as German co-producers. Principal photography for The Jester will start in the second half of 2016 in Bavaria. After visiting several locations in Bavaria, Palansky is confident that the state will be the perfect setting for the film’s subject matter.

The FFF Bayern is backing the international co-production with €1.5 million from its special fund. Other international co-productions that have been supported by this programme include Big Game [+see also:
trailer
making of
film profile] by Jalmari Helander, The Happy Prince by Rupert Everett and Snowden [+see also:
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interview: Oliver Stone
film profile] by Oliver Stone.