Svendsen's Elevator goes up, up, up, selling US, UK, Germany and France

by Jorn Rossing Jensen

16/05/2012 - Elevator, Norwegian director Stig Svendsen's feature debut that was launched at last year's Norwegian International Film Festival in Haugesund, is on its way up, after US sales agency Empress Road Pictures closed a roster of international sales for the US-Norwegian co-production.

The thriller has been licensed to Inception Media Group LLC for North America, High Fliers Films PLC for the UK, Explosive Media for Germany, TF1 International for France, Cinematic Vision for Scandinavia, Mid Ship YK for Japan and Straitex Eurocommerce for Russia.

With an ensemble cast of Christopher Backus, Anita Briem, John Getz, Shirley Knight, Amanda and Rachel Pace, Devin Ratray, Tehmina Sunny, Joey Slotnick and Waleed Zuaiter, Svendsen wanted to "create a pressure cooker drama like Hitchcock's Psycho or Polanski's The Tenant."

"It was exactly the film I set out to make, and I am excited that so many countries have realised how terrific it is," said US writer-producer Marc Rosenberg (December Boys, Dingo) of Elevator, which has most recently been shown at the Brussels International Fantastic Film Festival.

The thriller finds nine sophisticated Wall Street party-goers stuck in a lift; there is no escape and no promise of rescue, and one of them is carrying a ticking bomb, which cannot be defused. "It is not a dark comedy, but there are some very funny moments, where you might feel guilty of laughing, but you cannot help it," Svendsen added.

Elevator was scripted and produced by Rosenberg, for Los Angeles-based Quite Nice Pictures (US), and Tor Arne Øvrebø and Kjetil Omberg for Norway's Tappeluft Pictures. Svendsen is currently working on a political thriller based on a 1962 accident in Spitzbergen.