06/11/2013 - US director Richard Fox will direct US-Norwegian coproduction with US actor Ben McKenzie as an extreme swimmer with inner demons and Norwegian actors Kristoffer Joner and Agnes Kittelsen in the cast

As the first result of the US-Norway Film Development Initiative, American director Richard L Fox will shoot his second feature, The Swimmer, at Norwegian regional film centre, FilmCamp, in Skjold. Besides Fox and US lead actor Ben McKenzie (photo), cast and crew will be Norwegian, including Norwegian actors Kristoffer Joner and Agnes Kittelsen. The script was written by Norwegian writer-director Bård Ivar Engelsås.

The Norwegian Film Institute has chipped in €250,000 of the €2.9 million budget (including €2.3 million US finance from, ao, main producers Senza Pictures and Garnet Girl). Norwegian producers Joachim Lyng and Magnus Ramsdalen, of Tromsø’s Sweet Film, will stage the Norwegian side of the project: 30 shooting days (from June 17, 2014) and all post-production.

The Swimmer is the story of an American extreme swimmer (McKenzie), who discovers in Norway that the real challenge of his life is not to force the large Norwegian waterfalls, but to confront his inner demons and come to terms with them. He meets an old local farmer who also has demon problems. The film will be ready for its premiere on February 13, 2015.

The film institute has also supported Acquitted, a TV2 television series scripted by Siv Rajendram Eliassen and Anna Bache-Wiig and directed by, ao, Petter Næss. The Brede Hovland production for Miso Film, which received €1.2 million in state funding, follows a Norwegian successful businessman who after 20 years in Hong Kong returns to his little home community which turned its back on him.