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PRODUCTION Denmark

SF Studios buys four thrillers by Jesper Stein, to make three films

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- The Danish production company plans to shoot three movies about deputy detective Axel Steen and his murder investigations

SF Studios buys four thrillers by Jesper Stein, to make three films
Author Jesper Stein

Denmark’s SF Studios – a subsidiary of the Swedish major – has acquired the film rights for four thrillers by Danish author Jesper Stein from Gyldendal Publishing, in order to make three films based on the series about deputy detective Axel Steen and his murder investigations. 

“Axel Steen is such a strong character that we want the audience to feel as if they really know him already from the beginning,” said Danish producer Peter Bech, of SF Studios, who will first film the third book in the series, Akrash (2014), followed by a combined Unrest (2012) and Bye Bye Blackbird (2013), then concluding with Aisha (2015).

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The Nørrebro area of Copenhagen provides the backdrop for the hard-boiled and uncompromising Steen, who never gives less than 100% when solving a case; the investigations, the hunt for criminals and Steen's chaotic private life – he is divorced and has a daughter – are portrayed in a tone known as “2200 Noir”, referring to the Nørrebro postcode. 

Originally a journalist in Aarhus, covering crime and literature, Stein received the Danish Crime Academy's Debutant Prize for Unrest and the Danish Booksellers' Golden Laurels for his first book in the series, Aisha. His crime novels have been sold to more than ten countries, including France, Germany, Holland and Norway.

“I have high hopes for the collaboration with SF Studios. We have the same understanding of the books and the need also to build a strong and complex protagonist for a character-borne story,” said Stein. “We will depict a contemporary Copenhagen that is raw, unadorned and far from the postcard idyll, with action at a level you are not used to.”

The films will be scripted by Swedish screenwriters Maria Karlsson and Oliver Dixon, well known for the Swedish Easy Money [+see also:
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franchise. According to Bech, “Principal photography for the first film will start next summer; number one in the series will be launched in the autumn of 2018, followed by a new film during the following two years.”

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