TrustNordisk Boards New Department Q Film ‘Boundless’ by ‘Banshee’ Helmer (EXCLUSIVE)

Annika Pham
·3 min read
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TrustNordisk has snapped up international sales rights to the new Danish crime thriller “Boundless,” based on fiction guru Jussi Adler-Olsen’s “Den Grænseløse,” his sixth novel in the Department Q series.

Danish helmer Ole Christian Madsen, credited for the HBO series “Banshee” (2013-16) and WWII drama “Flame & Citron” starring Mads Mikkelsen, has taken up the challenge of bringing Adler-Olsen’s suspenseful universe to the silver screens, working from a script by Jakob Weis (“The Interrogation”, “That Time of Year”).

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Christian Madsen will reunite with his “Banshee” actor Ulrich Thomsen (“Trom,” “Festen”). The latter reprises the role of detective Carl Mørck, which he played in Nordisk Film Production’s previous Department Q film version, “The Marco Effect”.

The helmer said he has “a profound respect for the world built in Adler-Olsen’s novels, that he finds both “intriguing and fascinating.” “I do believe ‘Boundless’ the movie could expand that world even more,” he asserted.

In this new thriller, Carl Mørck and his team are sent to the remote Danish island of Bornholm, where a cold case about a dead girl hanging from a tree, is brought to life and linked to a secret sect of sun worshippers on the island.

“In the film, the characters are fatally confronted with their past and sent to settle a disturbing case, that in many ways is connected to choices made by [Detective] Carl Mørck a long time ago,” expanded Christian Madsen, who describes the project as “a thought-provoking thriller about revenge, power and submission, but also about restraints. “Jakob Weiss has written a nerve-wrecking script, and I’ve chosen to direct the movie because I think there’s a massive potential to make an entertaining and relevant thriller with a disturbing insight into a closed, magical and fascinating world,” he said.

Speaking about her latest pick up, TrustNordisk managing director Susan Wendt said she is “thrilled to once again be working with the Department Q universe” and is “convinced that Ole Christian Madsen will make the film even more suspenseful with his talent, keeping the audience on the edge of their seats.”

The project, set to roll from Sept. 5, is produced by Mikael Rieks and Malene Blenkov for Nordisk Film Production Denmark, in co-production with Germany’s Nadcon Film. Co-financiers take in the Danish Film Institute, ZDF, TV2 Denmark, TV2 Norway, LIAA Film Investment Agency Latvia and Estonian Film Institute, Hyæne Film and Münchhausen Productions.

The local premiere via Nordisk Film is slated for Feb. 1s, 2024.

“Boundless”is the second of six Department Q films to be brought to the screens by Nordisk Film Production Denmark. The first title, “The Marco Effect” by Martin Zandvliet, was sold by TrustNordisk to numerous territories including Spain (Vertigo), Hungary (Vertigo Media), Slovakia & Czech Republic (Aero Films), former Yugoslavia (Discovery Film & Video), South Korea (Contents Panda) and Taiwan (Deepjoy).

Four earlier film adaptations of the crime franchise produced by Nordisk Film’s brand Zentropa turned into major hits: “The Keeper of Lost Causes,” “The Absent One”, “A Conspiracy of Faith” and “The Purity of Vengeance.”

Copenhagen-based TrustNordisk is this week at Haugesund’s New Nordic Films confab with a large lineup of Scandi titles, such as the finished films “A Matter of Truth” by Annette K. Olesen, “Attachment” by Gabriel Bier Gislason, and the works in progress “Feed” by Johannes Person and WWII drama “The Liberation” by Anders Walther.

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