It would seem that making English language versions of excellent Scandinavian films is the cool thing to do these days. Tomas Alfredson’s Let the Right One In was very quickly adapted as Let Me In for American audiences, The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo is getting the David Fincher treatment just two and a half years after its Swedish premiere, and now Headhunters, a hit in Norway as well as at festivals around Europe and Canada, has been picked up by Summit Entertainment for a less subtitley remake, according to Deadline.
All of these adaptations were first based on novels and Headhunters is no exception. Jo Nesbo’s novel follows a corporate recruiter, a.k.a. headhunter, who doubles as an art thief, stealing paintings from his rich clients to fuel his pricey lifestyle. He eventually steals from the wrong hombre and things get dicey.
Yellow Bird, one of the Norwegian production houses involved with the original production, was purchased by Summit and will be involved with the English language production as well, which will hopefully create some accountability for the accuracy of the story, a commodity that some American adaptations ignore. No director is attached yet.
Headhunters starred Nikolaj Coster-Waldau, a name you won’t recognize yet, but the Danish actor is quickly on his way to stardom, making a huge splash in the states as Jamie Lannister in the outstanding Game of Thrones series on HBO. We don’t know yet who will star in the remake, but having him reprise his role for American audiences makes a lot of sense for everyone involved. His face will put butts in seats, his familiarity with the role will make for some great acting, and he’s still a small enough name that they could probably get him for cheap. I say do it, Summit.
More news from Headhunters will probably spill our way soon as its great showing at the Toronto International Film Festival last month has gotten it some traction. Stay tuned.
