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Ben Kingsley and Theo James shooting in Copenhagen

22 Apr 2016, Posted by Liv Saalbach Holse in Uncategorized @en

Earlier this week the two acclaimed actors Ben Kingsley (center in photo) and Theo James visited Copenhagen to shoot the last scenes of the political thriller “Backstabbing for Beginners”. Per Fly (left in photo) has co-written the screenplay with Daniel Pyne, and also directs the film for the Danish production companies Creative Alliances and Parts & Labor DK. Producers are Malene Blenkov, Lars Knudsen, Nikolaj Vibe Michelsen and Jay van Hoy.

The last scenes were shot in studios at Filmstationen, who did a fantastic job reconstructing a UN office and conference hall. Before coming to Copenhagen the film did a large part of the shooting in Canada and Morocco. Now the company will continue to work on the postproduction and plan to premiere early 2017.

Danish projects aimed at the international market
Out of a total Danish spend of 834.000 € Copenhagen Film Fund invested 400.000 € in the film resulting in the final section of the production being set in the Copenhagen region. Thomas Gammeltoft (right in photo), CEO of Copenhagen Film Fund explains how:

“it is important for Copenhagen Film Fund to demonstrate that we also back larger Danish projects aimed at the international market. For that reason, Per Fly’s first international feature film is a perfect fit. It is an interesting project in every sense, with large scale international financing behind it and great potential, featuring established names like Ben Kingsley and Theo James in the cast”.

Inspired by Michael Soussan’s critically acclaimed memoir, “Backstabbing for Beginners: My Crash Course in International Diplomacy,” the film tells the story of Michael (Theo James), a young idealist who lands his dream job as a program coordinator for the U.N.’s Oil for Food program. He is thrown into an already fraught postwar Iraq where government agents and power hungry countries are circling Iraq’s oil reserves like sharks. He seeks answers from the one person he thinks he can trust, Pasha (Ben Kingsley), his boss, a seasoned diplomat. The more Michael learns, however, the more he suspects a conspiracy at the highest level. The only way out will be to expose it all, risking his own life.

Watch the news on the Danish broadcaster DR this Sunday evening for interviews with Ben Kingsley and Theo James about their experience of working with a Danish team and director.

 

Copenhagen Film Fund 04/2016Pasha’s (Ben Kingsley) UN office built at Filmstationen in Copenhagen. The green screen outside the window will show New York skyline later on.