Tonight the Norwegian-Danish co-production “The King’s Choice” has its gala premiere in Oslo, where the film’s main actor Jesper Christiansen, the director Erik Poppe and the rest of the cast and crew will attend the official screening together with additional 1400 people Oslo Concert hall can hold.
Besides the gala premiere the film also had an exclusive pre screening the 21th of September at a public festival in honour of King Harald and Queen Sonja’s 25th anniversary as royal couple. Especially the King was excited to see Jesper Christiansen in the role as his grandfather King Haakon VII.
A current theme
“The King’s Choice” tells the incredible story of three dramatic days in April 1940, where the Norwegian king is faced with an inconceivable ultimatum from the German Nazi Power: surrender or die. With German warplanes and troops on their tail the royal familiy is forced to flee. After three days King Haakon makes his final decision: he refuses to give in jeopardizing the lives of both his own, his familiy and countless contrymen.
Read more about the film here.
Eventhough the film takes place 76 years ago, Erik Poppe believes that the theme is still highly relevant and current:
“This is a story of a family forced to flee from war and danger. You can’t avoid seeing the relevance when you look at todays world situation. It is important not to forget that this has happened to us and can happen again,” the director states on Nordisk Film’s website.
The Fund ensures 1,27 million € spend
Last year Copenhagen Film Fund invested 470.000€ in Erik Poppe’s film about the three seminal days in Norwegian history, created in a collaboration between the Norwegian production company Paradox and Danish Nordisk Film. The Fund’s investment ensured a spend of 1,27 million € in the Copenhagen region on among other things studio facilities, production and Jesper Christiansen in the lead role as den originally Danish King Haakon VII.
The Norwegian Oscar committee just selected “The King’s Choice” as Norway’s Oscar contender in the category Best Foreign-Language Film. The committee made their choice based on the film’s strong and universal story about making the right choices under extreme conditions and the film’s ability to humanize the power elite and its position in a unique and moving way.
It is still not decided when “The King’s Choice” will have its Danish premiere.
Untill then watch the movietrailer below.
