‘Valhalla Rising’ For Refn

Nicolas Winding Refn, who brought us the criminal insanity of the Pusher trilogy, is moving from the drug world to the old world with his next film Valhalla Rising, currently shooting in Scotland. According to Screen Daily the story concerns “a mute Viking getting lost at sea on the journey from Scotland to Scandinavia and discovering America in the process.” Sounds like Cast Away on a boat…with the same amount of hair. Perhaps he will make company with a large rock of some sort in lieu of a volleyball. Refn favorite Mads Mikkelsen, who memorably played James Bond’s foil and poker enthusiast Le Chiffre in Casino Royale, stars as the speech-impaired Viking with Jamie Sives and Gary Lewis (Billy Elliot) also appearing. No word on which may be playing the rock.

As with his Pusher films, the director will shoot the film in chronological order – to what end is anyone’s guess. From my perspective the filming method brought nothing to the series, but hey everyone’s got their thing. Refn has been developing the project for years with his producing partner Henrik Danstrup, with things finally coalescing when Nimbus Films stepped up to the plate. The aptly-named Wild Bunch will be selling the picture with distribution deals already locked for France and the UK (Wild Side and Vertigo respectively). The film is tentatively set to be released in April 2009 in Refn’s native Denmark.