Stockholm-based production company Dramacorp is joining forces with best-selling author Jonas Jonasson for “Whiskey on the Rocks,” a high-profile Cold War-set mini-series.
The series will reunite Jonasson with Patrick Nebout, Dramacorp CEO, and creative director Henrik Jansson-Schweizer following the Oscar-nominated “The Hundred-Year-Old Man Who Climbed Out of the Window and Disappeared,” which became Sweden’s biggest blockbuster.
Weaving comedy and thriller, “Whiskey on the Rocks” is inspired by a notorious incident that very nearly escalated into a full-blown war between Sweden and the USSR. In 1981, a Soviet U-137 ‘Whisky’-class submarine ran aground on rocks deep inside Swedish territorial waters — right in the middle of a sensitive Swedish naval exercise. This extreme breach of sovereignty led to a Cold War stand-off between Sweden and the USSR that took 11 days of high-stakes negotiation to resolve.
The event series will be headlined by a local and international cast. “Whiskey on the Rocks” will also be using next-generation in-camera and VR technology pioneered by Lucasfilm and Disney on the space Western series “The Mandalorian.”
“I have always said that reality supersedes fiction, though I am pretty skilled at coming up with stuff, nonetheless. There was no way that I would decline Dramacorp’s offer to take on the bizarre and true story about a Soviet nuclear submarine gone off course,” said Jonas Jonasson.
Jonasson has become one of Sweden’s most popular authors of the last decade, having sold over 16 million books across 46 countries.
Nebout, who launched Dramacorp in a joint venture with Jan Mojto’s Beta Film, said “[Jonasson’s] take on one of the Cold Wars, and definitely Sweden’s most infamous and fascinating incident, is just brilliant.”
“Jonas has such a unique approach and angle on infamous historical events and characters, we couldn’t dream of a better voice to re-tell a story that is Scandinavia’s very own version of the Cuban Missile Crisis,” added Nebout.
Dramacorp creative director Henrik Jansson-Schweizer said: “It is beyond fantastic to team up with mastermind Jonas Jonasson once again. He is truly one of the greatest storytellers of our time — and having his sharp pen in combination with this infamous 1981 Cold War incident will be as explosive as when we took Allan Karlsson to the big screen. This is going to be yet another great adventure and I can’t wait to get in production”.
Nebout and Jansson-Schweizer, whose credits include the family saga “Thicker Than Water” and “Midnight Sun,” will executive produce “Whiskey On The Rocks.”