Zentropa Entertainments has unveiled the full cast of Nikolaj Arcel’s new epic historical drama “The Bastard” (previously known as the working title “King’s Land”). The movie has just started shooting.
Along with Mads Mikkelsen and Amanda Collin (“Raised by Wolves”), the movie will star Simon Bennebjerg (“Borgen”) who will play the Frederik de Schinkel, the local landowner and nemesis to Mads Mikkelsen’s character Ludvig Kahlen. Norwegian actress Kristine Kujath Thorp (“Ninjababy,” “Sick of Myself”) will play Frederik de Schinkel’s cousin Edel Helene, trapped in a deadly game between Shinkel and Kahlen of power and love. The cast also includes European Shooting Star winner Gustav Lindh (“Riders of Justice”) who will play pastor Anton Eklund, Kahlen’s unlikely ally.
Other cast members include Jakob Lohmann (“Riders of Justice”), Morten Hee Andersen (“Ride Upon the Storm”), Magnus Krepper (“Queen of Hearts”) and Felix Kramer (“Dark”), among others.
Believed to be Zentropa’s biggest feature films in years , the $8-million budget feature has already pre-sold to the U.S. (Magnolia Pictures), Germany (PLAION PICTURES), France (The Jokers Films), Benelux (September Films) and Hungary (Vertigo Media).
The new project was penned by Arcel together with critically acclaimed Danish screenwriter and director Anders Thomas Jensen (“Riders of Justice”) and is based on the Danish bestseller ‘Kaptajnen og Ann Barbara’ (translated ‘The Captain and Ann Barbara’) from 2020. Produced by Louise Vesth for Zentropa Entertainments.
Arcel’s screen adaptation will be a gripping drama about the conquest of the Danish heath. In the mid-1700s, Danish King Frederik V declared that the wild heath of Jutland should be tamed, cultivated, and colonized so that civilization could spread and new taxes be generated for the royal house.