News

Spoiler Alert !!!This article contains minor Chainsaw Man Manga Spoilers.

Tatsuki Fujimoto’s Chainsaw Man features many great and memorable characters, who stick with fans for life. From the iconic designs to their catchphrases, the characters not only entertain us but also provide a strange comfort with their stories. Seeing the characters move forward irrespective of the tragedies they’ve faced is admirable.

Kishibe from Chainsaw Man | Credits: Studio Mappa

Additionally, Fujimoto’s representation is extremely realistic as he shows the characters fumbling as well. One of the best characters in that respect is Kishibe. He seems generally tired and fed up with everything, but shows hints of care and consideration. He’s undeniably a great character and resembles a renowned actor, who might have served as the inspiration behind him.

Kishibe and Mads Mikkelsen are Identical Beyond Belief

Kishibe was introduced to us fairly early on in Chainsaw Man.

It’s difficult to imagine that following apocalyptic events, the remaining humans will arbitrarily feel like busting out singing. But that’s what writer-director Joshua Oppenheimer envisions in The End. Described as a cautionary tale, The End opens in theaters on December 6, 2024.

The cast includes Academy Award winner Tilda Swinton (Michael Clayton), Academy Award nominee Michael Shannon, George MacKay (1917), and Moses Ingram (The Queen’s Gambit). Bronagh Gallagher (Brassic), Tim McInnerny (Gladiator II), and Lennie James (Fear the Walking Dead) also star.

“From Academy Award-nominated director Joshua Oppenheimer (The Act of Killing) comes a poignant and deeply human musical about a family that survived the end of the world. Twenty-five years after environmental collapse left the Earth uninhabitable, Mother, Father and Son are confined to their palatial bunker, where they struggle to maintain hope and a sense of normalcy by clinging to the rituals of daily life—until the arrival of a stranger,...

Neon has revealed the trailer and poster for the apocalyptic musical film The End, which was co-written and directed by Joshua Oppenheimer. The movie will open in Los Angeles and New York on Dec. 6 and in select cities on Dec. 13.

From Academy Award-nominated director Joshua Oppenheimer comes a poignant and deeply human musical about a family that survived the end of the world.

Twenty-five years after environmental collapse left the Earth uninhabitable, Mother, Father and Son are confined to their palatial bunker, where they struggle to maintain hope and a sense of normalcy by clinging to the rituals of daily life—until the arrival of a stranger, Girl, upends their happy routine.

Son, a naïve twenty-something who has never seen the outside world, is fascinated by the newcomer, and suddenly, the delicate bonds of blind optimism that have held this wealthy clan together begin to fray.

As tensions rise, their...

From Academy Award®-nominated director Joshua Oppenheimer comes Neon’s The End, being described as “a poignant and deeply human musical about a family that survived the end of the world.” Watch the official trailer below.

End of the world musical The End will release in theaters on December 6, 2024.

An urgent and unforgettable cautionary tale, The End stars Academy Award® winner Tilda Swinton (Michael Clayton), Academy Award® nominee Michael Shannon, George MacKay (1917) and Moses Ingram.

The screenplay is by Joshua Oppenheimer and Rasmus Heisterberg (A Royal Affair), with songs by Joshua Schmidt (music) and Joshua Oppenheimer (lyrics).

Bronagh Gallagher, Tim McInnerny, and Lennie James also star.

The post ‘The End’ Official Trailer – Tilda Swinton and Michael Shannon Star in Apocalyptic Musical appeared first on Bloody Disgusting!.

Studiocanal’s Scandi powerhouse Sam Productions, co-founded by star writers Adam Price, Søren Sveistrup and producer Meta Louise Føldager Sørensen, is gearing up for an expansive slate of event series most-likely to shake the Kingdom of Denmark and take global viewers by storm.

“We’re working on our biggest slate ever,” said Sørensen, credited for more than 60 films and series, including the Oscar-nominated “A Royal Affair,” “The Wife,” starring Glenn Close, and Lars von Trier’s Cannes winner “Melancholia.”

Toplining Sam’s TV projects is “By the Grace of God,” Denmark’s own version of “The Crown” based on the life of Queen Margrethe II from her birth in 1940 until her abdication earlier this year. Filming of the blockbuster series, ordered by Danish commercial pubcaster TV2, is due to start in August 2025. Sara Namer serves as producer.

Based on an original idea by Sveistrup, the biggest-ever fiction drama about the Danish ruling monarchs,...

Alicia Vikander opened up about her family life at the Zurich Film Festival, where she received the Golden Eye Award.

“Sometimes, [preparing for a role] is boring and tedious. My three-year-old is wondering what’s going on, because I’m locking the doors and talking to myself,” she laughed.

“When I am done, I get very tired. Acting is physically and emotionally draining. I have two young children now, I was pregnant when making that film and that’s where most of my time goes when I am not working,” said the Swedish actor, fresh off dystopian sci-fi “The Assessment.”

Vikander’s growing multilingual family – the actor is married to Michael Fassbender – aroused festival audience’s curiosity.

“My six-month-old doesn’t speak much, but my three-year-old speaks Portuguese, English and Swedish. Recently, he was hanging out with some kids and now there’s also a bit of Spanish. He’s giving me language courses now!

Exclusive: Mubi, the global distributor, streaming service and production company, has acquired all rights in UK, Germany and Austria to Joshua Oppenheimer’s (The Act of Killing) new feature The End, which had its world premiere at Telluride this weekend.

The ambitious film is imagined as a Golden Age-style musical and cautionary tale about the last human family.

Starring are Oscar winner Tilda Swinton (Michael Clayton), Oscar nominee Michael Shannon (Revolutionary Road), BAFTA-nominee George Mackay (1917), and Emmy-nominee Moses Ingram (The Queen’s Gambit).

Screenplay is by Oppenheimer and Rasmus Heisterberg (A Royal Affair), with songs by Joshua Schmidt (music) and Oppenheimer (lyrics). Marius de Vries is the executive music producer.

The official synopsis reads: “Twenty-five years after environmental collapse left the Earth uninhabitable, Mother, Father and Son are confined to their palatial bunker, where they struggle to maintain hope and a sense of normalcy by clinging to the rituals of daily...

Exclusive: BAFTA nominee and Emmy winner Christopher Eccleston (Thor: The Dark World) and Thomas W. Gabrielsson (A Royal Affair) have rounded out the cast of Cold War biopic Whispers of Freedom as production wraps in Berlin.

Set in 1980s East Berlin, the British-German co-production is based on the tragic true story of young East German Chris Gueffroy in the lead up to his attempted escape from the isolated Eastern bloc state. Gueffroy was the last person to be shot and the second-last to die in an escape attempt while trying to flee to the West across the Berlin Wall.

Eccleston, best known for portraying the ninth incarnation of The Doctor in Doctor Who, and for playing Malekith in Thor: The Dark World, joins the cast to lend his voice as East German radio personality Herbert Köfer.

Swedish vet Gabrielsson, who most recently appeared opposite Mads Mikkelsen in The Promised Land,...

Alicia Vikander’s height is believed to be around 5 feet 5 inches (165.1 cm). However, in a Wired video, she mentioned that she is actually 167.5 centimeters tall, which is close to the average height of a Swedish woman.

Alicia Vikander wears a size 8 in the US shoe sizing system, roughly translating to a size 6 in the UK and approximately 38.5 in European sizing.

Michael Fassbender is taller than Alicia Vikander. Michael Fassbender’s height is 5 feet 10 ¾ inches (179.7 cm), while Alicia Vikander’s height is 5 feet 5 inches (165.1 cm). He is approximately 5 inches (12.6 cm) taller than his wife.

Michael Fassbender, who stands at 5 feet 10 ¾ inches (179.7 cm), and Alicia Vikander, who is 5 feet 5 inches (165.1 cm) tall, attended the Vanity Fair x Louis Vuitton dinner during the 75th annual Cannes Film Festival at Fred LEcailler on May 20, 2022, in Cannes, France (Credit: Abaca / INSTARimages)

Alicia Vikander: Fun Facts and Surprising Rumors Net Worth:Alicia Vikander is a successful Swedish...

It’s a big weekend on the campaign trail. The SAG Awards take place on Saturday, and both the Independent Spirits Awards and Producers Guild Awards are on Sunday. After that, the state of the Oscar race will be clearer than ever. Right on time, one of this year’s most-nominated films is hitting digital platforms. It’s joined by a handful of contenders past and present.

The contender to watch this week: “The Zone of Interest“

Jonathan Glazer‘s Best Picture-nominated Holocaust drama should be experienced in a theater, where the harrowing, immersive sound design stands out. It’s still playing in select venues across the country, having grossed nearly $7 million domestically — an impressive figure for an arty indie with difficult subject matter. But you can also see it at home now: The Best International Feature Film front-runner is available to purchase on VOD for $19.99. The film, which depicts...

Plot: In 18th century Denmark, Captain Ludvig Kahlen – a proud, ambitious, but impoverished war hero — sets out to tame a vast, uninhabitable land on which seemingly nothing can grow. He seeks to start farming crops, build a colony in the name of the King, and gain a noble title for himself. This beautiful but forbidding area also happens to be under the rule of the merciless Frederik De Schinkel, a preening nobleman who realizes the threat Kahlen represents to his power.

Review: You have heard the cliche “they don’t make them like they used to” countless times, but it fits perfectly when reviewing The Promised Land. An epic melodrama that combines elements of survival thrillers, westerns, period melodramas, and historical drama, The Promised Land is a stunning and stark look at one man’s quest to tame the harsh wilderness of the barren northern territory of Denmark while also...

Peter Garde, European film financing vet and frequent collaborator of filmmakers like Lars Von Trier and Thomas Vinterberg, has died aged 67 in Fakse, Denmark, after a long battle with cancer. Garde’s wife, Nanna, confirmed the news to Deadline alongside his close associates, Peter Aalbæk Jensen and Anders Kjærhauge.

Garde began his education in finance in the small town of Store Heddinge in Denmark, where he was a student set to become a banker. He ultimately went on to start his own financial exchange company.

After the success of Lars Von Trier’s Breaking The Waves, Garde was convinced by his close friend producer Peter Aalbæk Jensen to join Zentropa and help manage all the money that was pouring into the studio, which ultimately became the beginning of Garde’s long career with Lars Von Trier and Zentropa Studios’ films. He joined the company in 1997.

Garde was responsible for piecing...

The Promised Land Movie Review Rating:

Star Cast: Mads Mikkelsen, Amanda Collin, Simon Bennebjerg, Kristine Kujath Thorp, and Gustav Lindh.

Director: Nikolaj Arcel

The Promised Land Movie Review Is Out! (Picture Credit: IMDb)

What’s Good: Having another collaboration between Arcel and Mikkelsen feels right after what they did in A Royal Affair a decade ago.

What’s Bad: The Promised Land loses some steam towards the end and comes to a rushed resolution.

Loo Break: The Promised Land is engaging, so you will want to see what happens next in the story.

Watch or Not?: Yes, this is a must-watch film, especially if you are a fan of history or Mads Mikkelsen’s work as an actor.

Language: English (with subtitles).

Available On: Theatrical release

Runtime: 127 Minutes.

User Rating:

Historical films have that kind of aura around them that makes them more film-like than many others. There is...

If you’ve read this month’s preview earlier this week, you already know there are two very different wide releases this weekend. Read on for Gold Derby’s box office preview.

First up, there’s the new Matthew Vaughn spy action-comedy “Argylle,” based on a recently released book by one Elly Conway, presumed to be a pseudonym for another famous author, who sold the rights to Vaughn to make this movie even before the book’s release just a few weeks back.

Going by the trailer, there’s a bit of a mystery in the book and movie surrounding the identity of the film’s titular secret agent, but Vaughn has another stacked cast, including Bryce Dallas Howard as “Conway” with Henry Cavill playing “Argylle,” and the likes of Sam Rockwell, Bryan Cranston, Samuel L. Jackson, Catherine O’Hara, John Cena, Sofia Boutella and even pop star Dua Lipa. The...

You do not fuck with Mads Mikkelsen.

There are a number of takeaways to be had from The Promised Land, the excellent prestige drama-cum-bloody payback flick straight outta Denmark. The rich in 18th century Scandinavia were as entitled, immoral, and sociopathic as they are in 21st century everywhere. Just because you’ve fought for a country doesn’t mean it will give you a fair shake. Few things fill a big screen better than a grand, historical epic brimming with sweeping vistas, action-packed set pieces, and heroic men and women fighting for love,...

After the cinematic doldrums of January, February brings surprisingly packed, varied offerings, from Oscar-contending international features to biographical documentaries of legendary film artists to some electrifying genre outings. Check out my picks to see below, and catch up with our Sundance coverage ahead of our Berlinale reviews here.

16. The Monk and the Gun (Pawo Choyning Dorji; Feb. 9)

Returning after his Oscar-nominated directorial debut Lunana: A Yak in the Classroom, Pawo Choyning Dorji’s Ifsn Advocate Award-shortlisted The Monk and the Gun premiered at Telluride and TIFF to much acclaim and will now be released this month. Selected by Bhutan as their Oscar entry, the heartwarming film is about an American in search of a long-lost, vintage gun in Bhutan as the country’s launching a democracy.

15. Ennio (Giuseppe Tornatore; Feb. 9)

The film world lost perhaps its most legendary musician when Ennio Morricone died at the age of 91 in July 2020. Cinema Paradiso director Giuseppe Tornatore,...

Good things happen when Mads Mikkelsen and Nikolaj Arcel team up. Back in 2012, the actor and filmmaker collaborated on “A Royal Affair.” The film would go on to be nominated for an Oscar, as well as win the Silver Bear. Now, more than a decade later, they are working together on a new film, “The Promised Land,” which has also earned awards consideration and acclaim.

Continue reading ‘The Promised Land’ Exclusive Clip: Mads Mikkelsen Takes On A Greedy Nobleman In Nikolaj Arcel’s Period Drama at The Playlist.

Clockwise from bottom left: Cole Sprouse and Kathryn Newton in Lisa Frankenstein, Jennifer Lopez in This Is Me ... Now, Orion And The Dark, Margaret Qualley in Drive-Away Dolls, and Chip in ArgyllePhoto: Prime, Focus Features, Universal Pictures, Netflix

January may be in the rearview, but movie theaters are still...

Carla Gugino teases potential role in the upcoming The Dark Tower series. Gugino reveals she has had conversations with Mike Flanagan about appearing in the show. Flanagan's previous adaptations of Stephen King's works have been praised, raising hopes for The Dark Tower series.

Mike Flanagan’s frequent collaborator Carla Gugino teases a potential role in the upcoming Dark Tower adaptation. Based on Stephen King’s hugely successful eight-book series, the genre-bending western was initially adapted in 2017 by Nikolaj Arcel, the Danish filmmaker popular for also directing A Royal Affair. Unfortunately, the 2017 Dark Tower adaption was met with negative reviews, despite its star-studded cast. In 2022, a new Mike Flanagan adaptation of Dark Tower was announced. However, there have been sparse details about the forthcoming series following its announcement.

Now, in an interview with The Playlist, Gugino teases potentially appearing in the forthcoming Dark Tower series. Gugino reveals there’s been...

Now a week into the new year, Max is, like many of us, cleaning house. The streamer is ushering in a new month of library additions and new originals, and, like usual, we have to give to get.

While the streamer has lost a few titles already this month, including 2018’s “The Nun,” nearly all of Max’s departures will make their exit during the final week of the month, including “Birdman,” “Barbarian,” and more!

Before January comes to an end, check out The Streamable’s top picks of what to watch before they’re gone, and see the full list of what’s leaving Max throughout the rest of the month!

7-Day Free Trial $9.99+ / month Max via amazon.com What are the 5 Best Shows and Movies Leaving Max in January 2024? “Barbarian” | Wednesday, Jan. 24

Georgina Campbell leads the horror-thriller as Tess, a young woman who books a rental home only to...

"We're not dying for your damn heath project." Magnolia Pictures has debuted the main US trailer for The Promised Land, now set for February 2024 after being submitted by Denmark to the Oscars for 2023. The latest feature from Danish filmmaker Nikolaj Arcel premiered in the Main Competition at this year's 2023 Venice Film Festival. The film is set in the late 1700s and is a tale of royalty and servants. It tells the story of Ludvig Kahlen who pursued his lifelong dream: To make the heath bring him wealth & honor. Mads Mikkelsen stars, along with Amanda Collin, Simon Bennebjerg, Kristine Kujath Thorp, and Gustav Lindh. Arcel's intro: "Aided by Ida Jessen's brilliant novel, Anders Thomas Jensen and I wanted to tell a grand, epic tale about how our ambitions and desires will inevitably fail if they are all we have. Life is chaos; painful and unpleasant, beautiful and extraordinary, and we often cannot control it.

After being in the awards conversation just a few years ago with Another Round, Mads Mikkelsen is back this year with Denmark’s Oscar entry The Promised Land. A reunion with his A Royal Affair director Nikolaj Arcel, the period epic was a selection at Venice, TIFF, Telluride, and more, and now the new trailer has arrived ahead of a February 2 release from Magnolia Pictures.

Here’s the synopsis: “In 18th century Denmark, Captain Ludvig Kahlen (Mads Mikkelsen) – a proud, ambitious, but impoverished war hero — sets out to tame a vast, uninhabitable land on which seemingly nothing can grow. He seeks to start farming crops, build a colony in the name of the King, and gain a noble title for himself. This beautiful but forbidding area also happens to be under the rule of the merciless Frederik De Schinkel, a preening nobleman who realizes the threat Kahlen represents to his power.

There’s Violent Mads.. And Quiet Mads..

And now there’s Very Quiet Mads.

In his fifth Danish Oscar entry, “The Promised Land,” a Nordic pioneer Western from Nicolaj Arcel (Mikkelsen’s director from a decade ago on the nominated “A Royal Affair”), Mikkelsen delivers an almost silent, stoic, physical performance as captain-turned-potato-farmer Ludvig von Kahlen as he tries to tame the 18th-century Danish heath.

As the bastard son of a nobleman and his maid, making something of a piece of turf is the only way for the veteran to move up into the upper class. “He so desperately wants to become part of something that he hates, nobility,” Mikkelsen told IndieWire during a recent interview in Los Angeles. “They don’t deserve it. They haven’t worked for anything. He decides that he wants to be part of it.”

Back then people didn’t talk about their feelings. “His range of emotions is limited,...

The Marrakech International Film Festival has unveiled the 10 cinema figures who will participate in its In Conversation With program at its 20th edition running from November 24 to December 2.

They comprise Australian actor Simon Baker, French director Bertrand Bonello, U.S. actor Willem Dafoe, Indian filmmaker and producer Anurag Kashyap; Japanese director Naomi Kawase; Danish-u.S. actor and director Viggo Mortensen; U.K. actor Tilda Swinton; and Russian director and screenwriter Andrey Zvyagintsev.

Danish actor Mads Mikkelsen and Moroccan director Faouzi Bensaïdi, who will receive the festival’s honorary Étoile d’or prize this year, will also participate in the program.

Baker’s was seen most recently in Toronto title Limbo and Tribeca 2022 selection Blaze, with early features including L.A. Confidential (1997), David Frankel’s The Devil Wears Prada (2006), and J. C. Chandor’s Margin Call (2011), followed by hit series The Mentalist (2008–2015).

Bensaïdi’s first feature A Thousand Months world premiered...

Take a look at "Tomb Raider" actress Alicia Vikander, photographed by Jan Welters, wearing "Louis Vuitton" for the November 2023 issue of "Madame Figaro" magazine:

Vikander trained as a dancer at the Royal Swedish Ballet School in Stockholm and the School of American Ballet in New York. She began her professional acting career appearing in Swedish television series, gaining recognition for her role as 'Josefin Björn-Tegebrandt' in the TV drama "Andra Avenyn" (2008–10).

Vikander made her feature film debut in "Pure" (2010), winning the 'Guldbagge Award' for 'Best Actress'. In 2012 she portrayed 'Princess Ekaterina "Kitty" Alexandrovna Shcherbatskaya' in director Joe Wright's film adaptation of "Anna Karenina"... ...followed by the role of 'Queen Caroline Mathilde' in the Danish film "A Royal Affair", receiving a 'BAFTA Rising Star Award' nomination.

She then starred in the 2013 Swedish drama "Hotell" and the biopic "The Fifth Estate".

In 2014 and 2015, Vikander achieved global recognition and acclaim for her...

Denmark has picked its 2024 Oscar contender, selecting period epic The Promised Land as its official Academy Award entry in the best international feature category.

The drama, which premiered in competition at the Venice Film Festival this year, stars Mads Mikkelsen as a driven man determined to cultivate the wild Danish heath, the last area of untamed wilderness in 18th-century Denmark. The film re-teams Mikkelsen with director Nikolaj Arcel, whose last Danish feature, A Royal Affair, picked up a best international feature nomination in 2013 (and introduced the world to Alicia Vikander).

Magnolia Pictures, which also released A Royal Affair stateside, has U.S. rights to The Promised Land and is planning a domestic theatrical release for the film on Feb. 2, 2024.

The film’s debut was greeted by critical raves, including The Hollywood Reporter, which called it “a gripping historical epic. Shows once again that period pieces can be vigorous, powerful and emotionally stirring,...

Denmark has submitted Nikolaj Arcel’s The Promised Land as its candidate for Best International Feature Film at the 96th Academy Awards.

The epic historic drama stars Mads Mikkelsen as the real-life Ludvig von Kahlen, a former soldier who tries to make his fortune by taming the then wild and lawless heath of the Danish Jutland peninsula, so it could be turned over to cultivation following a declaration by King Frederik V.

The film world premiered at Venice and then headed to Telluride and Toronto, is currently screening at the San Sebastian International Film Festival, and will next screen at the Zurich Film Festival, Filmfest Hamburg, Hamptons International Film Festival, and the Mill Valley Film Festival.

The film was selected from a short list which also included Anders Walter’s Before It Ends and Lea Glob’s documentary Apolonia, Apolonia.

The Danish Film Institute-backed film produced by Louise Vesth for...

Icon Film Distribution has picked up The Promised Land, the Danish period drama starring Mads Mikkelsen for the U.K.

The Nordic Western sees Mikkelsen reteam with Nikolaj Arcel, the director of 2012’s A Royal Affair, a steamy period piece that scored an Oscar nomination for best international feature and launched the career of co-star Alicia Vikander.

Mikkelsen stars as Captain Kahlen, an 18th-century soldier who struggled, against all odds, to cultivate the barren Jutland heath and start a settlement there. But a local landowner, Frederik De Schinkel (Simon Bennebjerg) is determined to stop him, fearing the arrival of settlers will weaken his position as lord of the realm. The Promised Land is based on Ida Jessen’s Danish best-seller The Captain and Ann Barbara and was inspired by real events, though the book and film are fiction. Amanda Collin and Gustav Lindh co-star.

The Promised Land premiered in competition at the Venice Film Festival.

After his 2012 film A Royal Affair received an Oscar nomination for Best Foreign Language Film, Danish writer-director Nikolaj Arcel did what probably seemed logical at the time: go to Hollywood. But like many directors before him who walked that same path, the results were less than ideal––his being 2017’s disastrous Stephen King adaptation The Dark Tower. Six years later, Arcel returns to his home country and reunites with A Royal Affair star Mads Mikkelsen to make The Promised Land, a brutal, entertaining period piece and another showcase for Mikkelsen’s stone-faced magnetism.

Set in 1700s Denmark, the film tells the story of Captain Ludvig Kahlen (Mikkelsen), a poor veteran who intends to grow crops on the Jutland Heath. Opening title cards establish that no one has been able to “tame” the Heath for decades, but Kahlen and the King’s treasurers come up with a mutually beneficial arrangement. If...

The Zurich Film Festival, which runs Sept. 28 – Oct. 8, will honor the Danish actor Mads Mikkelsen with its Golden Eye award in recognition of his “successful career and versatility,” the Swiss event said Monday.

Mikkelsen will accept the award on Oct. 6, and will present his latest film, “The Promised Land,” which had its world premiere in competition at the Venice Film Festival this month. Nikolaj Arcel’s film was described by Variety critic Guy Lodge as a “lavishly upholstered historical romp,” and “a Danish Western, built on black-and-white moral binaries and a yee-haw sense of intrepid adventure.”

Lodge wrote: “Notionally rooted in historical fact, but embellished with storybook romance and flouncing cartoon villainy, this roundly enjoyable Venice competition entry finally owes all its residual gravitas (and at least half its considerable handsomeness) to the expressive woodcut visage of one Mads Mikkelsen.”

Mikkelsen will also take part in a Zff Masters discussion at the Zurich Film Festival,...

Mads Mikkelsen has proved time and again a master at playing quiet, rational, and seemingly harmless men who, when pushed, swiftly reveal themselves also to be skilled executioners; their pent-up rage does not bubble up so much as shoot out of them in sudden bursts of ultraviolence. Mikkelsen proves it once more in “The Promised Land,” the new period drama that reunites him with his “A Royal Affair” Danish director Nikolaj Arcel, and premieres in competition at the 80th Venice Film Festival this week.

Continue reading ‘The Promised Land’ Review: Mads Mikkelsen Grows Potatoes & Feelings Against All Odds in Handsome Danish Historical Drama at The Playlist.

The Good Earth: Arcel Inherits the Wind with Romanticized Historical Recuperation

After making his English language debut with the imperiled Stephen King adaptation The Dark Tower (2017), writer/director Nikolaj Arcel returns to mining historical obscurities in his native Denmark with The Promised Land. Co-written by one of Denmark’s most talented scribes, Thomas Anders Jensen, both reuniting to collaborate once again with their national treasure Mads Mikkelsen, it would seem Arcel was returning to the period formula which anointed his 2012 breakthrough A Royal Affair. Unfortunately, this agonizing tale of classist manipulation arrives in fever pitch and hits all the most obvious, predictable beats.…...

After the first minute of “The Promised Land,” Danish director Nikolaj Arcel’s period epic set in 18th-century Denmark, we know two things. We know “the heath cannot be tamed” because the opening credits tell us that about the remote, outlaw-ridden Jutland area of Denmark. And we know Mads Mikkelsen stars in the movie.

Anybody want to guess whether the heath gets tamed?

Mikkelsen, we know, is not to be trifled with, whether he’s playing a drunken schoolteacher in “Another Round,” Hannibal Lecter in “Hannibal” or one of the all-time great Bond villains in “Casino Royale.” And “The Promised Land,” which premiered on Friday at the Venice Film Festival, is a handsome, bold two-hour tribute to the power of Mads, both the indominable character he plays and the presence he brings to the screen. “The Promised Land” needs him and he comes through with his ability to give power...

Editor’s note: This review was originally published at the 2023 Venice Film Festival. Magnolia Pictures releases the film in theaters on Friday, February 2.

“The Promised Land,” Nikolaj Arcel’s historical epic set in 18th century Denmark, opens with an ominous epigraph: “The heath cannot be tamed.” For a minute, the proverb reads like a foregone conclusion. Then Mads Mikkelsen shows up onscreen, and we are reassured that the words are merely a challenge, daring the great Dane to prove them wrong.

And prove them wrong he does — to a degree. Mikkelsen plays Ludvig Kahlen, a bootstrapping military veteran who, at the start of the film, fixes his sights on a tricky target: the heath of Jutland, a barren and unforgiving terrain known to be inhospitable to farming. All who have seen the area consider it a wasteland. But to Kahlen, the site might as well be El Dorado; he believes...

It’s been 11 years since Mads Mikkelsen starred in Nikolaj Arcel’s Danish period drama A Royal Affair, one of 2012’s most raved about international films which also went on to an Oscar nomination.

Now, the countrymen are back together again with Venice competition title The Promised Land (Bastarden) which Magnolia acquired for U.S. distribution at script stage and which is already on the shortlist to be Denmark’s Oscar submission this year.

Mikkelsen plays impoverished captain Ludvig Kahlen who in 1755 sets out to conquer the harsh, uninhabitable heath of Jutland with a seemingly impossible goal: to build a colony in the name of the King. But the merciless Frederik de Schinkel (Simon Bennebjerg) does everything in his power to drive the captain away. Kahlen will not be intimidated and engages in an unequal battle — risking not only his life, but also that of the family of outsiders that has formed around him.

The Promised Land, the new film from Danish director Nikolaj Arcel, is a story of ambition.

Set in 1755 it follows Captain Ludvig Kahlen, a bankrupt former soldier determined to secure the royal title denied him by birth — the film’s Danish title, Bastarden, is a reference to Kahlen’s origins as the illegitimate son of a rich landowner and his housemaid — by building a colony for the Danish king in the hinterlands of the Danish heath, at the time a lawless and untamed wilderness. In addition to the unforgiving climate and hardscrabble, crop-resistance soil, Kahlen has to battle with Frederik de Schinkel, a brutal and arrogant land baron determined to claim Kahlen’s land for his own.

The premise has the makings of a classic Western: The story of one man taming the frontier. But Arcel, who co-wrote the film with his frequent collaborator Anders Thomas Jensen (Riders of Justice...

As the old adage goes, when one door closes, another opens. Gwyneth Paltrow can attest to that (for any kids in the audience, we’re referring to 1998 rom-com Sliding Doors). As can Amanda Collin.

The Danish actress was in South Africa shooting the second season of HBO Max’s Ridley Scott-produced sci-fi Raised By Wolves (she played the lead, the war android Mother) when she was first contacted about Nikolaj Arcel’s The Promised Land, screening in both Venice and Toronto. Arcel, as it happens, had written the screenplay to her first feature, 2016 crime thriller A Conspiracy of Faith. “I was in my trailer in my latex suit and Nikolaj called me up about this period drama. I was like, I’m in,” Collin explains.

The second season of Raised By Wolves would ultimately be its last, the show — despite critical acclaim and a growing following (and a few...

Danish filmmaker Nikolaj Arcel, who was behind “The Dark Tower” with Idris Elba and Matthew McConaughey – is bringing back the historical epic with “The Promised Land,” which world premieres in Venice Film Festival competition section.

Set in 1755 and based on a true story, it sees captain Ludvig Kahlen (played by Mads Mikkelsen) deciding to finally conquer the Danish heathland and build a colony there. But its ruler, Frederik de Schinkel (Simon Bennebjerg), doesn’t want to share the inhospitable land. Or anything else, for that matter.

“Today, it’s more about action and superheroes, but I’m very interested in taking that genre, one that has gotten a bit lost, and modernizing it,” he says.

“It has this western quality because it’s about pioneers in a new land, trying to build something, but I was more interested in looking at old epics like ‘Lawrence of Arabia.’ I think it’s a genre we need.

Before Bond and “Casino Royale,” before many of his now iconic performances and appearances in franchises like “Rogue One,” ‘Fantastic Beasts,’ “Indiana Jones And The Dial Of Destiny,” Danish actor Mads Mikkelsen first came to fame with Nicolas Winding Refn’s “Pusher” trilogy. But one of the acclaimed films that kept pushing up the mountain of international fame was Danish filmmaker Nikolaj Arcel’s “A Royal Affair” (2012).

Continue reading ‘The Promised Land’ Trailer: Mads Mikkelsen Reunites With Director Nikolaj Arcel For A New Venice-Bound Drama at The Playlist.

"Stay off the heath." Zentropa in Denmark has revealed the first trailer for a film called The Promised Land, which will be premiering at the 2023 Venice Film Festival. The latest feature from Danish filmmaker Nikolaj Arcel is playing in the Main Competition - kicking off next week. The film is set in the late 1700s and is a tale of royalty and servants. It tells the story of Ludvig Kahlen who pursued his lifelong dream: To make the heath bring him wealth & honor. The heath they refer to is a wild & dry land, created by Stone Age farmers who unknowingly exhausted the Danish farm lands (more info here). Mads Mikkelsen stars as Kahlen, with Amanda Collin, Simon Bennebjerg, Kristine Kujath Thorp, and Gustav Lindh. Arcel introduces the film: "Aided by Ida Jessen’s brilliant novel, Anders Thomas Jensen and I wanted to tell a grand, epic tale about how our...

The San Sebastian film festival has again selected top picks of this year’s festival season for its Perlak sidebar, which screens recent, critically acclaimed movies that have not yet been released in Spain.

The 2023 Perlak lineup, unveiled Friday, includes Celine Song’s Sundance hit Past Lives and Maite Alberdi’s Grand Jury winning documentary The Eternal Memory, Christian Petzold’s Berlin breakout Afire and the Cannes sensations The Zone of Interest from Jonathan Glazer, Todd Haynes’s May December, Aki Kaurismäki’s Fallen Leaves, Wim Wenders’ Perfect Days, Warwick Thornton’s The New Boy, Monster from Hirokazu Kore-eda, and Justine Triet’s Palme d’Or winner Anatomy of a Fall.

Les indésirables, the latest social drama from French director Ladj Ly (Les Misérables), which premieres in Toronto next month, will close the Perlak section, screening out of competition. Another Toronto-bound feature, Dumb Money, also made the Perlak cut. The...

Despite the ongoing SAG-AFTRA actors and WGA writers strikes, the Toronto Film Festival continues to turn up the star wattage for its 48th edition, adding movies with Dakota Johnson, Bérénice Bejo, Awkwafina, Sandra Oh and Mads Mikkelsen to its lineup on Thursday.

For the Gala section, TIFF unveiled the A-list heavy crime drama Finestkind from Brian Helgeland, the Oscar-winning writer-director behind Mystic River and L.A. Confidential; and A Knight’s Tale, which stars Ben Foster, Jenna Ortega, Tommy Lee Jones and Toby Wallace.

Also headed to Roy Thomson Hall is the South Korean drama A Normal Family, directed by Hur Jin-ho, the Korean auteur who in the past premiered Dangerous Liaisons and April Snow in Toronto. TIFF earlier tapped fellow Korean director Ryoo Seung-wan’s Smugglers for its Special Presentations sidebar, and has now bumped that drama up to a gala screening in Toronto after a world bow in Locarno.

August is heating up on Max, with “90 Day: The Last Resort” premiering on the streamer Aug. 15 (one day after it airs on TLC).

Five fan-favorite couples from “90 Day Fiance” have reached their breaking points. In a final attempt to salvage their relationships, each couple will participate in a couples retreat to determine whether or not they can heal old wounds. Alongside a team of professionals, they’ll actively navigate issues with trust, sex, jealousy, anger and intimacy. Explosive group therapies, intense couples sessions, past life regressions, unique on-and-off-resort activities and so much more ensue. At the end of the retreat, each couple must decide if they will stay together or move on separately.

Fans of dating and relationship shows may also be interested in “Kim vs Kayne: The Divorce” on August 7, which chronicles the split between Kim Kardashian and Kanye West. There’s also Season 18 of “Sister Wives,...

Copenhagen, 25 July 2023 – The 80th Venice International Film Festival has just announced its official selection, which includes Nikolaj Arcel’s The Promised Land, a gripping drama, based on true events about one man’s steely quest to create his own fortune and to change the map of Denmark forever. But in his pursuit of wealth and honor, he risks sacrificing love and losing those he cares about.

The Zentropa-produced drama will world premiere in Competiton at the Biennale di Venezia, one of the world’s biggest and most prestigious festivals.

The critically acclaimed director is back at the helm directing a Danish film, for the first time since the Academy Award-nominated A Royal Affair (2012) and reuniting with talented, world-class actor Mads Mikkelsen. The Promised Land is penned by Arcel and Danish screenwriter and director Anders Thomas Jensen and is based on the Danish bestseller ‘Kaptajnen og Ann Barbara’ (translated ‘The...

Summer isn’t over yet but HBO and its streaming arm Max are already moving on to fall. With its list of new releases for August 2023, Max is focusing on football! The American kind, mind you, not the actually footy kind.

August 2023 sees the release of two major football documentaries on HBO and Max. The first is the premiere of Hard Knocks on Aug. 10. The new season of long-running NFL training camp docuseries will center on the New York Jets, new employers of legendary quarterback Aaron Rodgers. On Aug. 23, Max will air the aptly named Bs High. The doc tells the stranger-than-fiction story of high school football team Bishop Sycamore, which pulled off one of the more notable sports scams you’re likely to ever hear about.

Not of the football variety but in keeping with the North American sports theme will be season 2 of Winning Time: The Rise of the Lakers Dynasty on Aug.

DeVaughn Nixon, Quincy Isaiah, and Delante Desouza in ‘Winning Time’ season 2 (Photograph by Warrick Page/HBO)

Hard Knock‘s new season focusing on the New York Jets and the second season of the original drama Winning Time: The Rise of the Lakers Dynasty join Max’s August 2023 lineup, along with Tracy Morgan’s latest comedy special. August’s schedule also includes the season finales of And Just Like That… and Warrior.

Rap Sh!t season two premieres on August 10th, and the new half-hour young adult animated series Adventure Time: Fionna & Cake arrives on August 31st.

Series & Films Arriving On Max In August 2023:

August 1

A Hologram for the King (2016)

A Nightmare on Elm Street (1984)

A Nightmare on Elm Street (2010)

A Nightmare on Elm Street 2: Freddy’s Revenge (1985)

A Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors (1987)

A Nightmare on Elm Street 4: The Dream Master (1988)

A Nightmare on Elm Street 5: The Dream Child...

18 producers will take part in the fifth edition of the Series Special programme.

European network Ace Producers has selected 18 independent producers for Ace Series Special, its workshop on the series production landscape.

Each producer attends the workshop with a series project in early stages of development. The 18 participants hail from 12 different countries, and will participate in the workshop from October 30 to November 4 this year in Riga, Latvia.

Scroll down for the full list of producers

The selected producers include Swedish producer Madeleine Ekman of Nordisk Film, with The Making Of A Terrorist, written by Leif Edlund and Emelia Hansson. Ekman...

August is one of the weird months on the calendar. It feels like it should be early fall; September is Right there, after all. And yet August is one of the hottest months of the year for many in the United States, one last gasp of summer before autumn and its traditional TV schedule of new releases settle in.

This year’s fall schedule will look markedly different thanks to strikes by both the leading actors’ union and the leading writers’ guild in Hollywood, but August will still have some fantastic new hits coming to streaming. Warner Bros. Discovery’s streaming platform Max is debuting new titles in just about every imaginable category, so here are the five we’re most excited for at The Streamable!

7-Day Free Trial $9.99+ / month Max via amazon.com

Get 20% Off Your Next Year of Max When Pre-Paid Annually

‘Winning Time: The Rise of the Lakers Dynasty’ Season 2 Premiere | Aug.

Magnolia Pictures announced today they’ve acquired worldwide distribution rights to “Joan Baez I Am a Noise,” an exploration of the famous 1960s folk singer. The film was presented at this year’s Berlinale as well as SXSW. Magnolia has plans to give it a full-scale theatrical release in October.

The documentary, directed by Miri Navasky, Maeve O’Boyle and Karen O’Connor is being touted less as a traditional documentary and more along the lines of Brett Morgen’s 2022 film on David Bowie, “Moonage Daydream.”

In the wake of Warner Bros. “Elvis” and Morgen’s “Moonage Daydream” last year, music docs continue to see an uptick in interest. However, the exploration of female singers remains lacking. Baez is a groundbreaking figure in the 1960s folk scene with a fascinating story. Magnolia has been especially interested in propelling original content forward, even pairing with NBC streamer Peacock back in April to stream their films.

Alicia Vikander has received much love and the President’s Award for lifetime achievement at the Karlovy Vary International Film Festival during its 57th edition, which opened on Friday.

The Oscar winner got a very warm reception from attendees of the opening ceremony, charming the audience by mentioning that her film A Royal Affair had shot in the Czech Republic, that she had enjoyed her time in the country and that it had been “pivotal” for her career. Karim Aïnouz’s Firebrand, starring Vikander as Queen Catherine Parr, the final wife of Henry VIII, who’s played by Jude Law, then kicked off this year’s fest.

In a wide-ranging roundtable conversation with The Hollywood Reporter and other media representatives, Vikander shared how she decides which roles to take on and why learning lines is so important for her. She also discussed her producing work, including future projects, film festival venues Cannes and Busan,...