Danish star Trine Dyrholm (In a Better World, Queen of Hearts) has signed on to star in Birthday Girl (working title), the upcoming drama from director Michael Noer (Before the Frost, Papillon).
TrustNordisk has picked up international sales rights for the film and will be presenting it to buyers at the Cannes Film Market later this month.
Described as a suspense drama, Birthday Girl sees Dyrholm play Nanna, a 42-year-old mother who has invited her daughter Cille and her best friend on a cruise to celebrate Cille’s 18th birthday. But the dream vacation turns into a nightmare, and Nanna has to take matters into her own hands if she is to get justice. Noer co-wrote the screenplay for the film with Jesper Fink.
Noer has been a feature on the European scene since his drama debut R, a hard-hitting prison drama, took the Dragon Award for Best Nordic Film at the Goteborg Film Festival in 2010. He made his English-language debut with 2017’s Papillon, a remake of the 1973 adventure classic, starring Charlie Hunnam and Rami Malek. His return to Danish features, the 2018 period drama Before the Frost, won a special jury prize and the best actor award at the Tokyo Film Festival for star Jesper Christensen.
Dyrholm is one of Europe’s most acclaimed actors. She won the best actress Silver Bear in 2016 for her starring role in Thomas Vinterberg’s The Commune and is an eight-time winner of Denmark’s Bodil Awards, the country’s equivalent to the Oscars. Starring alongside her in Birthday Girl will be Flora Ofelia Hofmann Lindahl (As in Heaven) and Herman Tømmeraas (Ragnarok).
René Ezra, the producer on Dyrholm’s 2019 drama Queen of Hearts, is producing Birthday Girl together with Before the Frost‘s producer Matilda Appelin for Nordisk Film Production. Principal photography on the $3.7 million (€3.5 million) production wrapped on April 22. Nordisk Film will bow Birthday Girl locally on March 2, 2023.
Source: Hollywood
