Wahlberg to Star in Remake of New Icelandic Film

Another foreign film is coming to American shores in a glossed-up Hollywood version, with Mark Wahlberg attached to star in a remake of the Icelandic thrilla Reykjavik-Rotterdam. A lot of people get really steamed when the studios grab a film from another country and put their own spin on it, however...how many people have heard of Reykjavik-Rotterdam? Not me, that's for sure. As far as I can tell, the 2008 movie has never played in the US, although it is Iceland's official submission for the foreign language Oscars this year. Wahlberg will re-team with the writer of his upcoming Prisoners, Aaron Guzikowski, hired by Working Title to adapt the film. According to Variety, Reykjavik-Rotterdam tells the story of "an ex-freight ship worker, fired for smuggling alcohol between Reykjavik and Rotterdam, who's struggling as a security guard until his best friend persuades him to sign on for one last crooked job." Odds are, it won't stay north of the arctic circle in the US version. We're seeing more and more of this behavior out of Hollywood; Let Me In is a cover of Let the Right One In, an outstanding film, and there will also be a remake of the recent Foreign Language category winner, The Lives of Others. This is the first time I can remember the announcement of the remake coming so early. I've said this dozens of times before, but the only real criterion I have for these remakes is that they're told in a way the original couldn't be. In this case, moving the film to - oh, I don't know, Boston? - could or could not be enough of a transposition. It depends on what else the filmmakers do to make it a film with the same story that nonetheless couldn't exist on the terms of the original. Otherwise, there's no point. Interestingly, the director of the Icelandic film, Baltasar Kormákur, could be in the running to tackle the remake.

Comments

[Haukur]

Baltasar Kormákur is an acclaimed director in Iceland but he only starred in Reykjavik-Rotterdam as the lead role of Kristófer, Óskar Jónsson wrote the script(with Arnaldur Indriðason) and directed it.

[Get The Big Picture]

Oh, well thank you for the clarification. I had read him credited differently, perhaps because of his career as a director.