“Fantastic Beasts” star Katherine Waterston has joined the cast of “Amundsen,” a biopic of the Arctic explorer Roald Amundsen directed by Espen Sandberg, the hot Norwegian director of Golden Globe- and Oscar-nominated “Kon-Tiki” and “Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales.”
SF Studios has come on board the project to represent it worldwide and will be kicking off pre-sales at Cannes. SF Studios will also be distributing the movie across Scandinavia.
Pål Sverre Hagen (“Kon-Tiki”) will star as Amundsen, who was the first man to reach both the South and the North Poles. Christian Rubeck (“What Happened to Monday”) will play Roald’s brother. Waterston, the up-and-coming actress whose recent credits include “Alien: Covenant,””Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them” and “Inherent Vice,” will portray Roald’s last love, who was known as Bess Magids.
The movie will depict how Amundsen won his epic race to the South Pole, beating Robert Scott and the British Empire, as well as shed light on aspects of Amundsen’s private life, including secret affairs and his close, but troubled relationship with his brother.
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“Amundsen” is being produced by John M. Jacobsen, Kristian Strand Sinkerud and Espen Horn at Motion Blur Films. Shooting is set to take place in Iceland, Czech Republic and Norway.
“This movie will portray his all-consuming, boundless drive as a polar explorer, and reveal the tragedy he brought on himself and others by sacrificing everything in these icy wastelands to achieve his dream — only to find out there was nothing beyond the North Pole to discover,” said Motion Blur Films.
“We have a deep admiration and respect for [Amundsen’s] accomplishments. It’s astonishing when you think of Roald Amundsen’s expeditions a hundred years ago,” said Horn.
Strand Sinkerud pointed out that “Most people have heard the incredible story of the race to the South Pole and how it ends, but as a man, Roald Amundsen is so much more than that.”
Strand Sinkerud added that the company did four years of research and discovered new aspects of Amundsen’s life.
“Amundsen” is expected to be released theatrically in early 2019.
Sandberg is repped by UTA; Katherine Waterston is repped by UTA, Silver Linings Entertainment and Hansen Jacobsen; Hagen is repped by Lindberg Management and Management 360; Christian Rubeck is repped by Lindberg Management and UTA.
