Money raised again for Mannerheim film

print this

The seemingly everlasting feature film project about the life of Carl Gustaf Emil Mannerheim, Commander-in-Chief of the Finnish Defence Forces during World War II, is slowly moving forward. "We hope to have the necessary funding together by the summer", explains producer Markus Selin of Solar Films production company.
      Presently Selin is in the middle of a negotiating round for funding for the movie and has refrained from going into any greater detail on the current status of the film that has been on the drawing-board for years.
      "We’ve been on this road for eight years", the producer commented.
     
According to the British film magazine Screen, the Mannerheim movie in its present form would be a Finnish-Russian co-production, with an estimated budget of EUR 12-14 million. In other words, the film would be the most expensive production in the history of Finnish cinema.
      Further funding is still being sought at least from two other countries, the magazine revealed on Wednesday.
      "Getting the funding together has actually been less difficult than I expected. Mannerheim seems to be as well known in Russia as he is in Finland", Selin says in the Screen interview.
     
The film will be directed by Renny Harlin, who is currently working on a Samuel L. Jackson vehicle, a thriller called Cleaner.
      Mannerheim’s original screenplay by Heikki Vihinen is in Finnish, but Selin refuses to reveal in which language the actual movie will be shot.
      Selin believes the actual filming of Mannerheim could commence early next year, in which case the première could take place even at the end of the same year. Solar Films plans to make an announcement on the matter at the beginning of June - a date that marks the 140th anniversary of Mannerheim’s birth.


Previously in HS International Edition:
  Google, Google on the screen, who is the most famous Finn there has ever been? (17.5.2005)
  War-time leader Mannerheim voted "Greatest Finn" (7.12.2004)

Links:
  Internet Movie Database: Renny Harlin

Helsingin Sanomat