Strong Icelandic presence in Hollywood and abroad
A variety of Icelandic film talent – including actors Hera Hilmar, Jóhannes Haukur Jóhannesson, and Ólafur Darri Ólafsson, editor Valdís Óskarsdóttir, and composer Hildur Gudnadóttir – continue to make their presence felt on the international stage.
Hera Hilmar stars in the upcoming blockbuster Mortal Engines, which was written and produced by Peter Jackson (the director of The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit trilogies). Mortal Engines will open in theaters all over the world this December.
Hera can also be seen in the upcoming TV series The Romanoffs, which was created by Matthew Weiner (Mad Men) and will premiere on Amazon Prime on October 12. She recently starred alongside Ben Kingsley in Brad Silberling's An Ordinary Man, with Michiel Huisman, Josh Hartnett, and Ben Kingsley in Joseph Ruben's The Ottoman Lieutenant, and in Ben Rekhi's The Ashram.
The actor Jóhannes Haukur Jóhannesson has also been on a roll of late. He has a prominent role in Albert Hughes' Alpha, which stars Kodi Smit-McPhee. He also stars along with Guy Pearce in the Netflix series The Innocents.
Additional upcoming appearances by Jóhannesson include Jacques Audiard's The Sisters Brothers, which stars John C. Reilly, Joaquin Phoenix, Jake Gyllenhaal, and Riz Ahmed and recently had its world premiere at the Venice Film Festival; Richard Linklater's Where'd You Go, Bernadette, which stars Cate Blanchett and Kristen Wiig; Bill Condon's The Good Liar, which stars Helen Mirren and Ian McKellen; and the Valiant Comics superhero adaptation Bloodshot by Dave Wilson, starring Vin Diesel.
The actor Ólafur Darri Ólafsson continues to make a name for himself in Hollywood. Last year he starred in the Netflix series Lady Dynamite and had a prominent role in the NBC series Emerald City. This year he's had supporting roles in the Hollywood blockbusters The Meg by Jon Turteltaub and The Spy Who Dumped Me by Susanna Fogel.
Lady Dynamite - Season 2 Trailer
Upcoming projects in which Ólafsson appears include Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald, directed by David Yates and starring Eddie Redmayne, Katherine Waterston, Johnny Depp, and Jude Law; Kristoffer Nyholm's Keepers, which stars Gerard Butler; and Kyle Newacheck's Murder Mystery, which stars Jennifer Aniston, Gemma Arterton, and Adam Sandler; and Dean DeBlois' How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World, which is the third installment in the popular Dreamworks animated franchise.
Valdís Óskarsdóttir recently edited Thomas Vinterberg's Kursk, which recently premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival and stars Matthias Schoenaerts, Michael Nyqvist, Léa Seydoux, Colin Firth, and Max von Sydow. Óskarsdóttir has worked with Vinterberg previously, editing his films Submarino and The Celebration.
The composer Hildur Gudnadóttir has had a busy year. Her current and upcoming projects include the scores for Saul Dibb's Journey's End, which stars Paul Bettany and Sam Claflin; Stefano Sollima's Sicario: Day of the Soldado, which stars Benicio Del Toro and Josh Brolin; and Garth Davis' Mary Magdalene, which stars Rooney Mara, Joaquin Phoenix, and Chiwetel Ejiofor. In fact the score for Mary Magdalene was composed by both Gudnadóttir and her close friend and frequent collaborator Jóhann Jóhannsson, who sadly passed away earlier this year.
You can listen to the soundtracks from both Sicario: Day of the Soldado and Mary Magdalene on Gudnadóttir's artist page on Spotify.
Next up for Gudnadóttir are the scores for the upcoming HBO and Sky TV series Chernobyl, which stars Stellan Skarsgård and Emily Watson and the big DC Comics origin story Joker by Todd Phillips, which will star Joaquin Phoenix and Robert De Niro and be released in the autumn of 2019.
A couple of recent festival releases also have significant Icelandic contributions. 22 July, which was directed by Paul Greengrass (Captain Phillips, The Bourne Ultimatum, United 93, Bloody Sunday) and recently premiered at the Venice Film Festival, was partly shot in Iceland, where it was serviced by the Icelandic production company Truenorth and benefited from Iceland's 25% reimbursement scheme. The film also benefited from Icelandic talent such as Margrét Einarsdóttir (costume designer), Tinna Ingimarsdóttir (key makeup artist), . Finni Johannsson (line producer), Árni Gústafsson (sound mixer), and Marta Luiza Macuga (set designer). 22 July will be available on Netflix on October 10.
Suspiria, directed by Luca Guadagnino (Call Me By Your Name), also premiered at the Venice Film Festival. Halla Thórdardóttir, a professional dancer from the Icelandic Dance Company, plays a small role in the film and provided dance training to the lead actresses, which include Dakota Johnson, Tilda Swinton, Mia Goth, and Chloë Grace Moretz.