Now here’s a crime thriller that has had an interesting trip from page to screen. The rights to Jo Nesbo’s The Snowman were originally scooped up by Working Title Films in 2013. The project initially had Martin Scorsese on to direct and Leonardo DiCaprio set to star. Now it’s finally headed our way later this year from director Tomas Alfredson (Let the Right One In, Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy) and star Michael Fassbender. It might not be as prestigious, but that’s a talented pairing that I will never sneer at.
Not only has distributor Universal issued two stills from the upcoming film, but Fassbender also recently spoke to The Digital Spy about the project…
“It’s got that Scandi-noir element to it, for sure. I think it’s going to be very rich. I love working with Tomas Alfredson. He’s an absolutely great filmmaker. And I think it’s going to be scary, and I think it’s going to be edge-of-the-seat stuff.
I like it because Harry Hole’s a very flawed genius in his department of work. He’s an excellent detective. But he kind of goes off the rails. He’s very human. Let’s say, if there was a fight sequence with somebody. He’s not Jack Reacher. He comes off the worse for wear a lot of the times in these encounters. And I like that. There’s something kind of funny about that. I find that there’s really comical elements there.”
Well, I’m sold. I do have to wonder if both Fassbender and Working Title view this as simply a one-off or the first in a potential series of films. After all, author Jo Nesbo has penned 10 novels in the Harry Hole series to date (with another on the way), so there’s plenty of material to use going forward. Couple that with the fact that Fassbender is backing away from the X-Men franchise for the time being and Assassin’s Creed didn’t take off for the actor? Well, if he’s wanting a franchise other than whatever weirdness Ridley Scott has him doing in Alien films, this could be it.
The Snowman is based on the popular novel by Jo Nesbo. Directed by Tomas Alfredson, the Hossein Amini & Matthew Michael Carnahan-scripted film is produced by Tim Bevan, Eric Fellner, Robyn Solvo, and Peter Gustafsson. It stars Micheal Fassbender as ‘Detective Harry Hole’, Rebecca Ferguson as ‘Katrine Bratt’, Charlotte Gainsbourg as ‘Rakel’, J.K. Simmons as ‘Arve Stop’, Toby Jones as ‘Gert Rafto’, and Jakob Oftebro as ‘Superintendent Skarre’. Chloe Sevigny, Val Kilmer, Sofia Helin, Anne Reid, and James D’Arcy also appear.
The Snowman arrives in theaters on October 13th, 2017.
