Dagur Kari writing Icelandic film Rocket Man; Baltasar Kormakur to produce

Icelandic heavyweights Baltasar Kormakur and Dagur Kari are teaming up for the first time, with Korkamur and his Blueeyes Production set to produce Kari’s next feature.

The new film, Rocket Man, will be Kari’s first Icelandic-language film since his breakout debut, 2003’s Noi Albinoi. Kari’s recent credits include the English-language The Good Heart and Danish Dark Horse.

Kormakur and his Blueeyes partner Agnes Johansen will be lead producers on the film, and will start to look for co-producers now.

“I’ve been a fan of his work since he started, we’ve been talking about working together for a while and the time is right now,” Kormakur told Screen. “He has a very special voice.”

Kari told Screen: “I have now made three films in three different languages and it seemed that either I could continue finding a new language for every film or call it a cycle that has come to an end. I chose the latter and it feels that I am back on home base. I am writing a film that takes place in Iceland and is in Icelandic. It feels a bit premature to reveal the content of the film, but it is an intense character study of a man in his 40s, who can’t seem to be able to let go of his childhood. I am trying to freshen up the creative energy and renewing my methods, but whether that will show in the final outcome, I don’t know.”

The Icelandic Film Centre has invested in development and the project could shoot at then end of 2012 or early 2013.

Kormakur spoke to Screen at the current Les Arcs European Film Festival and Co-Production Village. He was attending Les Arcs’ new Works In Progress strand, where he unveiled the trailer for true-life adventure thriller/drama The Deep. The film will be finished in January and is likely to come to festivals in the spring.

Meanwhile, Kormakur’s English-language thriller for Working Title, Contraband, will be released in January. Mark Wahlberg, Kate Beckinsale, Ben Foster, Giovanni Ribisi, and Diego Luna lead the cast of the smuggling story (a remake of the Icelandic film Reykjavik-Rotterdam, in which Kormakur starred).

Kormakur is also developing his Viking project with Working Title, and has also come on board to direct WT’s Everest, which had in past years had Stephen Daldry attached.

In January, he will start preparations to direct 2 Guns, which Drive producer Marc Platt has set up at Universal. Mark Wahlberg will star with other cast to be announced soon.

Back in Iceland, he’s also continuing to develop  the big-screen adaptation of Arnaldur Indridason’s Silence of the Grave, the follow-up to Kormakur’s acclaimed Oscar-shortlisted Jar City, revisiting the character of Inspector Erlendur.