Kon-Tiki shoot underway in Norway

Shooting has begun in Norway on Joachim Roenning and Espen Sandberg’s seafaring adventure film Kon-Tiki for Denmark’s Nordisk and the UK’s Recorded Picture Company. The directing pair previously worked on box office hit Max Manus.

Other filming locations include Malta, Thailand, Bulgaria and New York.

HanWay Films is handling international sales on the UK-Danish film, which received the highest grant from the Norwegian Film Institute to date.

The true story of six men who set sail on a raft from Peru to Polynesia battling tidal waves, sharks and demons, the cast includes Norwegian actor Pål Sverre Valheim Hagen and Swedish actor Gustaf Skarsgård.

Kon-Tiki is being produced by Jeremy Thomas’ Recorded Picture Company with Aage Aaberge on behalf of Nordisk Film, who also hold distribution rights for Scandinavia.

The project is also backed by the Stenersen family of Oslo (who published the books by real-life Kon-Tiki author Thor Heyerdahl.)

The UK Film Council also provided development funding for the project.

Executive producers are Peter Watson of RPC, Lone Korslund of Nordisk Film and Dario Suter, Christoph Daniel and Marc Schmidheiny of DCM Productions, the German finance and production company, who also holds German rights through its distribution company Delphi Filmverleih. 

Jeremy Thomas said: “I’ve long wanted to realise the story of Thor’s incredible, heroic voyage and I’m looking forward to making it with these exciting filmmakers.                                          

Espen Sandberg added: “Thor Heyerdahl did what many only dare dream of: he went on exciting and dangerous adventures to explore the history of mankind - and he made history doing it. We hope our movie about Thor’s epic journey will inspire the audience to choose the road less traveled and find their own adventure in life.”

HanWay CEO Tim Haslam also said: “This commercial film is rich with spectacular set pieces, and will excite and entertain audiences worldwide.”