Vikings meet The Godfather in Icelandic trilogy

Sturlungar: The Viking Clan is being pitched as a 13th century Godfather-esque story, being developed as either a trilogy of feature films or a Netflix-style series.

The project is now in development from Truenorth, which is well known as a production services company working on major studio fare like Noah, Oblivion and The Secret Life of Walter Mitty in Iceland. The outfit launched its own production division last year under Kristinn Thordarson [pictured] and attends AFM for the first time.

Oscar nominee Fridrik Thor Fridriksson is also on board as producer.

Truenorth is in talks with writers for the first script from the four-part Sturlungar book series.

“The Sturlungar presentation has gained a lot of interest, it is still sitting with one of the studios, and a big-name US producer could come on board,” said Truenorth founding partner Leifur B. Dagfinnsson. Other Scandinavian producers are likely to join as co-producers and the project is likely to shoot in 2016.

Truenorth has its first co-production, action/adventure Shamer’s Daughter, now in post production with TrustNordisk handling sales.

In pre-production, the outfit has In Front of Others, a romantic comedy by Oskar Jonasson, whose Reykjavik-Rotterdam was remade in the US as Contraband. It will shoot in spring 2015 and is casting now.

Artist and documentary filmmaker Ari Alexander will make his fictional feature debut with crime thriller Vaidas, to shoot from February 2016. That film is inspired by the true story of a Lithuanian man found dead in Iceland a decade ago.

Also, British theatre veteran Lisa Forrell will direct Journey Home, adapted from Olaf Olafsson’s novel. Dagfinnsson describes the vibe of the film as “a bit Merchant Ivory,” in telling the 1930s-1950s story of a young Icelandic woman who moves to a remote part of England.

 “We want to focus on local talent but also bigger projects,” added Thordarson.