Mikkel Serup starts filming the sequel to Kongekabale - the political thriller Kingmaker, starring Anders W. Berthelsen

24 April 2023

Copyright: Photo credit: Per Arnesen

Finally the sequel to the massively popular and award-winning Danish film Kongekabale from 2004 is coming. Today, director Mikkel Serup begins filming the political thriller Kingmaker (Danish original title: Mørkeland), based on Niels Krause-Kjær's crime series about journalist Ulrik Torp. The film stars Anders W. Berthelsen in the lead role as Ulrik Torp together with Nicolas Bro and Charlotte Munck returning in their roles. The script is written by Marie Østerbye. Kingmaker is produced by Meta Film and producers Sara Namer and Morten Kjems Hytten Juhl, as well as executive producer Meta Louise Foldager. SF Studios distributes the film in the Nordics and REinvent handles international sales.

Kingmaker is a film adaptation of Niels Krause-Kjær's second novel "Mørkeland" about journalist Ulrik Torp and the sequel to the blockbuster "Kongekabale", which was filmed in 2004 and seen by over 550,000 people in Danish theaters. But Kingmaker is only a sequel for those who want to see it that way. As a story, it stands alone as a topical and thrilling political thriller about the state of democracy.

"Much has changed since Kongekabale was released in 2004. The media, the political scene, and of course the audience have all evolved dramatically, and we must all navigate clickbait and the echo chambers of social media. Mørkeland is a new story about Ulrik Torp, set an entire generation after we left him as a young investigative journalist with his life and career ahead of him. Twenty years have passed since then, Torp is now middle-aged, and his career has been replaced by unemployment and a midlife crisis. From that perspective, he finds himself in the middle of a new political conspiracy, which raises the question of whether we can accept manipulation of democracy when the manipulation is intended to save it", says director Mikkel Serup.

Mikkel Serup has previously directed TV series such as Livvagterne (2009-2010), Pros and Cons (2018-2020) and The Chestnut Man (2021), which won a Robert for Best TV Series, as well as the box office hit The Reunion 2: The Funeral (2014) and Pound for Pound (2017), which earned Søren Malling a Bodil for Best Supporting Actor and two additional Bodil nominations for Mikkel Boe Følsgaard and Lene Maria Christensen.

In addition to Anders W. Berthelsen, Nicolas Bro, and Charlotte Munck, the cast also features many new young talents such as Patrick A. Hansen, Sofie Nolsøe, Mathilde Arcel Fock, Simon Kongsted, Mathilde Eusebius, Ellaha Lack, Mohamed Djeziri (The Day We Died, Darkland: The Return), and Sara Fanta (Empire, The Nurse). The cast also includes Lene Maria Christensen in the role as politician Anne-Grethe Hulsig, Tommy Kenter in the role as businessman Otto Brathenberg and Ina-Miriam Rosenbaum in the role as the editor's Best Bente.

”It’s such a joy to be able to bring back the universe of Danish political thriller to the Danish audience together with Meta film and their super talented creatives”, says Yaba Holst, Head of Nordic Acquisition at SF Studios.

About Kingmaker
After a round of layoffs and a long period on social welfare, Ulrik Torp ends up in an internship at his former workplace, Dagbladet, where his old colleague and now editor-in-chief, Henrik Moll, asks him to cover a murder of a young clerk at the Ministry of the Interior. Together with young interns, Emma and Simon, Torp follows a trail of a small circle of former politicians and top officials who are willing to do whatever it takes to ensure that power stays in the right hands. Once again, we are drawn into a political conspiracy with Torp, this time with the very foundation of our society at stake.

Kingmaker is produced by Meta Film in co-production with Meta Film Stockholm & Film i Väst in collaboration with SF, TV2, SVT & Yle and with the support from the Danish Film Institute and the Swedish Film Institute. The film is distributed by SF Studios in the Nordics and REinvent handles international sales.

For more information, please contact:
Yaba Holst, Head of Nordic Acquisition, SF Studios, yaba.holst@sfstudios.se, +46 73 411 95 35
Malin Strihagen, Vice President Brand & Communications, SF Studios, malin.strihagen@sfstudios.se, +46 70 780 39 35
Helene Aurø, Sales & Marketing Director, Reinvent International Sales, helene.auro@reinvent.dk, +45 23 42 00 07

About SF Studios
SF Studios, established in 1919, is one of the world’s oldest film companies. Today SF Studios is the leading film studio in the Nordic region with its headquarters in Stockholm, Sweden and offices in Oslo, Copenhagen, Helsinki and London. The company is producing and distributing feature films and TV series as well as providing the streaming service SF Anytime. SF Studios is part of the leading Nordic media company Bonnier.

About REinvent
REinvent is a packaging, sales and financing studio all in one. REinvent has extensive knowledge of original trends and sales opportunities in both the Scandinavian and international markets and works with high profile European production companies.