Baltasar Kormákur To Produce Jón Gnarr Comedy

Baltasar Kormákur is set to produce his first comedy series for televison. The Mayor will be a satire based on the life of Jón Gnarr, a comedian who became mayor of Reykjavik. Kormákur’s RVK Studios is making the single camera comedy for Iceland’s Channel 2 with production slated for early 2016.

The 10 part series is created by Gnarr, a comedian who in 2009 formed the Best Party to satirise Icelandic politics and ended up defeating the Independence Party. Jón’s victory is widely seen as a backlash against establishment politicians in the wake of Iceland’s 2008-2011 financial crisis. His political platform included promises of free towels in all swimming pools, a polar bear for the Reykjavík zoo, Disneyland in the Vatnsmýri area, and a drug-free parliament by 2020.

Both before and after being elected, Jón announced that he would not enter into a coalition government with anyone that had not watched The Wire, but eventually he relented and the Best Party entered into a coalition with the Social Democratic Alliance as its junior partner to govern Reykjavík.

The Mayor will be loosely based on Gnarr’s term of office, and is expected to star in the titular role. The story will centre on the relationship with his assistant, Dúddi, the man who can, who is always ready to try to fix his boss’ errors in judgement.

Kormákur likens the series to Veep, and it will follow the mayor’s daily routine, along with all of his mistakes, his decisions, and his love affairs. The series will be in Icelandic, but Kormákur is hopeful for an English language remake.