Hans Petter Moland Readies Script For Out Stealing Horses

Per Petterson has won numerous awards for Ut Og Stjæle Heste (Out Stealing Horses) since it was published in 2003, and has since been translated into more than 50 languages. Now it is set to be a film written and directed by Hans Petter Moland.

In Out Stealing Horses we meet 67 year old widower Trond who has moved to a small rural community with his dog after losing his second wife. Here he plans to celebrate the millennium alone. But a chance encounter evokes painful memories from his childhood and the summer of 1948.

Per Petterson said: “I was so happy when I heard that Hans Petter would do this. An adaptation of Out Stealing Horses has been off and on for years, but this is a director that I trust.”

This is not the first time someone has attempted to adapt the novel for the big screen. In 2008, Marius Holst was lined up to direct a screenplay by Bjorn Olaf Johannessen, but funding was never secured.

Production company 4½ is currently looking to the Norwegian Film Institute for production support, but believe that securing Moland for the project will improve their chances:

“We believe that we have a strong application. Partly because the screenplay is based on a successful novel that is well known beyond its borders. We believe, therefore, that there will be an audience for this movie.”

Moland’s A Conspiracy Of Faith, based on the Department Q novel by Jussi Adler-Olsen, recently enjoyed the biggest opening weekend for a Danish film in fifteen years.