Norwegian Comedy Vikingane Also Filmed In English
The forthcoming NRK comedy drama Vikingane (Norsemen), said to be a cross between Monty Python and Game Of Thrones, has been filmed in both Norwegian and English. As soon as each scene was complete in one language, it would be shot again in the other, in a bid to increase international sales.
The idea of bilingual recordings is not new, but the recent success of Welsh noir detective drama Y Gwyll (Hinterland) in building an audience on the BBC, Netflix and American Public Television, certainly underlines the potential for this approach.
Producer, Anders Tangen, told Dagbladet: “We hope this solution sets a standard in Norway for some type of dramas. We already have several series where we are considering doing the same.”
“The purpose is to make the job of selling the series abroad easier. We avoid the cumbersome process of making the series again, and Norwegian actors get to show themselves off.”
Vikingane, created by Jonas Torgersen Jon Iver Helgaker, is set in the year 790 when a Roman named Rufus is kidnapped and taken as a slave to the Viking village of Avaldsnes Haugesund. Helgaker says:
“Rufus was a cultural figure in his homeland… he has been on the biggest stages, had orgies and knows about art. The feminine values he brings with him don’t work well with the Vikings, and he quickly finds out that Norway is pretty crap.”
Vikingane is currently in post-production, having finished filming last week, and will premiere on NRK this autumn.