Sjöwall Offers Hope Of An Alfredson Remake For Beck

On Monday night SVT aired the K Special documentary “Sjöwall Wahlöö – The Story Of A Crime” to mark 50 years since the first Beck novel was published, and to explain how the character came into existence. It is a love story. A young couple wanted to expose the injustices of society, and so the modern thriller was born.

In 2012 Nöjesbladet revealed that director Tomas Alfredson and producer Peter “Piodor” Gustafsson were to develop a new Martin Beck film for Hollywood. This documentary keeps the dream alive by confirming that the project is ongoing.

In the documentary, Maj Sjöwall and Tomas Alfredson meet to discuss a possible film version of Roseanna to be set in 1960s Stockholm. Alfredson says: “It is envisaged that a foreign audience will see this, so they do not automatically know what the premise is. We must somehow get them to comprehend.”

Since the documentary was made, Sjöwall has spoken to Aftonbladet: “Tomas Alfredson just does things that he is very enthusiastic about. Otherwise it will be not so good… I will let him work completely alone until further notice.”

Sjöwall went on to comment in the documentary that Nordisk Film seem to be too preoccupied by money: “It is clear that they are milking it. When I signed the contract, I could not have imagined that there would be 30-40 films. I have not become rich in this like many others have. But I have not had any choice when they come to me with new movies, I just sign and accept what they want.”