Mads Mikkelsen onboarded for Arctic action-thriller 'Sirius'

Los Angeles, May 13 (IANS) Hollywood actor Mads Mikkelsen is set to star in ‘Sirius’. It marks the directorial debut of Lee Smith, the Oscar-winning editor of “Dunkirk” and “Inception”.

The Arctic action-thriller was inspired by a Danish special forces unit, known as Sirius Patrol, tasked with defending Greenland’s 8,700-mile frozen and formidable coastline, reports ‘Variety’.

Mikkelsen is one of the busiest actors in international cinema. His long list of credits includes Nicolas Winding Refn’s “Pusher” film trilogy and “Valhalla Rising”, as well as his BAFTA-nominated work in Thomas Vinterberg’s “Another Round”.

As per ‘Variety’, Hollywood tends to cast Mikkelsen to play the heavy, with the actor portraying antagonists in the likes of “Casino Royale”, “Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore”, and “Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny”. On TV, Mikkelsen played one of the biggest baddies of all, starring as Hannibal Lecter in the NBC series “Hannibal”.

Smith won an Academy Award for editing Christopher Nolan’s “Dunkirk”. He was also nominated for Oscars for Peter Weir’s “Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World” and Nolan’s “The Dark Knight”. Additional credits include “1917”, “The Truman Show” and “Spectre”.

Tony Mosher wrote the script for “Sirius”, which is currently in pre-production. Pascal Degove and Matt Williams will produce for Future Artists Entertainment and Deborah Acoca will executive produce. Decal, a Neon label that distributes third party films across all rights, will handle the film’s wide release domestically, marking the label’s first wide release as it ramps up its acquisitions and distribution efforts. Neon International will represent the foreign sales rights and introduce the film at Cannes.

Neon has a busy Cannes ahead of it. At the film festival, it will premiere Joachim Trier’s “Sentimental Value” and Julia Ducournau’s “Alpha”, as well as Raoul Peck’s “Orwell: 2+2=5” and Michael Angelo Covino’s “Splitsville” starring Dakota Johnson and Adria Arjona.

--IANS

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