Headhunters (2011)

An accomplished headhunter risks everything to obtain a valuable painting owned by a former mercenary.

Director:

Morten Tyldum

Writers:

Ulf Ryberg (screenplay), Lars Gudmestad (screenplay)

Stars:

Aksel Hennie, Synnøve Macody Lund, Nikolaj Coster-Waldau

Nominated for 1 BAFTA Film Award. Another 8 wins & 16 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Aksel Hennie	...	Roger
Synnøve Macody Lund	...	Diana
Nikolaj Coster-Waldau	...	Clas Greve
Eivind Sander	...	Ove Kjikerud
Julie R. Ølgaard	...	Lotte (as Julie Ølgaard)
Kyrre Haugen Sydness	...	Lander
Valentina Alexeeva	...	Natasja
Reidar Sørensen	...	Brede Sperre
Nils Jørgen Kaalstad	...	Stig
Joachim Rafaelsen	...	Brugd
Mats Mogeland	...	Sunded
Gunnar Skramstad Johnsen	...	Monsen 1
Lars Skramstad Johnsen	...	Monsen 2
Signe Tynning	...	TV-vertinne
Nils Gunnar Lie	...	TV-vert

Storyline

Roger is a human resources manager in a large company and has a wonderful home and a beautiful wife, Dian who owns an art gallery. But he lives in greater luxury than he should. In order to continue this, he has a second job; art theft. Diana introduces him to Clas, a former executive for GPS tech company, who wants to work for Pathfinder, whom Roger is recruiting for. In addition to being the perfect candidate for the job at Roger's company, he is the owner of a very valuable painting. Roger seeks the opportunity and immediately begins to plan his greatest hit. But what Clas encounters in his home will put him in a very difficult way to return.

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Plot Keywords:

male star appears nude | killing a dog | painting | norway | art thief | 

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Taglines:

The hunt is on.

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Genres:

Action | Crime | Thriller

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated R for bloody violence including some grisly images, strong sexual content and nudity

Details

Official Sites:

Official Facebook Official site

Country:

Norway Sweden Denmark Germany

Language:

Norwegian Danish Russian English

Release Date:

26 August 2011 (Norway)

Also Known As:

Headhunters

Filming Locations:

Skøyen, Oslo, Norway

Box Office

Budget:

NOK30,300,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend USA:

$43,013, 29 April 2012

Gross USA:

$1,200,010

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$15,699,707

Company Credits

Production Co:

Yellow Bird, Friland, Nordisk Film

Technical Specs

Runtime:

96 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.39:1

Did You Know?

Trivia

The film features several references and tributes to Stieg Larsson's Millenium trilogy. Diana watches the second film from the trilogy, The Girl Who Played with Fire (2009), on TV the night Roger comes home late. Also, aerial shots from The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (2009) were used to fill in some missing scenes. One of the clips features a car driving over a bridge. The car from The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (2009) was digitally replaced with the car Roger Brown drives in this film.

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Goofs

The license plate of Clas Greve's car is a Dutch diplomatic plate. The letters "CD" (for Corps Diplomatique) on it are issued exclusively for that purpose. But he is not a diplomat and no diplomat may lend him such car.

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Quotes

[First lines]
Roger: Rule #1: Make sure you know everything about those you visit. 2: Never spend more than 10 minutes. Every extra minute increases the chance of someone returning home unexpectedly. 3: Do not leave DNA traces. 4: Don't waste time getting an expensive reproduction. Even a simple forgery will go unnoticed for weeks. 5: Sooner or later, one of two things will happen. You find a work of art so valuable that you never need to worry again, or... you'll get caught.

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Connections

Featured in Weathervane (2011)

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Soundtracks

Come Arround
Music and words by Goran Obad & Henrik Skram
Produced by Riviera Oslo

User Reviews

Smart, intelligent, engaging and surprisingly witty Headhunters

At first I have to say I read the novel of which this movie is based upon, "Headhunters" by Jo Nesbø, two years ago. A thriller I liked quite a lot. Usually a novel is better than the film. Well, here Morten Tyldum (Acclaimed films as "Buddy" and a short in "Most people usually live in China"), succeeded in making a film just as interesting and exciting as the book.

Nesbø's writing is interesting. This is most probably why Jo Nesbø's first movie adaption of his series of novels with Harry Hole will be directed by Martin Scorsese, on Nesbø's demand - his favorite director.

Actually I still kept being surprised as the movie went along. Not only because I can't remember all details in the book, but simply because the movie has a pace and also from time to time action-clipping which makes you feel poor Roger Brown's disasters. The handcraft is beautifully done. As simple as that.

Actually this film was sold to more than 50 distributors in just as many countries before it even premiered in Norway. Probably both to the novel writers Jo Nesbø's for the latter years has become world acclaimed and compared to Stieg Larsson, buy maybe also due to director Morten Tyldums merits so far. Of course also credit to the producers, managing to sell on a promise!?

Mark Wahlberg has said he was stunned by the film, and is now to make an American remake of it, with himself as Roger. Which, of course, is not at all needed. The original is as good as it gets.

Well, back to the story. Roger Brown is a self-obtained headhunter for big companies, which has to steal art on the side to keep his woman happy. Or at least he think he has to do so. He has all the right connections, until he starts stealing from the wrong guy, while headhunting him as a new boss to a successful company. A former mercenary, or different kind of headhunter, he's turning out to be. When he understands that his greed has gotten him into trouble, he really finds out what it is, being headhunted.

Both Aksel Hennie and Nicolai Coaster-Waldau is perfectly casted for this movie. Synnøve Macody Lund does a decent job in her debut-role, as do the rest of the cast. Fun also to see that real working police-chiefs in Oslo are attending the police press conference in the movie. Didn't know that even was possible for them to be allowed to do that. This actually makes both an in-joke as well as making the plot believable and "true" in our country.

It will surprise me if this film doesn't get a remake in Hollywood in less than two years. Not that it'll be as good as this, or even necessary. But that's how the Hollywood-world is, nowadays.

No doubt, the script is good. So is in all aspects the rest of the film as well. The film is smart, intelligent, surprising witty, and will engage you all the way through, both as a good story as well as a love story or a thriller. How much more do you want?