Jonas Alexander Arnby is currently shooting 'Suicide Tourist' on location in western Norway, in Sweden, near Trollhättan and in Berlin. Shooting will wrap up by late November, with the film eyeing a domestic release date in November 2019.
'Suicide Tourist' is a disturbing existential wake-up call, the film’s creative team says.
Max, an insurance investigator, is looking into the disappearance of a man named Arthur. His investigation leads him to a singular and secretive facility offering elaborate assisted-suicide fantasies. Undergoing an existential crisis himself, Max starts questioning his own perception of reality. Is death the only way out of the "hotel"?
Nikolaj Coster-Waldau, who plays Max, had an early Danish breakthrough in 'Nightwatch' (1994) and is currently enjoying worldwide success with his Emmy-nominated role as Jamie Lannister in the HBO series 'Game of Thrones' (2011-2019). His feature film credits include Susanne Bier's 'A Second Chance' (2015), 'Three Things' (2017) and the American production 'Shot Caller' (2017).
Tuva Novotny stars opposite Coster-Waldau as Max’s wife. Novotny has a host of Danish and Swedish big-screen credits to her name, most recently playing the wife of Björn Borg in Janus Metz’s 'Borg' (2017). The cast of 'Suicide Tourist' also features Solbjørg Højfeldt and Sonja Richter, alongside international names like Jan Bijvoet, Robert Aramayo, Slimane Dazi, Lorraine Hilton, Kaya Wilkins and Johanne Wokalek.
Continuing creative partnerships
Arnby made his directorial debut in 2014 with the critically acclaimed award-winner 'When Animals Dream', which was selected for the prestigious Semaine de la Critique sidebar at Cannes and was later nominated for a total of eleven Danish Robert and Bodil Awards, winning three.
Arnby graduated from Copenhagen’s independent Super16 film school in 2004 and the London School of Media in 2000.
'Suicide Tourist' has a screenplay by Rasmus Birch, who also wrote 'When Animals Dream'. A self-taught screenwriter, Birch made his feature-film debut with Nicolo Donato's 'Brotherhood' (2010). Also back from Arnby’s first film are composer Mikkel Hess and director of photography Niels Thastum.
More about the film
Producers are Eva Jakobsen, Katrin Pors and Mikkel Jersin for Snowglobe, whose most recent credits include the co-production of 'Birds of Passage' by Ciro Guerra and Cristina Gallego as well as 'Petra' by Jaime Rosales. Both films world-premiered in the Director’s Fortnight section in Cannes.
'Suicid Tourist' is co-produced with DCM, Mer Film, Charades, Film i Väst and Garagefilm International. Backers include the Danish Film Institute, DR, the Norwegian Film Institute, Zefyr, the Swedish Film Institute, Berlin Brandenburg, Mitteldeutsche Medienförderung, Deutschen Filmförderfonds, ZDF-ARTE, Eurimages and the European Unions' Creative Europe MEDIA programme. International sales are handled by Charades.