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Asger Leth to direct Martin Zandvliet penned ‘White Dog’

14.05.2016

‘White Dog’ is a tense and viscious drama with an undercurrent of political comment.

Asger Leth (‘Man on a Ledge’) is set to direct ‘White Dog’, a tense and viscious drama with an undercurrent of political comment, from a story by Martin Zandvliet (‘Land of Mine’). The film is produced by Mikael Rieks (‘Land of Mine’) for Nordisk Film who is aiming at shooting the film in Pittsburg, PA. The project was announced today during the film festival in Cannes.

‘White Dog’ is set in a post 9/11 society where bigotry and racism is becoming mainstream. It is an eye level portrait of two skinhead brothers at a point in their lives, where their paths are pointed in very different directions. Their world is ruled by a dog-eat-dog logic of white supremacy urban gangbangers. ‘White Dog’ is a study in power where loyalty, guilt and revenge dance their brutal dance leading to an unwavering and definitive outcome.

“The film will take place in Pittsburgh, USA, but it is just as easily a portrait of a time where populist politicians everywhere are appealing to the worst in us,” said Asger Leth. 

‘White Dog’ is written by Martin Zandvliet and Anders August from an original story by Zandvliet who wrote and directed multi award winning ‘Land of Mine’ which is acquired by Sony Pictures as a potential awards contender this year. The ‘Land of Mine’ director is currently in pre-production with his English-language debut ‘The Outsider’ starring Jared Leto. ‘The Outsider’ is financed by Waypoint Entertainment with Ken Kao producing alongside John Linson and Art Linson under their Linson Entertainment banner.

“I have great respect for Asger Leth and we share the same vision for the film. He has a voice and a talent for tackling complex political issues head on, which is essential in bringing ‘White Dog’ to the screen,” said Zandvliet.

Following the success of ‘Land of Mine’ and Oscar nominated ‘A War’, ‘White Dog’ marks a new strategy for leading Nordic film company Nordisk Film to venture directly into the US market with English-language films.

“We have the talent, the stories and the ambition to compete at an international level. With Asger Leth, Martin Zandvliet and Anders August coming together on ‘White Dog’ we are assembling a hard hitting package that is bound to attract great interest,” said Mikael Rieks, producer at Nordisk Film.

Asger Leth is repped by CAA and 360 Management, Martin Zandvliet is repped by WME and Magnolia Entertainment and Anders August is repped by WME.