Bjørn Sundquist has the lead role as Colonel Birger Eriksen in the blockbuster “Blücher”. The film is shot at Oscarsborg fortress and will be released in cinemas in 2025. Photo: Max Emanuelson / Fenomen Studios / Handout / NTB
By NTB | 04/06/2024 16:13:16
War and conflicts: – I am happy and proud, and can’t wait to get started. I am in battle mode as Colonel Eriksen and look forward to helping tell this story from a new and exciting perspective, says the 75-year-old in a press release.
The film, which is called “Blücher” and will be shot at Oscarsborg fortress outside Drøbak on 9 April, deals with the intense 24 hours before and after the sinking of the German cruiser, with a particular focus on Colonel Birger Eriksen.
One year after the end of the war, Eriksen received strong criticism from the Military Commission of Inquiry of 1946 for the choices he made on an April night six years earlier.
Eriksen died in 1958, aged 82. Only in the 1970s was he recognized as a war hero.
– The story is dense and exciting, you feel it physically on your body. There is something about the weight of the existential choice Eriksen must make. War hero or court martial. Honor or dishonor. Life or death, says Sundquist.
Fahre says he is incredibly proud to have Sundquist, one of Norway’s most experienced and meritorious actors, on the team.
– He is as if born for this role and has all the qualities we have been looking for in Eriksen. I have been working on the development of this film for over ten years now and have always envisioned Bjørn in the role, says the director in the press release.
– Few individuals have influenced the country’s fate during the war as directly as Birger Eriksen. The difficult decision to shoot or not will be an intense action drama that we hope will fill the country’s cinemas in 2025, says Fahre.
“Blücher” is expected to premiere in the first half of next year.
The colonel chose to open fire despite the fact that he lacked clear orders and good intelligence. Although Eriksen’s actions probably ensured that the royal family, the government and Norges Bank’s gold reserves got out of Oslo before the Germans arrived, he was not hailed as a war hero at first.
“Blücher” is directed by Daniel Fahre, who, among other things, has made the TV series “Rådebank”. The script was written by Axel Hellstenius, who has won awards for the screenplay for blockbusters such as “Døden på Oslo S” and “Elling”.
The film will also follow Eriksen’s fight for fame and honor – and against accusations of incompetence and cowardice.
(©NTB)