News of Norway

y arild strommen
norway’s no 1 director
Norwegian film director Harald Zwart goes to Beijing in May this
year to start making a new version of “Karate Kid.” “New
movie scripts come across my desk all the time,” Zwart said.
“The best ones already have stars attached.” “Karate Kid” will be produced
by Will Smith and star his son Jaden and Jackie Chan.
With his feet firmly planted in Hollywood and as the person behind
Norwegian blockbusters such as “Long Flat Balls” and its sequel,
Zwart is arguably the most accomplished filmmaker to come out of
Norway. He claims not to have gone out of his way to promote himself,
but always concentrated on creating a good product. “If you are
good enough, Hollywood will track you down,” he said.
About 10 years ago, he received a phone call from the agency
International Creative Management, with an invitation to have lunch
with Steven Spielberg in Los Angeles. Zwart already had a successful
career producing commercials in the United Kingdom, and Spielberg
had been impressed by the Norwegian director’s show reel. “Having
lunch with Spielberg opened many doors,” Zwart said. It most significantly
led him to directing “One Night at McCool’s,” starring Liv
Tyler, Michael Douglas, Matt Dillon, and Paul Reiser. A black comedy
about three men who fall in love with the same woman on the same
night, the film showcased Zwart’s talent for complex narrative, edgy
humor, and inspired casting.
Zwart went on to shoot “Agent Cody Banks,” an action film starring
Frankie Muniz and Hilary Duff in the story of a teen secret agent
with the tag line: “The CIA spent $10 million on his training, but didn’t
teach him how to talk to women.”
“Michael Douglas became a mentor of sorts,” Zwart said. And
through Douglas he met Steve Martin, who was the lead in “The Pink
Panther II,” which Zwart directed in 2008. The movie got a lukewarm
reception by critics, something Zwart seemed unfazed by. “Our target
audience was not critics or those who always will think that anyone
other than Peter Sellers can’t be the Pink Panther. It is like when you
make a movie based on a book, people who loved that book will think
the book was better than the movie,” he said. Producer, and wife,
Veslemøy Ruud Zwart chimed in: “If you feel you always have to take
other people’s opinions into account, it can block your creativity.” She
feels a movie based on something that already exists should still be a
stand-alone product, something new, which also goes for the upcoming
“Karate Kid.” It is not meant to be a movie for those who grew up with
Ralph Maccio in the lead. “We want to make a movie for a new generation,
those who haven’t seen ‘Karate Kid,’” she said.
Veslemøy Ruud Zwart is founder and chief executive of the feature
company Zwart Arbeid and the commercial production company
Motion Blur, operating in Norway and Los Angeles. According to
Harald, she is the backbone of their filmmaking operation. “She has
extraordinary creative flair and pushes me to do my best. She is inseparable
from my success,” he said. The filmmaking couple will now
spend three months in China working on “Karate Kid.”
PHOTOS COURTESY OF NORWEGIAN FILM INSTITUTE
1949
Edith Carlmar, Norway's first
female director, debutes with
the film "Death is a Caress", a
film considered to be Norway's
first film noir." She made 10 feature
films between 1949 and
1959.
1959:
Liv Ullmann is cast in her first
starring role in Edith Carlmar’s
"The Wayward Girl" ("Ung flukt").
Carlmar’s critically acclaimed
films often sparked public
debate, and are today considered
classics.
4 | news of norway | spring 2009