Coming Soon
The First Snow of Winter Brings Mystery to Town in Suspense Thriller 'The Snowman'
- Details
- Category: Coming Soon
- Published: Thursday, 21 September 2017 08:43
If you're one who likes your movies well-categorized, you can file The Snowman under crime/thriller/drama/British/Norwegian/mystery/murder. It’s probably not a genre list you consider every day, but there's no denying it stirs up curiosity. To put it another way, if your normal movie watching habits tend towards slapstick hilarity and crazy adventures in the style of The Hangover, then you better brace yourself for the suspense of this film.
And there's much to be curious about in The Snowman, the upcoming whodunit murder saga based on a 2007 book of the same title by Norwegian crime author Jo Nesbø. A-listers Michael Fassbender, Rebecca Ferguson, Chloë Sevigny, and Val Kilmer lead a compelling cast under the direction of acclaimed filmmaker/producer Tomas Alfredson, who is best known as the mastermind behind international hits like 2008’s Let the Right One In and 2011’s Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy.
Veteran writers Peter Straughan and Hossein Amini were given the sizable task of crafting a screen adaptation from Nesbø’s novel, which is the seventh entry in her Harry Hole series.
The path to the silver screen has been a long road for The Snowman. A film adaptation was conceived in 2013 by British production outfit Working Title Films, with Martin Scorsese attached to direct. By 2014, the reigns were handed over to Alfredson and his production company, Another Park Film.
Principal filming was done over three months in Norway, beginning in Oslo in January 2016. Locations shifted to Rjukan and Bergen in February, and later to Drammen, wrapping up in early April.
The Snowman story depicts law enforcement investigating the disappearance of a young woman during the first snowfall of winter after her pink scarf is discovered wrapped around a sinister looking snowman.
Fearing the crime might be the work of a known serial killer, detectives on the case, lead by Harry Hole (Fassbender), pronounced Hoo-leh, must act quickly to capture the elusive perpetrator before he strikes again. The process involves piecing together similar unsolved cases from years past to understand and identify the mysterious killer. Hole relies heavily on the fresh insight of new detective Katrine Bratt (Ferguson) to unravel the clues. It’s a complicated and harrowing undertaking, to say the least.
Coming off big roles in Steve Jobs and Assassin’s Creed, Fassbender presents the protagonist Hole as a multifaceted, complicated character. He's a genius detective with a knack for solving seemingly impossible cases, but he's also fallible and has a tendency to go off the rails — not exactly the unflappable, laser-focused investigator you might wish to be at the helm of a nail-biting homicide investigation.
Universal Pictures is marketing the film early and often. A promotional campaign kicked off in July with the U.S. appearance of the official poster and trailer. The international trailer launched on September 5.
The Snowman is scheduled for theatrical release in the U.K. on October 13 and in the U.S. on October 20, just in time to spread a little spooky unease before winter sets in.
