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Presents

KING’S ROADWritten, edited and directed by

Valdís Óskarsdóttir

StarringDaniel Brühl, Gísli Örn Garðarsson, Ingvar E. Sigurðsson,

Nína Dögg Filippusdóttir

Produced byMystery Island and AVE in coproduction with Kukl and Vestuport

Festival del film Locarno – Piazza Grande: 5th August 2010, 9.30 pm

Press Conference: 5th August 2010, ca 12.00 a.m., Palazzo Morettini

CAST AND CREW

Rupert Daniel Bruehl Junior Gísli Örn GarðarssonSenior Sigurður Sigurjonsson Sallý Nanna Kristín MagnúsdóttirMaría Kristbjörg Kjeld Ray Ólafur Darri ÓlafssonDavis Ólafur Egill EgilssonRósa Nína Dögg Filippusdóttir Onni Björn Hlynur Haraldsson BB Ingvar E. Sigurðsson

Director/Script/Editor Valdís ÓskarsdóttirDirector of Photography Bergsteinn BjörgúlfssonArt Director Gunnar Pálsson

Harry JohannssonSound Pétur EinarssonProducer Davíð Óskar Ólafsson

Árni FilippussonHreinn Beck

TECHNICAL DETAILS:Iceland 2010Length: 99,5 minutesFormat: RED/DCPSound format: StereoShooting Time: September/October 2009, Iceland

WORLD SALES:Beta Cinema, Dirk Schuerhoff/Andreas RothbauerGruenwalder Weg 28d, D – 82041 Oberhaching/Germany

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For further information: Beta Cinema Press, Dorothee Stoewahse, Tel: + 49 89 67 34 69 15, [email protected], www.betacinema.comPictures and filmclips available on ftp.betafilm.com, username: ftppress01, password: betapress, file: KING’S ROAD

ftp://ftp.betafilm.com/

http://www.betacinema.com/

mailto:[email protected]

Tel: + 49 89 67 34 69 80, Fax: + 49 89 67 34 69 888www.betacinema.com, [email protected]

LOGLINE

After three years abroad Junior returns to Iceland with his set of problems hoping that his father can sort them out for him but his homecoming isn’t quite what he had expected.

SHORT SYNOPSIS

King’s Road is a story about a group of individuals that ends up at the same place and their troubled past is the reason why they are staying at this place. The story takes place over five days and during that time we learn how they got there and why and at the end all of them have to make up their minds and make decisions if to go on with their lives as it is or take action.

CONTENT

King’s Road is a gravel road in a run down trailer park out in the country. On that road lives the family of Senior, which includes himself – a former multimillionaire, his new wife Sally – a former Miss Iceland, and his mother Maria that has a dead seal for a pet. Onni, an unemployed, alcoholic wannabe a rock star and his six months pregnant wife Rosa. Two motherless brothers Ray and Davis. Ray works as a pedestrian crossing attendant on the main road off the trailer park and Davis is the pedestrian who has to cross the road every time a car approaches. The superintendant of the trailer park is BB. A lonesome guy and a bad tempered control freak, an errand boy for Senior and the only taxi-driver in the trailer park. He drives around the trailer park in a golf cart. A hippie and a punk have nestled in an old car that they use as a smoking room and listen to music.

The story starts when Junior - the son of Senior, arrives with his friend Rupert from Germany looking for his father. Junior that has been living abroad for the last three years, decided to come back to Iceland and get his father to fix his financial problems. What Junior doesn’t know is that his father has lost more or less everything except for some Euro and US dollars that he has stashed away in the seal that his mother looks after.

Senior is not at home when Junior and Rupert turn up. When Senior eventually comes and sees his son he is not pleased and Sally is surprised. She has never heard of any son. In fact she doesn’t know anything about Senior’s past – or present, at all. Junior tries to pin his father down to get the truth out of him about why he is living in this trailer park and why he stopped sending him money, but Senior is good at avoiding him, and is not often seen around.

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Onni has arrived home from his weekly searching-for-job tour to town. He’s one day late and drunk as usual. Rosa isn’t buying his excuse for his late return, a touching story about his sick father at the hospital. Their relationship is definitely not the most romantic one but Onni has a charm he uses when needed and Rosa is an easy prey.

Sally is friends with Ray and Davis and spends her days with them at the pedestrian crossing down by the main road. Sally is a secret smoker and when she needs a cigarette, Ray stops the first car passing and asks for a cigarette for Sally. She talks to them about Senior and his search for his inner self, tells them about her opulent past and learns about the fine system the brothers are using. The traffic mostly consist of BB taxi driving back and forth but he never stops at the stop sign that Ray holds up. Every time BB drives by he gets a fine and once a week, BB comes by Ray’s and Davis’s trailer and pays the fines with food. At home, the brothers pursue their interests. Ray nurses his serviette collection and Davis plays cards with himself. Their main topic of conversation is their mother, whom they have never seen or heard from.

Maria walks around with the precious seal in her arms. She visits Senior at his office every now and then to talk about Junior but Senior doesn’t want to talk to her about Junior. He doesn’t want to talk to Junior at all. Maria seeks shelter from her troubled thoughts in the smoking car with the punk and the hippie. Smoking and listening to their punk and hippie music is her meditation.

Rupert is far from happy. This isn’t what he had expected when they left Germany and this is not what Junior had promised him. Junior owes Rupert money and that money belongs to Rupert’s uncle who own the nightclub in Stuttgart where Rupert and Junior have been working. Junior is a performer and Rupert is his manager. Junior had promised Rupert that he would get the money as soon as he had talked to his father but it doesn’t look like he’s talking to his father at all. Junior better get the money back because Rupert isn’t leaving without it.

In this oh-so quiet trailer park, things start to change. A contagious impatience is spreading like virus, hitting everyone except for the punk and the hippie. Senior surfs the internet to try to find his way out of the country. Rupert loses his temper, attacks Junior and walks off with his clothes. Rosa and Onni quarrel and Rosa leaves the trailer. Maria and Senior argue about Junior and Maria seeks comfort in the smoking car. Sally decides to throw a grill party. Rupert meets BB and after listening to his abuses in Icelandic, he knocks him down. While Sally is walking from one trailer to another asking for meat for the grill, Rupert finds Rosa crying behind a trailer. While they are talking Onni is writing a song and drinking a beer in the trailer.

Later that day Ray, Davis and Sally see BB throwing a woman out of his car and then he drives off. The woman arrives at the pedestrian crossing and Davis offers to help her with her suitcase and they head off to the trailer park and stop in front of Ray’s and Davis’s trailer. The woman tells Ray and Davis that she is their

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mother and her name is Asta. Ray gets furious and leaves the trailer but Davis sits down with his mother and listens to her story.

Maria confronts Senior about his behaviour regarding his family and friends and his hidden money in the seal. Onni tells Rosa that he has to go into town tomorrow and Rosa tells him, that if he leaves he doesn’t have to come back.

Junior and Rupert are in bed with hangovers. Rupert tells Junior about his uncle that has been lending him money so he could pay for Junior’s needs through the years and if Rupert doesn’t come back with the money his uncle will kill him.

Onni and Rosa are having a massive argument outside their trailer accusing each other for their situation. When Rosa yells at Onni that she hates the trailer he yells back at her that he can easily fix that problem. He grabs a sledgehammer and starts smashing things on the veranda.

BB comes by, strides up to Onni and demands to know what he thinks he is doing; he’s not allowed to cause damage to property he doesn’t own. Onni looks at him calmly, strikes up a flame on his Zippo lighter and tosses it into his caravan through the broken window. He has, of course, forgotten about the gas cylinder inside, and the trailer explodes.

In front of Senior’s office, Sally and Davis are picked up by the taxi. By the pedestrian crossing are Ray with his mom, Rosa and Rupert. The car stops and all of them get into the car and they drive off away from the trailer park.

PRESS NOTES

Daniel Bruehl (GOODBYE, LENIN!, INGLOURIOUS BASTERDS) and Gisli Örn Garðarsson (PRINCE OF PERSIA) play the lead roles in the tragicomical film, which unfolds in a decrepit trailer park outside of Reykjavik. KING'S ROAD is the second feature directed by the Icelandic filmmaker, whose first film COUNTRY WEDDING was shown at the international festivals of Toronto, Munich, Pusan, Marrakech and London, and obtained four nominations for the Icelandic Film Award. Valdis Óskarsdóttir, who also wrote the script, had previously made a name for herself as film editor, and was responsible for the editing of THE MONGOL, which was nominated for the Academy Award 2007 as best foreign film. The international acclaimed singer Björk and her Suguercubes contributed to the soundtrack.

In KING’S ROAD the young Icelander Junior (Gisli Örn Garðarsson, Berlinale Shooting Star 2007, two Icelandic film awards) returns home in search of his father, with whom he has had no contact for many years now, but from whom he expects help in a difficult situation. His return to the depressing trailer park full of misfits disappointed by life, does not quite go as he had planned… Playing alongside Daniel Brühl are exclusively Icelandic actors, members of the renowned Icelandic theater group Vesturport, including Nina Dögg Filippusdottir, who was

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awarded the Shooting Star of the Berlinale in 2003 and twice obtained the Icelandic film award Edda.

DIRECTOR’S NOTES by Valdís Óskarsdóttir

I very much like telling stories and that is probably why I became an editor in the first place because editing is in a way storytelling. But after a while I got bored always telling other peoples stories and wanted to tell my stories instead and that’s why I started making films.

The trailer park at Laugarvatn on the south side of Iceland has been a huge attraction to me for years. I have driven by it lots of time and the same thought has always entered my mind. This place is a movie! Probably that thought was the first piece in the big puzzle of King’s Road that has taken me years to put together in my mind.

It’s difficult to tell what came first in King’s Road, the characters or the story but probably it popped up in my mind at the same time. When my life is black and boring I like to make up stories to entertain myself and when I’m going through difficult times I escape into my own imagination. It’s a nice, peaceful and creative world to rest in and perhaps the biggest advantage is that I can decide on my own what goes on, something I can’t do in real life.

I like watching people, the way they talk and the way they communicate, their behavior and how they react in situations. That’s how I come up with the characters in my stories. They are based on people I have met. Family, friends and acquaintances, people that I have heard or read about.

My biggest luck when making King’s Road was a fantastic cast and crew. All of them are hard working artists. They used their creativity and imagination to add an extra flavor and another dimension to the film. If it weren’t for them, King’s Road would never have been made.

PRODUCER’S NOTES by Davíð Óskar Ólafsson

Location:We started out wanting to shoot the film at Laugarvatn which is a genuine trailer park in Iceland. It turned out that that would be more then just saying that and because of budget issues we decided to look for a location closer to Reykjavik. We went for a drive around Reykjavik trying to spot a place where we could build our trailer park. There where some locations that where promising but nothing that really was the right one in our minds. We then finally found one and started all negotiations with the land owners etc and things where going well until we got a phone call telling us that the land that we where on was a waterhole and we couldn’t be there with heavy machinery which we would need to build the set. With only 2 months before our first day of shooting we where again standing in

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Reykjavik with no location. Our DP then came to us and said that he knew about a place close by that would fit it perfectly. We drove there with him. It was only 5 min from our production office so that was great. When we came it was the perfect place. No houses around. We couldn’t hear the traffic coming from the highway and it was just like the director had imagined it. And the rest is history. The art department did wonders with the short period of time that they had and we are very happy with everything.

Actors:We had worked with most of them before when we did our first feature “Country Wedding”. They are mostly from the same theatre group Vesturport that has been doing theatre around the world. We knew that they would be up for doing another strange Icelandic comedy and we knew that we could trust them 100% in delivering what we wanted. We will keep on working with these actors in the future but we will of course also give new ones a chance to shine.When we started the pre production of the film the person Rupert wasn’t in it. Instead it was Junior’s girlfriend and they where coming to Iceland. But since the actress that we wanted couldn’t join us the director couldn’t see anyone else doing the part so she changed the script into what it is now. We then needed a male actor to join us. We tried a couple but something always came up and it didn’t work out. Then Nina Dögg got the idea of contacting Daniel since they had been shooting stars in Berlin together and they wanted to work together but the possibility had never been there. We then contacted him and asked if he wanted to join us for the shooting of a strange Icelandic comedy and he was more then willing and he was in Iceland within 2 weeks on set ready to shoot his first scene.

Shooting:The most memorable thing about the shoot will probably be when we where to shoot the grill party scene. It had been great weather all day but a little cold. We set up for the shoot and when we started to shoot it started to snow. Since we are used to the weather changing sometimes a couple of time during the day we didn’t panic. We thought that this would probably pass and the snow would melt. But no it kept on snowing and snowing and snowing. We decided to shoot the scene in snow since it was funny and strange that it all of the sudden started snowing. People that watch the film will probably think that it is fake snow but I can tell you here and now that this was real. The day after our art department had to get tons of hot water up in the valley and spray the snow so that we could shoot. This was probably the thing that we will remember for a long time.

ABOUT THE FILMMAKER

VALDIS OSKARSDOTTIR, Director/Script/Editing

“Born and raised in Iceland. Went to school and learned to read and write and calculate. Learned to dance tango, samba, cha cha cha plus other classic ballroom dances and how to play a guitar but really wanted to learn how to play drums. Think I have forgot everything except the basic stuff, that’s reading,

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writing and calculating. No. That’s not quite true. I still have the ballroom rhythm inside me and I can’t live without music.

I’ve done lot of things in my life. For some years I worked as a photographer at newspapers and weekly magazines and did some free lance stuff as well. Wrote articles and took the photos and did photo illustrations for books of poems and participated in photo exhibitions. Then I worked some years as a writer. Short stories. Tales for children. Radio plays and TV programs. During those years my purse frequently suffered and to save it from total starvation I took jobs from time to time in fish factories, worked as a waitress, a teacher and a cook on a fishing boat.

I always had this crazy dream of working in films and I don’t know how I found out that behind the film I saw in the dark cinema was a person called editor and that I wanted to become an editor. Guess it makes no difference how and why I became film editor but what matters is that I did. I guess I became lucky or it was meant to be. In June 1985 - a week after I had taken a job as a newspaper photographer, I got a phone call from an Icelandic director and he offered me a job as a clapper and loader and still photographer on his new film. That phone call was my point of no return.”

FILMOGRAPHY - DIRECTOR

2010 King’s Road2008 Country Wedding

Icelandic Film Awards: Nominated for Best Film 2008

FILMOGRAPHY - EDITOR

2009 Submarino Dir: Thomas Vinterberg2008 Country Wedding Dir: Valdis Oskarsdottir

Icelandic Film Awards: Nominated for Best editing 2007 En mand kommer hjem Dir: Thomas Vinterberg2006 Vantage Point Dir: Pete Travis2006 Mongol Dir: Sergei Bodrov

Academy Award: Nominated Best Foreign Film 2005 Martian Child Dir: Menno Meyjes2004 Yazy Tura Dir: Ugur Yucel

Antalya Golden Orange Film Festival: Best editing 2003 Eternal Sunshine Dir: Michel Gondry

BAFTA awards: Best editing Nominated for the Eddie awards Online Film Critics Society Awards: Best editing San Diego Film Critics Society Awards: Best editing

2002 Skagerrak Dir: Soeren Kragh-Jacobsen 2002 The Sea Dir: Baltasar Kormakur

Icelandic Film Awards: Best editing8





2000 Finding Forrester Dir: Gus Van Sant1999 Julien Donkey-Boy Dir: Harmony Korine1998 Mifune's Last Song Dir: Søren Kragh-Jacobsen

Danish Film awards: Best editing 1997 – 1998 The Celebration. Dir: Thomas Vinterberg.

Danish Film awards: Best editing1996 - 1997 Forbidden for Children Dir: Jesper W. Nielsen1995 Dream Hunters. Dir: Àsdís Thoroddsen.1994 - 1995 The Last Viking Dir: Jesper W. Nielsen1994 The Sky Palace Dir: Thorsteinn Jónsson.1992 Remote Control Dir: Óskar Jónasson.1991 Ingaló Dir: Ásdís Thoroddsen.

DANIEL BRUEHL, Actor (Rupert)

Awards Screen Actors Guild Award 2010 – Best Actor Goya 2007 (Nomination) – Best Actor Barcelona Film Award 2006 - Best Actor Seattle International Film Festival 2007 - Best Actor European Film Award 2004 – Audience Award - Best Actor. European Film Award 2003 - Best Actor European Film Award 2003 – Audience Award - Best Actor German Film Award 2003 – Audience Award - Best Actor German Film Award 2003 – Best Actor German Film Award 2001 – Best Actor Bavarian Film Award 2002 – Best Young Actor

FILMOGRAPHY – Actor

2010 Der ganz große Traum des Konrad KochKing’s Road Et si on vivait tous ensemble

2009 The coming dayDinosaurier

2008 John RabeThe CountessInglourious BasterdsMy Words, My Lies – My Lover

2007 Un pocco di chocolate Deux jours a Paris

2006 In Transit2006 Krabat

The Bourne Ultimatum

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2005 SalvadorCargo

2004 Ein Freund von mirJoyeux Noel

2003 Farland Ladies in Lavender The Edukators

2002 Love in Thoughts 2001 Good Bye, Lenin!2000 No Regrets

Vaya con Dios 1999 The White Sound

GISLI ÖRN GAÐARSSON, Actor (Junior)

Awards: Berlinale Shooting Star 2007 Edda Award Best Film for: Parents (2007) Edda Award Screenplay of the Year for: Children (2006) Nominated Edda Award Actor of the Year for: Children (2006)

FILMOGRAPHY – Actor

2011 City State 2010 Jitters 2010 Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time 2010 Undercurrent 2010 King's Road 2008 Country Wedding 2008 Mannaveiðar (TV series)2007 Parents 2006 Áramótaskaup 2006 (TV)2006 Children 2005 Beowulf & Grendel 2004 Niceland (Population. 1.000.002) 2003 Karamellumyndin 2001 Dramarama

FILMOGRAPHY – Producer

2010 Undercurrent (executive producer)2007 Parents (associate producer) 2006 Children (producer/writer)NÍNA DÖGG FILIPPUSDÓTTIR, Actress (Rósa)

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http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0872094/



Awards: Berlinale Shooting Star 2003 Edda Award Best Film for: Parents (2007) Edda Award Screenplay of the Year for: Children (2006) Nominated Edda Award Actor of the Year for: Children (2006)

FILMOGRAPHY – Actress

2008 Surf2007 Country wedding 2006 Children and Parents2006 The Girls (TV series) 2005 The Girl in the Café 2003 Stella Runs for Office2002 Hafið (The Sea) 2001 Dramarama

FILMOGRAPHY – Producer

2007 Parents (associate producer) 2006 Children (producer/writer)

ABOUT THE PRODUCERS

MYSTERY ISLANDMystery Island is a new production company, established in 2006 and owned by Arni Filippusson and David Oskar Olafsson, who both have several years of experience in the film and advertising industry in Iceland. Mystery Island is a very innovative and new thinking company, that main goals are to produce and co-produce feature films, short films, documentaries and TV-series. The company has already establised itself as a strong contester within the Icelandic film industry. In the few years that it has been operating it has already been nominated for the Icelandic Film Awards twice. In 2007 for Rattlesnakes (Best short film) and 2008 for Country Wedding (Best Feature Film, Best supporting actress, Best editor and Best music) and The Button (Best short film). They have proofen that they really belong in the film industry in Iceland. Mystery Island is in very good co-operation with some of Icelands most promising and interesting film makers (Valdis Oskarsdottir - Country Wedding, Gísli Örn Garðarsson - Children and Parents, Vesturport Theatre Group – Children and Parents, Hafsteinn Gunnar Sigurdsson – Rattlesnakes, Jón Atli Jónasson – Thicker then water, Brim.) just to name a few.

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AVEAVE is a family company owned by Valdis Óskarsdóttir (Director), Davíð Óskar Ólafsson (Producer) and Karl Vikar Kristjánsson.

ABOUT BETA CINEMA (World Sales)

Beta Cinema is the theatrical division of Beta Film. Launched in 2001, Beta Cinema has established itself as a "boutique operation" for independent feature films with strong potential for theatrical distribution. Beta Cinema's philosophy is to limit its selective acquisition policy of 10 to 15 titles per year in order to fully develop the theatrical potential of each title according to its individual character. Beta Cinema’s portfolio includes outstanding productions like JOHN RABE, which won four German Film Awards 2009, Cannes 2008 Jury Prize-winning IL DIVO, Academy Award 2008-winning THE COUNTERFEITERS, Academy Award 2008 nominated MONGOL, Academy Award 2007-winning THE LIVES OF OTHERS and the Academy Award 2005-nominated DOWNFALL.Beta Cinema will continue to pick the most promising German films as well as to offer its service and expertise to other European producers looking for individual handling of their productions.Beta Cinema's strength lies in its focus on a carefully selected line-up and development of individual sales strategies with the perfect mix of marketing and festival platforms. Beta Cinema is the best address for established and up-and-coming independent producers and directors looking for individual international handling of their projects.

INTERNATIONAL PRESS CONTACT

Beta Cinema PressDorothee StoewahseTel: + 49 89 67 34 69 [email protected], www.betacinema.com

Presskit, pictures and filmclips available on ftp.betafilm.comusername: ftppress01password: betapressfile: KING’S ROAD

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