TrustNordisk Boards Martin Zandvliet’s ‘The Marco Effect’

By Elsa Keslassy

LOS ANGELES (Variety.com) – TrustNordisk has picked up international sales rights to Martin Zandvliet’s next crime-thriller “The Marco Effect” which is based on Jussi Adler-Olsen’s bestselling novel by the same name.

The screenplay for “The Marco Effect” is written by Anders F. August (“A Fortunate Man”) and was co-written by Thomas Porsager. The film follows 14-year-old Marco, a homeless gipsy boy, who is arrested at the Danish boarder control for possession of a missing public servant’s passport. But the traumatized Marco refuses to talk to them and runs away from those who intend to kill him because of what he knows.

The film, which just started shooting, stars Ulrich Thomsen (“The Young Pope”), alongside upcoming talents Zaki Youssef (“Sons of Denmark”) and Sofie Torp (Wildland”). Zandvliet is a very well-established director whose made his feature debut with “Applaus.” Zandvliet credits also include “Land of Mine” which competed the prestigious Platform section at Toronto and earned a nomination for best foreign language film, and the Netflix Original “The Outsider” with Jared Leto.

“With a budget of more than 7 million Euro, a captivating as well as thrilling script and Jussi Adler-Olsen’s internationally known novel behind, we are convinced that ‘The Marco Effet’ has the potential to land on the big screen in most corners of the world,” said Susan Wendt, the managing director at .

“The Marco Effect” is produced by Mikael Rieks for Nordisk Film Production A/S in a co-Production with Peter Nadermann for Nadcon Film GmbH and ZDF. Nordisk Film Distribution will distribute the film in Scandinavia on Oct. 1.