Nikolaj Arcel

Nikolaj Arcel (born August 25, 1972 in Copenhagen ) is a Danish director and screenwriter . His film The Queen and the Personal Physician was nominated for both an Academy Award and a Golden Globe Award in the category of Best Foreign Language Film in 2013.

biography

Arcel is the son of the architect Arne Arcel and the psychologist Libby Arcel . He grew up in Copenhagen. The actress Nastja Arcel is his older sister and has appeared in some of his films. He visited Bernadotteskolen in Hellerup . The journalist Lotte Thorsen writes that as a child Arcel was introverted and thoughtful and made his first small films with the help of Star Wars characters and paper mache backdrops . He was also an avid moviegoer. At first completely uncritical until he saw Steven Spielberg's ET - The Extra-Terrestrial and saw it again and again. He, who was lonely, was able to identify with the protagonist and to this day his films are about people who are alone with something and then experience something that leads them to become part of a group that will solve the problems. "Alt, hvad jed har skrevet eller instrueret, handler om folk, who he alene om noget og pludselig oplever et eller, the gør, at de bliver en del af en group, who should solve problems." He started with twelve years writing short stories and novels. When he was in the second grade of high school, he and his friends made a 90-minute feature film based on Paul Auster's City of Glass . Auster was his favorite author alongside John Irving and it was his dream to win him over to a collaboration.

However, he only got the self-confidence that he believed necessary for the job of a director as a singer in a student funk band. After high school he took a year off. He was intimidated by the film industry and it seemed to him that there was no place for young people there. Thorsen characterizes the Danish film industry at that time as a "closed country" ( "lukket land" ), which by and large consisted of Bille August . From 1994 to 1995 he attended the European Film College in Ebeltoft . There he got to know many people with whom he still works today, among others the scriptwriters Rasmus Heisterberg . In this environment he also learned that he had talent and it was also nice to see that there were other people with the same dreams. From 1997 he studied at Den Danske Filmskole . In 2001 he completed his training. His graduation film was called Woyzeck's sidste symfoni and won the Grand Prix at the Festival du Court-Métrage de Clermont-Ferrand in 2002 .

His first commercial film as a director was the film Königspatience - Intrige im Parlament ( Kongekabale ), completed in 2004 . Its success encouraged him to make a Spielberg-esque film that was supposed to be a "tribute to the ET generation" ( "en hyldest til 'ET' generations" ). He spent the next three years on the fantasy film Island of Lost Souls ( De fortabte sjæles ø ), which, however, did not match his ideas: “For the film, I didn't use my brain, only my heart is in it. And I don't want that again. A film must have a plot that is important enough to be told. "( " Jeg manglede hjernen i den film og havde kun hjetzt i den. Og det vil Any ikke igen. The shall be noget vigtigt at fortælle. " ) The next Film became much more personal, also because it didn't have to be a great success like Kongekabale , who decided whether he could ever make a film again. The comedy The Truth About Men ( Sandheden om mænd ) was created against the background that both Arcel and his screenwriter Heisterberg had just ended a long-term relationship shortly after they had decided to start a relationship with children, house and marriage ( "[b ] ørn, hus og ægteskab ” ). With Rosalinde Mynster , who plays the female lead in the film, he began a relationship in early 2009.

Based on Jussi Adler-Olsen's detective novel Mercy, Arcel wrote the screenplay for its film adaptation with Nikolaj Lie Kaas in the lead role.

Filmography (selection)

• 2001: Woyzeck's sidste symfoni as a screenwriter and director
• 2002: Kletter-Ida ( Klatretøsen ) as a screenwriter
• 2004: Königspatience - intrigue in parliament ( Kongekabale ) as screenwriter and director
• 2007: Island of Lost Souls ( De fortabte sjæles ø ) as a screenwriter and director
• 2007: Fightgirl ( Fighter ) as a screenwriter
• 2009: Verblendung ( Män som hatar kvinnor ) as a screenwriter
• 2010: The Truth About Men ( Sandheden om mænd ) as a screenwriter and director
• 2011: Melancholia as a screenwriter
• 2012: The Queen and the Personal Doctor ( En kongelig affære ) as screenwriter and director
• 2013: Erbarmen ( Kvinden i buret ) as a screenwriter
• 2016: Redemption ( Flaskepost fra P ) as a screenwriter
• 2017: Der Dunkle Turm (The Dark Tower) as a screenwriter and director

Awards and prizes (selection)

In 2002 he won the Grand Prix at the Festival du Court-Métrage de Clermont-Ferrand with his short film Woyzecks sidste symfoni . In 2005 royal patience intrigue was able to assert itself against 18 other Danish films in parliament and was awarded the Bodil as best Danish film . In 2006 he was awarded the Erik Ballings travel grant for his contribution to the Danish film, which includes prize money of 50,000 kroner. He was presented with two Roberts in 2010 for The Truth About Men : one for Director of the Year , the other for Script of the Year , which was created in collaboration with Rasmus Heisterberg. The Queen and the Personal Physician was nominated for both an Academy Award and a Golden Globe Award in the category of Best Foreign Language Film in 2013. At the 2012 Berlin International Film Festival , Arcel and Rasmus Heisterberg won the Silver Bear for Best Screenplay for Die Königin und der Personalarzt . At the 2013 Robert Awards, Arcel won again in the Director of the Year category .

Web links

• Nikolaj Arcel in the Internet Movie Database (English)
• Official Arcels website
• Portrait of Nikolaj Arcels on the Det-Danske-Filminstitut website

Individual evidence

1. ↑ ^{a b c d} Entry: Arcel, Nikolaj ; in: Kraks Blå Bog 2012–2013 , Gads Forlag, Copenhagen 2012, p. 71. ISBN 978-87-12-04708-7
2. ↑ ^{a b c d e} Lotte Thorsen: Filminstruktør: Livet skylder mig en ny ungdom hvert tredje år ( Memento of the original from December 15, 2013 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The  archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , 10 October 2010 at politiken.dk.
3. ↑ Anders Hjort: Zentropa lover ti 'Afdeling Q'-krimier på ti år ( Memento of the original from December 1, 2012 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The  archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , May 21, 2012, at politiken.dk.
4. ↑ The year 2005 ( Memento of the original from July 19, 2011 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. on the website of the Bodilpris. 
5. ↑ Beskrivelse af Nordisk Film Prisen og Erik Ballings Rejselegat on nordiskfilm.dk ( Memento from September 28, 2007 in the Internet Archive ) ( Danish )
6. ↑ Entry Arcels  ( page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. on the website of the film academy.  
7. ↑ Alice Petersen: Her er alle Robert-vinderne 2013 ( Memento of the original from March 2, 2013 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The  archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , February 28, 2013; at: robert.tv2.dk.