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Headhunters (film)

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Headhunters
Norwegian theatrical poster
Directed byMorten Tyldum
Screenplay byLars Gudmestad [no]
Ulf Ryberg
Based onHodejegerne
by Jo Nesbø
Produced byMarianne Gray
Asle Vatn
Starring
CinematographyJohn Andreas Andersen
Edited byVidar Flataukan
Music byTrond Bjerknes
Jeppe Kaas
Production
companies
Friland Film
Yellow Bird
Distributed byNordisk Film
Release dates
  • 26 August 2011 (2011-08-26) (Norway)
  • 4 November 2011 (2011-11-04) (Sweden)
Running time
100 minutes
CountryNorway
LanguagesNorwegian
Danish
BudgetUSD 3,636,887 [1]
Box officeUSD 18,962,444[2]

Headhunters (Norwegian: Hodejegerne) is a 2011 Norwegian action thriller film based on the 2008 novel of the same name by Jo Nesbø. The film was directed by Morten Tyldum and stars Aksel Hennie, Nikolaj Coster-Waldau and Synnøve Macody Lund. Hennie portrays the successful but insecure corporate recruiter Roger Brown who lives a double life as an art thief to fund his lavish lifestyle. He discovers that one of his job prospects owns a valuable painting and sets out to steal it.

Released in Norway on 26 August 2011, Headhunters was a box office success, receiving critical acclaim, and was nominated for multiple awards, including four Amanda Awards and a BAFTA Award for Best Foreign Language Film.

It is the highest-grossing Norwegian film in history.[3]

Plot

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Roger Brown (Aksel Hennie), Norway's most successful headhunter, supports his lavish lifestyle by stealing paintings with his partner, Ove (Eivind Sander). Asked to dinner by his mistress, Lotte (Julie Ølgaard), Roger declines and ends their relationship.

Roger's wife and art gallery owner, Diana (Synnøve Macody Lund), introduces him to Clas Greve (Nikolaj Coster-Waldau), a former executive for GPS tech company HOTE. Roger, in the process of recruiting the CEO of HOTE's rival Pathfinder, considers Clas a suitable candidate. Roger learns from Diana that Clas owns a lost Rubens painting believed to be worth millions.

Meeting Clas over lunch to discuss the job, Roger learns Clas is a former member of TRACK, a special forces unit specialized in tracking people, and that he helped HOTE develop a nanotechnology GPS tracking gel. Despite his misgivings, Roger and Ove proceed with the theft. Roger successfully swap the Rubens painting with the counterfeit, but discovers Diana's cell phone beside Clas' bed, implying an affair. In retaliation, after a seemingly successful interview with Pathfinder executives, a Roger flippantly informs Clas that the company is looking for someone else.

The next morning, Roger finds Ove in his car, apparently dead from a poison syringe. Just as Roger tries to dumps Ove's body in a lake, Ove recovers, having not got a full dose of the poison. Roger drives Ove to his cabin and ignores his demands for medical attention, not wanting the police involved. Ove pulls out a gun, causing a shoot-out where Roger accidentally kills him. Finding Clas has followed him to Ove's cabin, Roger narrowly escapes after a scuffle.

Surmising Clas may have installed a tracker on him, Roger steals Ove's car and spare uniform, then flees to a Ove's old farm. Clas arrives at the farm with his dog and murders the farmer. Roger evades them and kills Clas' dog when it attacks him. Driving away in a tractor, Roger sees a pursuing vehicle. In a panic, he drives erratically and falls from the tractor, only to find his pursuer is a stranger wanting to help.

Waking in a hospital, Roger learns the police mistake him for Ove, and arrest him for the farmer's murder. Driving to the station, the officers pull over to block a truck reported stolen. Roger realizes that Clas is driving the truck and that Diana may have helped Clas by rubbing the GPS gel into his hair. With Clas approaching, the officers ignore Roger's protests, allowing Clas to ram the car off a cliff. Playing dead until Clas leaves the scene, Roger shaves his head and hides his hair on a deceased officer's body, then swaps clothes with a detective's disfigured body to fake his death.

Roger asks Lotte for help, only to learn she is working for Clas. Clas, who is still secretly employed by HOTE, was planning to use Roger to get the Pathfinder job and steal their technologies. Lotte admits putting the GPS gel in Roger's hair, and that she suggested dinner so she could introduce him to Clas. After Roger ended their affair, Clas used the Rubens painting to meet Roger through Diana. Lotte attacks him with a knife, causing Roger to fatally shoot her in self-defense. Roger returns home and admits everything to Diana, who apologizes for her affair with Clas. The next morning, Roger goes to a morgue to retrieve the remaining evidence linking him to the murders (his cut hair), while Diana contacts Clas to ostensibly resume their affair.

While cleaning Ove's cabin of evidence, Roger is confronted by Clas, who tracks the GPS gel in the cut hair. Gloating that Diana has returned to him, Clas tries to shoot Roger but fails. Roger fatally wounds Clas with a gun, and explains that Diana loaded Clas' gun with blanks. Ove's security camera records Clas shooting and getting shot, but not Roger. The footage, combined with evidence planted by Roger, suggests Ove and Clas were art thieves who killed the farmer, Lotte, and finally each other. The police, including star detective Brede Sperre, ignore the inconsistencies (Ove's and Clas' times of death not matching) because leaving the case unsolved would harm his growing reputation.

Later, Roger and Diana sell their house. Roger returns to work, giving the Pathfinder job to the applicant he rejected and robbed at the beginning of the film.

Cast

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Production and remake

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The Swedish production company Yellow Bird acquired the film rights to Jo Nesbø's 2008 novel Headhunters in 2009.[4] It was the first of Nesbø's novels to be turned into a film.[5] The film was shot in and around Oslo on a budget of 30 million NOK over 40 days.[1] The film lacked aerial shots that they needed but ran out of money and instead archive footage scenes from the Swedish film The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo was used and was digitally altered to change the type of car.[6]

A Hollywood remake of Headhunters was planned, with the British journalist and screenwriter Sacha Gervasi writing the screenplay.[7] The rights to the English-language remake were sold to the American film studio Summit Entertainment in 2011 while the Norwegian film was still in production.[8][9]

Music

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Tracks used in the movie include:[10]

  • "Weathervane" by Weathervane (writing name of Jimmy Gnecco and Paul Waaktaar-Savoy) - over the end credits
  • "Sleep Ferrari" published by Universal Publishing Production Music (no artist given)
  • "Come Arround" [sic] by Goran Obad and Henrik Skarm

Release

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The film was released in Norway on 26 August 2011[11] and was seen by 104,000 Norwegian moviegoers in its opening weekend, making it the second best opening weekend in Norwegian history, after Max Manus.[6] It was by far the most-watched domestic film of the year, with 557,086 tickets sold at the cinema, and the second most-watched including foreign films, only beaten by Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 2.[12]

Box office

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In its opening weekend in Norway, the film earned $1,789,809, good enough to top the Norwegian box office rankings. The film stayed at the top spot in the Norwegian box office rankings for four straight weekends. It had eventually earned $8,877,056 upon its departure from Norwegian theaters.

It also earned an additional $10,085,388 in other territories and $1,200,010 in the United States for a worldwide box office gross of $18,962,444 against a production budget of $3,636,887, making it the highest-grossing film in Norwegian cinema history.[13]

Reception

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Headhunters received overwhelmingly positive critical reviews upon release. Rotten Tomatoes reports an approval rating of 93% based on 98 reviews, with an average rating of 7.63 out of 10. The consensus reads: "Grisly, twisty, and darkly comic, Headhunters is an exhilaratingly oddball take on familiar thriller elements".[14] On Metacritic, the film has a score of 72 out of 100, based on reviews from 26 critics.[15]

Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times gave the film three and a half out of four, praising the film as "an argument for the kinds of thrillers I miss. It entertains with story elements, in which the scares evolve from human behavior. Unlike too many thrillers that depend on stunts, special effects, and the Queasy cam, this one devises a plot where it matters what happens. It's not all kinetic energy".[16]

In Norway the film got favourable reviews; with most reviewers following the "die throw" system, where one is worst and six is best, the vast majority gave five. The die throw of five was issued by VG,[17] Dagbladet,[18] Aftenposten,[19] Bergens Tidende,[20] Bergensavisen,[21] Stavanger Aftenblad,[22] Dagsavisen,[23] Fædrelandsvennen,[24] Haugesunds Avis[25] and Hamar Arbeiderblad.[26] The die throw of four was issued by Adresseavisen.[27] and Klassekampen.[28] Dagens Næringsliv, called the film "highly acceptable" genre action with a sympathetic lead character.[29]

Accolades

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Headhunters was the first Norwegian film to be nominated for a BAFTA (in the category Best Film Not in the English Language).[30] The film was also nominated for four Amanda Awards: People's Amanda (audience vote), Best Actor, Best Direction and Best Visual Effects, but not for Best Norwegian Film, leading to criticism of the Amanda jury.[31]

Year Award Category Recipient Result
2012 Amanda Award People's Amanda Won
Best Actor Aksel Hennie Nominated
Best Direction Morten Tyldum Nominated
Best Visual Effects Lars Erik Hansen, Jan Svalland Nominated
2013 British Academy Film Awards (BAFTA)[30] Best Film Not in the English Language Nominated
2013 Empire Awards[citation needed] Best Thriller Won
2012 European Film Awards[11] People's Choice Award for Best European Film Nominated
2012 Golden Trailer Awards Best Foreign Action Trailer Nominated
2011 Philadelphia Film Festival Audience Award - Honorable Mention Won
2012 Phoenix Film Critics Society Award Best Foreign Language Film Nominated
2012 San Diego Film Critics Society Awards Best Foreign Language Film Nominated
2013 Saturn Awards[citation needed] Best International Film Won
2012 St. Louis Gateway Film Critics Association Awards Best Foreign Language Film Nominated

See also

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References

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  1. ^ a b Pål Marius Tingve (12 October 2010). "Aksel (34) klinte til med Garp (2)". Dagbladet (in Norwegian). Retrieved 3 April 2012.
  2. ^ "'Headhunters' (2012)". Box Office Mojo. IMDB. Retrieved 15 June 2012.
  3. ^ Christopher Rosen (October 27, 2011). "The Norwegian Film That's a Bigger Success Than 'Harry Potter' and 'Transformers'". Archived from the original on 2014-11-29.
  4. ^ "Yellow Bird vil lage Jo Nesbø-film". Rushprint. 12 May 2009. Retrieved 3 February 2013.
  5. ^ Kristoffer Pettersen Rambøl and Liza Stokke (13 October 2010). "Se Aksel Hennie i "Hodejegerne"". NRK. Retrieved 3 February 2013.
  6. ^ a b Jan Gunnar Furuly (2 September 2011). "Hodejegerne lånte scener fra Stieg Larsson-film" [Headhunters borrowed scenes from Stieg Larsson film]. Aftenposten (in Norwegian). Archived from the original on 14 October 2013. Retrieved 3 April 2012.
  7. ^ Peder Ottosen (15 December 2011). "Nå skrives Hollywood-versjonen av "Hodejegerne"". Dagbladet (in Norwegian). Retrieved 3 April 2012.
  8. ^ Jorn Rossing Jensen (11 October 2011). "Summit plans English-language remake of Norwegian thriller Headhunters". Screen International. Retrieved 3 February 2013.
  9. ^ Andreeva, Nellie (March 8, 2016). "Morten Tyldum Developing 'Headhunters' U.S. Remake With Yellow Bird". Deadline.
  10. ^ Headhunters Soundtrack (and confirmed with the soundtrack listing on the DVD)
  11. ^ a b "Headhunters heads for EFA". Norwegian Film Institute. 5 September 2012. Archived from the original on 14 October 2013. Retrieved 4 February 2013.
  12. ^ Kjersti Nipen (29 December 2011). "Ja, vi elsker oppfølgere". Dagbladet. Retrieved 3 February 2013.
  13. ^ "Headhunters". Box Office Mojo. Retrieved 2024-04-26.
  14. ^ "Headhunters (2012)". Rotten Tomatoes. Flixster. Retrieved 5 February 2013.
  15. ^ "Headhunters". Metacritic. CBS Interactive. Retrieved 5 February 2013.
  16. ^ Ebert, Roger (9 May 2012). "Headhunters". Chicago Sun-Times. Archived from the original on 5 June 2012. Retrieved 15 June 2012.
  17. ^ "Frenetisk forundringspakke", VG 25 August 2011
  18. ^ "Blodig moro", Dagbladet 24 August 2011
  19. ^ "Thriller i toppklasse", Aftenposten 24 August 2011
  20. ^ "Fiks og veldreid", Bergens Tidende 24 August 2011
  21. ^ "Høstens publikumsjeger", Bergensavisen 24 August 2011
  22. ^ "Intens thriller vipper nesten over", Stavanger Aftenblad 24 August 2011
  23. ^ "Kupper filmhøsten", Dagsavisen 24 August 2011
  24. ^ "Smart, effektiv og hyperspennende!", Fædrelandsvennen 25 August 2011
  25. ^ "Thriller med driv", Haugesunds Avis 24 August 2011
  26. ^ "Kraftpakke", Hamar Arbeiderblad 25 August 2011
  27. ^ "Best før blodbadet", Adresseavisen 24 August 2011
  28. ^ "Hals over hode", Klassekampen 24 August 2011
  29. ^ "Frekke tønner", Dagens Næringsliv 27 August 2011
  30. ^ a b "Hodejegerne nominert til BAFTA" (in Norwegian). Norwegian Film Institute. 9 January 2013. Archived from the original on 26 October 2016. Retrieved 4 February 2013.
  31. ^ NTB (18 August 2012). "Hodejegerne» vant publikumspris". Bergens Tidende. Archived from the original on 20 December 2014. Retrieved 3 February 2013.
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