Ben Hamilton
December 13th, 2018

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‘Green Book’ has upset the odds

Danish-American star Viggo Mortensen is currently the fourth favourite to win the Best Actor Oscar. He is available at 7/1 with most bookmakers for his role as a chauffeur in the film ‘Green Book’.

However, reviewers have not been overly-enamoured with the tale of a white chauffeur working for a black singer in redneck America in the 1960s, with the New Yorker calling it “calculatedly heartwarming”. Its Metacritic rating is only 70.

Meanwhile, Mortensen has also picked up a nod for Best Actor from the Golden Globes – in the infinitely more winnable Musical/Comedy selection, in which he is a 6/4 second favourite to triumph.

Acclaim for ‘Den skyldige’, but no Golden Globe nod
‘Den skyldige’, though, missed out on a Golden Globe nomination for best film in a foreign language. A nine-film shortlist for the Oscar in the same category is due out later this month.

Good news came with the revelation that Hollywood wants to remake ‘Den skyldige’ with Jake Gyllenhaal in the lead role. The actor told media it would be an “honour” to star in.

Bold Film, which Gyllenhaal has a first-look deal with, has bought the rights to make an English-language version.

Every film needs the kindness of strangers, and Berlin too!
Lone Scherfig’s new film, ‘The Kindness of Strangers’, which had a test screening on June 28 at the Empire Bio to an audience mainly made up of internationals based in Copenhagen, will open the 69th Berlin Film Festival on February 7. For a long time, Scherfig could not settle on a name for her film, which tells interweaving stories centred around a Russian restaurant in New York. Originally it was called ‘Secrets from the Russian Tea Room’, and ‘Love Freezes Over’ was also suggested as a title, before Scherfig settled on a rather glib name that has been used multiple times over the last two decades.

Tønder aiming for 50-50 gender line-up
Following a strong female contingent at its 2018 edition, where four out of ten performers were women, Tønder Festival has set itself a new target for 2019: 50 percent. In collaboration with the international Keychange campaign, Tønder has already recruited The Savage Rose and British singer Kate Rusby … as well as a few men. A Spanish music festival next May, Primavera Sound, has also set itself a 50-50 target, while the Forbrændingen concert venue in Albertslund will only be welcoming female acts in 2019. The Tønder Festival is scheduled to take place from August 22-25.

‘Vikings’ is “sexist, macho shit”, claims DR expert
A DR review has laid into the HBO series Vikings, of which the seventh season (officially Season 5B) is currently being streamed, accusing it of being “sexist, macho shit”. One of its TV series experts, Kasper Lundberg, watched the show for the first time, concluding that it is “soft porn without any real plot”, is “unconcerned with accuracy” and gives the female characters “nothing to say”.

Saveus hailed, but should they be banned for past crimes?
DR has heralded Saveus, whose music has been described as ‘science fiction soul’ or ‘galactic pop’, as one of the best bands of the year. “We have really broken through the wall and there has been huge backing around us,” its frontman Martin Hedegaard told the broadcaster in the online piece, which is swiftly followed by an invitation to listen to their hit ‘Ready to Die’. Curiously, though, Hedegaard was the winner of the first edition of ‘X Factor’ – back in 2009, as ‘Martin’ the pimply teenager – and a DR radio station is among those that steadfastly refuse to play music made by former ‘X Factor’ and Eurovision contestants.

DR appoint former DFI supremo as new boss of culture output
DR has named Henrik Bo Nielsen as its head of culture, children and young people’s programming, which will also see him take charge of the production of DR drama, the broadcaster’s ensembles and DR Koncerthuset. As the former chief executive of the Danish Film Institute, as well as the head of the ROMU museum group and Dagbladet Information newspaper, Nielsen has exactly the kind of experience DR was looking for. He will take over the position from acting head Henriette Marienlund on April 1 in line with the broadcaster reorganising its main departments in line with the cuts.

Smukfest the priciest festival by far to pay in instalments
Smukfest has been called out for bumping up the price of its tickets when they are paid in installments. The festival, which tends to sell its 28,000-ticket allocation in little more than an hour, offers purchasers the chance to pay the 2,695 kroner asking price in installments, but overall it will cost them an extra 200 kroner. NorthSide and Roskilde, in contrast, only take an extra 55 and 60 kroner respectively.

Michelle Obama and Cher heading to Denmark for the first time this decade
Michelle Obama, the First Lady of former President Barack Obama, will be promoting her new autobiography ‘Becoming’ at Royal Arena on April 9. Copenhagen is one of six European cities on her tour and her visit to Denmark, her first since 2009, is being made in association with the Heartland Festival. Tickets start at 300 kroner and went on sale today at 10:00 via ticketmaster.dk. Meanwhile, legendary US singer Cher is also coming to Royal Arena – on October 15 with her ‘Here We Go Again’ tour. It will be her first visit to Denmark for 14 years. Tickets start at 520 kroner and are available via ticketmaster.dk. Their availability depends on whether you are an official fan. If not, you will have to wait until 10:00 on February 25.