Arn – The Knight Templar

Infobox Film
name = Arn – The Knight Templar


image_size = 150
caption = Theatrical poster.
director = Peter Flinth
producer = Waldemar Bergendahl
Leif Mohlin
Jan Marnell
writer = Jan Guillou (novels)
Hans Gunnarsson (screenplay)
narrator =
starring = Joakim Nätterqvist
Sofia Helin
Stellan Skarsgård
Simon Callow
Vincent Perez
Bibi Andersson
Michael Nyqvist
Milind Soman
music = Tuomas Kantelinen
cinematography = Eric Kress
editing = Olivier Bugge Coutté
Anders Villadsen
distributor = Svensk Filmindustri
released = Start date|2007|12|25|df=y
runtime = 139 min
country = Sweden
Denmark
Norway
Finland
Germany
language = Swedish
English
Latin
Arabic
French
budget = SEK210,000,000
(ca. US$30,000,000) (total budget of both films)
gross =
preceded_by =
followed_by = "Arn – The Kingdom at Road's End"
website = http://www.arnmovie.com/
amg_id =
imdb_id = 0837106

"Arn – The Knight Templar" (original title in Swedish: "Arn – Tempelriddaren") is a 2007 epic film based on Jan Guillou's trilogy about the fictional Swedish Knights Templar Arn Magnusson. The film was released in December 2007 and the sequel, "Arn – The Kingdom at Road's End" ("Arn – Riket vid vägens slut"), was released August 22 , 2008. While the film is mostly in Swedish and most of the production was made in Sweden, the film is a joint production between Sweden, Denmark, Norway, Finland and Germany. With a total budget of around US$30,000,000 for the whole production, it is the most expensive production in Scandinavian film history.

Plot

The original plot (in the novels) follows Arn Magnusson who is part of the powerful Folkung dynasty in the middle 12th century. He grows up in a monastery belonging to the Cistercians. He is trained in archery, swordsmanship and horsemanship by a former Knights Templar who is serving a penance as a monk for a sin. When he leaves the monastery and returns to his family, he is soon pulled into the power struggle between the powerful families, all fighting for the crown of the young nation that is to become the Kingdom of Sweden. He helps his friend Knut Eriksson to kill the old king Karl Sverkersson. This leads to war between the two factions. However Arn and his fiancé Cecilia Algotsdotter have pre-marital relations and for political reasons they are excommunicated and are forced to undertake twenty years of penance. Cecilia Algotsdotter in a convent and Arn as a Knight Templar in the Holy Land to fight against the Saracens.

Production

The film production was headed by Svensk Filmindustri in conjunction with Film i Väst, TV4 (Sweden), Danmarks Radio (Denmark), YLE (Finland), TV 2 (Norway) and Telepool (Germany). With a total budget of around US$30,000,000 for the whole production, it's the most expensive production in Scandinavian film history. SVT originally was one of the biggest sponsors of the project, but they pulled out and their role as a major sponsor was taken over by TV4.

The Swedish parts of the film are filmed mostly in the province of Västergötland, while the foreign scenes are filmed in Morocco and Scotland.

Cast and characters

* Joakim Nätterqvist as Arn Magnusson
* Sofia Helin as Cecilia Algotsdotter
* Stellan Skarsgård as Birger Brosa
* Vincent Pérez as Brother Guilbert
* Simon Callow as Father Henry
* Steven Waddington as Torroja
* Gustaf Skarsgård as King Canute I of Sweden (Knut Eriksson)
* Michael Nyqvist as Magnus Folkesson
* Bibi Andersson as Mother Rikissa
* Milind Soman as Saladin
* Alex Wyndham as Armand De Gascogne
* Nicholas Boulton as Gerard De Ridefort
* Thomas W. Gabrielsson as Emund Ulvbane
* Jakob Cedergren as Ebbe Sunesson
* Julia Dufvenius as Helena Sverkersson
* Lina Englund as Katarina, Cecilia's sister
* Magnus Stenius as Knight
* Morgan Alling as Eskil Magnusson
* Fanny Risberg as Cecilia Blanka
* Anders Baasmo Christiansen as Harald
* Driss Roukhe as Fakhir
* Mirja Turestedt as Sigrid
* Joy Andersson as Canoness
* Frank Sieckel as Sigfried De Turenne
* Zakaria Atifi as Ibrahim

External links

* [http://www.arnmovie.com/ "Arn – The Knight Templar" official website]
* [http://www.sfinternational.se/Docs/InProduction/Movie.aspx?id=18185b76-d9e1-47f8-8236-d034730d265d "Arn – The Knight Templar" at SF International]
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* [http://european-films.net/content/view/937/107/ "Arn – The Knight Templar" preview on european-films.net]