Writer Tobias Lindholm To Reteam With 'The Hunt' Collaborator Thomas Vinterberg For 'The Commune'

It can seem to outsiders that every new film and TV show coming out of Scandinavia features at least a few of the same names, both behind and in front of the camera. And undoubtedly, on the foot of his co-writing gig on the excellent “The Hunt,” his writer/director work on the acclaimed “A Hijacking” as well as regular writing/showrunning duties on “Borgen,” the latest Danish TV show to have blown everyone away (apparently Stephen King’s favourite TV show of 2012), Tobias Lindholm’s name is becoming one of those -- so much so we're going to include a handy pronunciation guide so you can correct your friends when it crops up: it’s Tob-EE-ass. You’re welcome. Anyway, we had the distinct pleasure of talking with Lindholm at the Göteborg International Film Festival, and while we’ll run a fuller take soon, he did let drop some details on one of his upcoming projects that will see him reteam with Thomas Vinterberg, his co-writer on, and director of, “The Hunt,” and 2010’s “Submarino.”

Lindholm himself is swearing off directing again for the next couple of years until his new baby twin boys are older: “I can be a good writer and a good father and a good husband all at the same time. But I cannot be a good director and a good father and a good husband at the same time, so I don’t want to [direct] too often... I have an ambition to be a good father and a good husband” he says. Instead, he plans to spend his time writing and researching, and the first project up is Vinterberg’s next film, which he is working on now. 

The film is called “The Commune” and will be based on Vinterberg’s own play of the same name. “It’s a story about a family that destroys itself by moving into this small community.” says Lindholm. “Instead of spending their energy on being together they become very interested in a lot of people all the time, and maybe just as I feel when I direct, they lose their sense of and focus on what’s important in life. You could say it’s kind of a Nordic, dark Scandinavian version of ‘Ice Storm.’”

So it seems a return to the theme of the individual within a community that is so prevalent in Vinterberg’s work, (the director himself grew up in a Danish Commune in the 1970s.) “Yes, he relates to that very easily.” agrees Lindholm, before going on to extol some of the virtues of his friend and frequent collaborator’s directing style: “I love to write for him because you know that the scenes you write, even though they are very much alive [to you], they will become even more alive with him and the actors -- he has a certain way of working with them. He is a very skilful drama director with a great sense of human beings.”

This is a pretty exciting prospect for anyone who admired “The Hunt” (it proved divisive in the Playlist ranks, but was this writer’s no. 2 film of 2012), and you can read about that film, “A Hijacking” and much more from Lindholm in our full interview soon.