Being a huge fan of the dark, coming of age vampire film Let the Right One In, or Låt den Rätte Komma In, as it’s known in Sweden (not to be confused with Let Me In, the enjoyable but inferior American remake), the news that its writer and director were working on another dark fantasy film adapted from a children’s book set my anticipation levels to eleven.
BleedingCool.com reports:
Tomas Alfredson and John Ajvide Lindqvist are reuniting to bring Astrid Lindgren‘s The Brothers Lionheart, originally Bröderna Lejonhjärta, back to the big screen. The film has never been subject to a big budget interpretation before, and Alfredson will indeed be making the biggest spend in Swedish film history, clocking in at something like 200 million Swedish krona. Alfredson will also be reuniting with his producer Peter ”Pjodor” Gustafsson and superb cinematographer Hoyte van Hoytema on the project. For context, that’s described as several hundred percent greater than the budget of Let the Right One In.
The plot of The Brothers Lionheart deals heavily with the afterlife and sort of reminds me of Pan’s Labyrinth, another dark children’s fantasy that I absolutely adore:
There’s no one Karl Lion loves more than his older brother, Jonathan, who is brave, strong, and handsome – everything Karl believes he is not. Karl never wants to be parted from him. But Karl is sick, and knows he’s going to die. To comfort him, Jonathan tells him stories of Nangiyala, the wonderful place he’ll be going to when he dies, and where he will wait until Jonathan is ready to join him there. Then the unthinkable happens …Jonathan is killed in an accident. Heartbroken, Karl longs for the day he’ll be reunited with his brother. When the time comes, he finds Nangiyala just as wonderful as he’d imagined. However, Nangiyala is under threat. A cruel tyrant is determined to claim it as his own, and at his command is a terrible beast that is feared throughout the land. Karl must summon all of his courage to help his brother prepare for the battle that lies ahead…
I have never read or even heard of The Brothers Lionheart until today, and my first impulse was to head on over to Amazon and pick up a copy asap, but then this happened:
I can only assume the story is amazing (judging by the 53 out of 56 five-star reviews) and the news of the upcoming film has everyone so excited that they zerg rushed Amazon’s stockpiles resulting in my above rageface.
Or the Universe just hates me today.
