_{Speak No Evil by Christian Tafdrup}

That said, the film is a majority Danish production, but there is a lot of Netherlands on-screen. Half the adult cast comprises Dutch acting royalty in the form of Fedja van Huêt, who played the lead in Mike van Diem’s Character, Dutch winner of the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film, and his real-life thesp partner Karina Smulders (Wolfsbergen, Jackie & Oopjen*). What is more, Speak No Evil shot for 20 days in The Netherlands. It is co-produced by Amsterdam-based OAK Motion Pictures.

In the film, a Danish couple accept an invitation to visit the Dutch couple they met on holiday in Tuscany. But when they arrive in the remote house in southern Holland, the creepily controlling Dutch reveal increasingly cruel tendencies, propelling the Danish couple into a frenzy of confusion and ultimately fear for their lives, as well as that of their young daughter.

The story derives from a similar experience had by director Tafdrup, albeit not so dramatic, nor so gruesome. “Christian and his wife met a Dutch couple in Italy some years ago. The actual holiday started kind of like it is in the film, but then his fantasy took over,” explains co-producer Trent of the lengths the director/writer was prepared to take his story. “They asked them to visit them in the Netherlands and there were some peculiar things happening… I would not say that the actual Dutch couple were the devil in flesh, but it kind of went like that.”

Trent came on the board just as the film’s Danish producer, Jacob Jarek of Profile Pictures, was talking about the script with his local distributor. “When I read it for the first time I called the producer immediately and said, I love the script, especially the ending,” Trent explains. “The producer said to me, I am so glad that you say that, because at the moment the distributor wants us to tone down the ending. I said to him, well, please do not, because that is the quality of the film, in not toning it down. And in the end, they did not. They convinced the distributor why they had to do it like this.”

The Dutch spend on Speak No Evil was €1 million+, for which an approximate €350,000 cash rebate applied, via the Netherlands Film Production Incentive. The 20-day Dutch shoot was serviced by crew made entirely of Dutch professionals. Other Dutch elements within the production were sound design, script continuity, director’s assistant, grading, visual effects and image post-production completed at Storm Post Production.

The producers had targeted Sundance from the word go, and the leading US fest responded with an early thumbs up, thus enabling them to finish the post-production on the film knowing they had a very high profile world premiere in their collective pocket. “We already knew, I think, five months ago. Sundance selected it for the Midnight section sometime in July or August.”

Trent is highly complimentary of director Tafdrup, who wrote the film with his brother Mads. “He is a very nice guy, and I only work with nice people. He can communicate about anything you say to him. He is open to every idea, but at the same time he definitely knows what he wants. He is especially good with actors. And he also knows how to tell his story visually. Of course normally you would think every director would know that, but they do not. Christian is skilled on every level. I really cannot stress it enough.”

Speak No Evil is produced by Profile Pictures (Denmark) in co-production with Netherlands-based OAK Motion Pictures. TrustNordisk are handling sales.