Icon Takes Mads Mikkelsen’s ‘The Promised Land’ for U.K.

Icon Film Distribution has picked up The Promised Land, the Danish period drama starring Mads Mikkelsen for the U.K.

The Nordic Western sees Mikkelsen reteam with Nikolaj Arcel, the director of 2012’s A Royal Affair, a steamy period piece that scored an Oscar nomination for best international feature and launched the career of co-star Alicia Vikander.

Mikkelsen stars as Captain Kahlen, an 18th-century soldier who struggled, against all odds, to cultivate the barren Jutland heath and start a settlement there. But a local landowner, Frederik De Schinkel (Simon Bennebjerg) is determined to stop him, fearing the arrival of settlers will weaken his position as lord of the realm. The Promised Land is based on Ida Jessen’s Danish best-seller The Captain and Ann Barbara and was inspired by real events, though the book and film are fiction. Amanda Collin and Gustav Lindh co-star.

The Promised Land premiered in competition at the Venice Film Festival.

TrustNordisk, which is handling international sales for the film, closed a U.S. deal for The Promised Land ahead of Venice with Magnolia Pictures. The title has sold widely, including to Mongrel Media for Canada, Plaion Pictures for Germany, The Jokers Film for France, Divisia Red for Spain and Best Film for Poland, among other territories.

The U.K. deal was negotiated between TrustNordisk managing director Susan Wendt and Josh Thomashow, head of acquisitions for Icon Film Distribution.

TrustNordisk has also just released the English-language character posters for the film, featuring Mikkelsen, Bennebjerg, Collin and others. See them below.