‘The Emigrants’ Helmer Erik Poppe’s Series ‘Quisling,’ About One of History’s Most Notorious Traitors,’ Broken Down By Its Writers
Hailed by Variety as “a superb historical drama about the Far-Right’s threatto democracy, the movie “Quisling: The Final Days” helmed by Norway’s top filmmaker Erik Poppe, impressed audiences at the last Toronto Film Festival where it bowed as a Special Presentation.
At home the story of Norway’s infamous Nazi collaborator Vidkun Quisling, whose name has become a byword for traitor, stirred intense public debate and ended up as the third biggest Norwegian film of 2024. Now its long-form TV version, developed concurrently to the feature film by co-writers Anna Bach-Wiig and Siv Rajendram Eliassen, has a chance to nab the hefty $17,000 Nordic Series Script Award at G?teborg’s TV Drama Vision series showcase.
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A penetrating and fascinating attempt to capture what goes on in the complex mind of an autocratic leader, “Quisling” is set at the end of WWII when the Norwegian head of state and Nazi collaborator Vidkun Quisling (Gard B. Eidsvold, “In Order of Disappearance”) is arrested by the Norwegian police and put on trial for high treason.
While wife Maria Quisling (Lisa Carlehed, “The Emigrants”) defiantly stands by her man and makes her utmost to save his life, the church asks the pastor Peder Olsen (Anders Danielsen Lie, “The Worst Person in the World”) to serve as his spiritual advisor to try to lead him towards reconciliation.
As underlined by Poppe in a separate interview with Variety, the five-part series commissioned by TV2 Norway is not an extended version of the 146-minute film, but a different take of Quisling’s final days, both in tone and narrative, with extra archive material cutting into the drama and lengthier stories around the traitor’s Ukrainian wife Maria and Peder Olsen’s wife Heidi played by Lisa Loven Kongsli (“Force Majeure”).
The show was produced by Finn Gjerdrum and Stein B. Kvae for SF Studios’ Norwegian banner Paradox, with REinvent handling international sales.
Ahead of G?teborg Film Festival’s official kick-off Jan. 24, Variety spoke to Back-Wiig and Rajendram Eliassen, credited for the hit Norwegian drama “Acquitted” (2015), Poppe’s earlier multi-awarded pics “U-July 22” (2018) and “The Emigrants” (2022). The co-scribes offered joint-answers.
When did Erik first approach you with the idea for “Quisling,” and what attracted you to the project, conceived both as a feature and five-part series?
Eric called us early in 2022 after having experimented with different approaches to”Quisling.” We were instantly attracted to the riddle of the character. What drives a man to betray his people like he did? Was he a true believer or an opportunist? The task of developing a feature and a series in tandem was daunting, and when presented with the idea we were sceptical, but it appealed to the structure nerds in us, and it turned out to be a really interesting exercise.
You’ve worked on three projects with Erik Poppe: “U-July 22,” “The Emigrants” and now “Quisling”. What do you value most about your collaboration with him?
In addition to his wonderful qualities as a director we appreciate his humanistic view of the world. He has a certain way of finding stories that matter and bring hope. All the projects we have done with Erik have been of the kind you on one level really don’t want to do because it seems too difficult or too risky. On the other hand, they have all been impossible to refuse.
The main source of inspiration for the screenplay was a diary by Quisling’s spiritual advisor Peder Olsen. But could you describe the key phases of your research, what it involved and who were the key people who helped you stay as close as possible to the historical facts?
Actually, the diaries were more of an inspiration than a main source of research. The diary is short in its form, more like a notebook from their encounters. We know very little about what the two men actually said to each other, but we do know that Peder’s main objective was to make Quisling regret his deeds in order to save his soul. There’s also a notation that clearly suggests that he succeeded. To us that was the key to the story.
The research was vast, we read everything we could get our hands on, trying to get into Quisling’s head. A lot has been written about Quisling, but Peder Olsen has been unknown to the public. His daughter Liv and his grandson Haakon were really helpful. We have also had great help from biographers, historians and theologists with expertise on Quisling and spiritual care.
In what way did the reading of Olsen’s diaries and research strengthen or change the views you had of Quisling?
Quisling presented himself as an idealist, a misunderstood hero, but the more we read about him, we came to see him as a deeply lonely person. A man in search of power and control, more than a man in pursuit of a cause. In this regard he reminds us of many of the authoritarian leaders of today. As mentioned earlier, the diary is not that detailed, but it does suggest that Quisling had doubts towards the end. This was new to us, and it became a key to our understanding of him. It made him human, and it made our story.
Could you take us through the process of developing the structure and the tone for the series? What were the main challenges that you faced and pitfalls that you wanted to avoid?
The feature was written first, and the premise all along was that the material of the feature would be the basis of the series as well. The main challenge was that the screenplay was very much focused on the chamber play of the two men talking in a cell. Not very TV series friendly! To make it work, we needed to open the universe of the story without losing its core. We love the series format, so we really didn’t want to chop the film into four or five random pieces and hope for the best. Still, we had to make use of what we had. Budgets were tight and shooting days and actors were limited. Luckily, we did have access to the wonderful Lisa Carlehed who plays Maria, Quisling’s wife, and that became a great asset to the series. Sometimes, limits make you more creative, and miraculously, it worked out in the end.
How did you expand the feature film script into a five-episode series and collaborate with Erik Poppe on two very different versions?
It was of course challenging for all to work on two different projects at the same time. Our love for structure and discipline really came in handy. We were conscious of keeping a higher pace for the material that was designated to the series. It was very fascinating to follow the different processes in post-prod. The discussions were different, more open in a way. We all learned a lot about the material and our methods of work. Erik, the editors and composers have done a fantastic job of giving the feature and the series totally different tones.
The series focuses on the battle of the minds between the humanist Olsen and the authoritarian far-right politician Quisling. How was the process of creating dynamic dialogues with philosophical, political and New Testament references that would be accessible to a large audience?
There’s always the danger of writing over the viewers’ head, but we think it’s even worse to underestimate your audience. We had to do some serious digging into religious questions and Quisling’s own, homemade philosophy, to write the dialogue. But we don’t think it’s crucial that the audience get every detail. Our two main characters are very intellectual and religious men, but what they are talking about is still quite universal, isn’t it? We all struggle with questions of guilt and regrets, remorse and redemption, and it’s always fascinating to watch smart people talk, at least we think so!
How did you collaborate with the actors Anders Danielsen Lie, Gard B. Eidsvold, Lisa Loven Kongsli and Lisa Carlehed on character building?
We have been blessed with wonderful actors and they contributed immensely to the result. They have all been curious and enthusiastic about the material and asked precise and good questions in the final rounds. As weird as it sounds, we love a long and critical email just before deadline!
Erik Poppe said his goal with “Quisling” was to give the audience a chance to question our world today and to imagine what goes on in the minds of autocratic figures like Putin. Are you pleased by the reaction the film and series have received in Norway and from festival audiences internationally?
It’s a cliché, but we truly believe one has to understand history to learn from it. What we feared most when we started this project was for it to be received as an apologetic story. We wanted to understand, without apologising. Luckily, it seems like we have been able to avoid that. Hopefully both the film and the TV series can open some interesting conversations and reflections.
What do you think of Nordic TV drama today and of your selection among screenwriters of five premium shows vying for best Nordic series?
Nordic TV drama has developed immensely since we started. There is so much talent out there, and we appreciate the will to tell real stories about real people as something that distinguishes the Nordics. We are small markets with a lot in common, and we really hope that the will to collaborate across the borders will continue. Being nominated among so many great colleagues is a great honour and surprise.
What’s next for you?
If we only knew! There is so much uncertainty in the business these days, so nothing seems for sure, but we are developing a very exciting, political TV series with Paradox and NRK. We also have some feature films in the pipeline, darling-projects that we hope to get financed down the line. We like to challenge ourselves with new genres and new formats, and don’t be surprised if we do something completely different this year!
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