Based on a Danish novel of Arctic exploration, Against the Ice has finished filming and is aiming for a release later this year
Netflix has a lot of films already lined up for 2021 (as reported here) and Against the Ice can be added to that list. It was directed by award winning Danish director Peter Flinth and starring Emmy Award nominee Nikolaj Coster-Waldau (Game of Thrones) and BAFTA nominee Joe Cole (Peaky Blinders, Skins). Nikolaj Coster-Waldau adapted the original Danish novel Two Against the Ice by Ejnar Mikkelsen into a screenplay with Joe Derrick. The English language film is produced by the acclaimed filmmaker Baltasar Kormákur and his RVK Studios, the Icelandic production company behind the Netflix original series Katla and newly announced Entrapped. The cast also includes Charles Dance (The Crown) and Heida Reed (Poldark, Dan Dare).
The film is based on an interesting piece of Danish / US history pertaining to the geography of Greenland. Here’s the Netflix synopsis:
In 1909, Denmark’s Alabama Expedition led by Captain Ejnar Mikkelsen (Coster-Waldau) was attempting to disprove the United States’ claim to North Eastern Greenland, a claim that was rooted in the idea that Greenland was broken up into two different pieces of land. Leaving their crew behind with the ship, Mikkelsen sleds across the ice with his inexperienced crew member, Iver Iversen (Cole). The two men succeed in finding the proof that Greenland is one island, but returning to the ship takes longer and is much harder than expected. Battling extreme hunger, fatigue and a polar bear attack, they finally arrive to find their ship crushed in the ice and the camp abandoned. Hoping to be rescued, they now must fight to stay alive. As the days grow longer, their mental hold on reality starts to fade, breeding mistrust and paranoia, a dangerous cocktail in their fight for survival.
Against the Ice has a fascinating premise and we look forward to seeing trailers ahead of release, which we imagine will be sometime in the winter. You can read the full announcement here.