BBC Films, Ffilm Cymru Wales and WestEnd Films today release a first look at Rafe Spall (The Big Short, The BFG) as Herb in Denmark, the upcoming comedy from director Adrian Shergold (Funny Cow, Pierrepoint: The Last Hangman, Mad Dogs).
Herb (Rafe Spall) can fix pretty much anything, a broken clock, a radio, the only thing he can’t fix is his own life. He’s out of work, he can only just afford a birthday card for his son, the loud neighbours keep him awake day and night, the local kids have just mugged him for his trainers – and it’s raining. Herb has had enough. Sitting in his cold flat in soggy socks, physically and mentally bruised, he knows he has to do something to turn his luck around. When he stumbles on a TV programme about the luxury of Danish prisons Herb finds the answer he’s been looking for: organic food, a flat screen TV, healthcare, a dentist, peace and quiet. It will be hard to leave behind his friends and the green valleys of South Wales, but now he knows what he has to do to find his second chance in life. Herb needs to make it to Denmark… and get arrested.
“Denmark is a little jewel of a film,” said producer Joe Oppenheimer. “Adrian’s singular vision matched with the delicate warmth of Jeff Murphy’s script echoes the humour and humanity of filmmakers like Alexander Payne and Bill Forsyth. It’s a story of a modern, timeless Everyman, portrayed with great empathy and effortless charm by Rafe Spall.”
Denmark is currently in post production, and features a cast that also include Simone Lykke (Hundeliv, A Funny Man), Thomas Gabrielsson (A Royal Affair), Benedikte Hansen (Borgen), Paul Barber (The Full Monty), Joel Fry (Game of Thrones, 10,000 BC), Steve Spiers (Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest, Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace), Russell Gomer, Ri Richards and Ifan Huw Dafydd.
