Last year, it was announced that Fighting with My Family co-stars Nick Frost and Lena Headey were going to reunite to work on the serial killer thriller Svalta, which was set to start filming in Finland soon. Well, the movie was shot in Finland and production recently wrapped, but Headey had to drop out of the project due to scheduling issues before it started rolling. Deadline reports that her character ended up being played by Aisling Bea, whose previous credits include This Way Up, Living with Yourself, and Home Sweet Home Alone.
Svalta was directed by Steffen Haars (New Kids Turbo) from a screenplay Frost wrote himself. The story follows a family on their summer vacation to a remote island where they discover a serial killer is on the loose. Unfortunately for them, the locals have no interest in helping the stranded family. The title is taken from the name of the fictional island. As Frost described the story, “Take a gentle English family and send them on holiday to a tiny Swedish island full of maniacs. Simple. Not so much Nuts in May. More ‘Nuts in Mayhem’.“
Frost and Bea are joined in the cast by Sebastian Croft (Heartstopper) and newcomer Maisie Ayres.
Coming our way from XYZ Films, Wayward Entertainment, and Resolute Films, Svalta was produced by Lee Kim for Resolute Films, John Hegeman for Wayward Entertainment, Nick Spicer and Aram Tertzakian for XYZ, and Frost. Richard Kondal co-produced for Big Safari, while Vince Totino of Wayward Entertainment and Patrick Fischer of Creativity Capital served as executive producers. Financing was provided by XYZ in collaboration with IPR.VC, along with additional funding from Creativity Media, with tax incentives and support from Business Finland, Business Tampere, and the City of Tampere.
We first heard about Svalta back in 2019, at which time Frost’s frequent collaborator Simon Pegg was going to producing the movie with him, and James Serafinowicz and Nat Saunders were going to be co-writing the script. But it doesn’t look like Pegg, Serafinowicz, or Saunders have any involvement with the finished product.
How does Svalta sound to you? Are you disappointed that Lena Headey didn’t end up co-starring? Share your thoughts on this one by leaving a comment below.