Mads Mikkelsen will star in action thriller Sirius, the debut feature from Academy Award-winning editor Lee Smith.
Neon International is kicking off foreign sales to the film at in Cannes, with Neon’s third-party sales house Decal handling rights domestically and planning it as the label’s first wide theatrical release.
Pic is based on a screenplay by Tony Mosher (Mechanic: Resurrection) and is currently in pre-production, described as a “gripping Arctic action-thriller inspired by the real-life Sirius Patrol, the Danish special forces unit charged with defending Greenland’s 8,700-mile frozen coastline.”
Pascal Degove and Matt Williams will produce for Future Artists Entertainment and Deborah Acoca will executive produce.
Smith, a first time director, is known for collaborations with Sam Mendes, Christopher Nolan and Peter Weir, and won an Academy Award for Best Film Editing for his work on Nolan’s Dunkirk. He was also nominated for Weir’s Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World and Nolan’s The Dark Knight.
Mikkelsen is known for roles in the first two of Nicolas Winding Refn’s Pushing trilogy, and others in Casino Royale, The Hunt, Doctor Strange, Rogue One, Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore, Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny and Danish Oscar entry The Promised Land. He was BAFTA-nominated for Thomas Vinterberg’s Another Round, which won the Best International Feature Oscar in 2021. Mikkelsen has also starred in NBC drama Hannibal.
Given President Donald Trump’s noises around annexing Greenland from Denmark, which counts it as an autonomous territory despite its location in North America, interest could be high on this one. Greenland voted in a new centre-right, pro-independence party in March, which has been taken as a rejection of Trump’s advances.
Neon is hoping for another hit following Sean Baker’s Anora, starring Mikey Madison. After winning the 2024 Palme d’Or, it went on win five Oscars, including Best Picture, Best Director and Best Actress. This year on the Croisette, it is launching Joachim Trier’s Sentimental Value and Julia Ducournau’s Alpha as well as Raoul Peck’s Orwell: 2+2=5 and Michael Angelo Covino’s Splitsville starring Dakota Johnson and Adria Arjona, the latter of which it also produced.
Neon International’s sales slate includes Takashi Miike’s Bad Lieutenant: Tokyo, starring Shun Oguri and Lily James; Her Private Hell from director Nicolas Winding Refn, starring Sophie Thatcher and Charles Melton; and Michael Shanks’ lauded feature Together, starring Alison Brie and Dave Franco.
Mikkelsen is represented by UTA, Art Management and Viewpoint. Smith is represented by Gersh. Mosher is represented by Gersh, Circle of Confusion and Behr Abramson Levy Johnson, LLP.
