Ingmar Bergman’s life to become SVT drama series. Author Henning Mankell is to write the screenplay – due for broadcast in 2012.
“What fascinates me is the price Bergman had to pay for his uncompromising creativity – it darkened many aspects of the rest of his life,” says Henning Mankell.
Henning Mankell is to work on the screenplay during 2010, and shooting is planned for 2011. The drama series will be produced in four one-hour episodes.
“It is to be a major project; it will be hard to produce and it involves great responsibility. But we are certain that SVT, a longstanding public service company, has the experience and the knowhow to do it,” says SVT Director General Eva Hamilton.
In the series, Ingmar Bergman’s life will be portrayed from several angles and viewers will encounter the world-famous director in both his lighter and darker periods. Henning Mankell describes work on the screenplay as a challenge.
“What interests me is what one might call “the price of obsession” and I believe there is much that is generally applicable in his story. You don’t have to be a famous artist to pay a high price for the life you choose to live,” says Henning Mankell.
“I envisage a story with a wide spectrum, in time and in space – from Ingmar Bergman’s earliest theatre experiences at a youth club in Stockholm to the life he led on the island of Fårö. Moreover, Ingmar Bergman crossed paths with many figures we know of – Chaplin and Garbo among them.”