cp-webdeskLeonardo DiCaprio‘s Appian Way, Endeavor Content, and Makeready have scooped up the American remake rights to Thomas Vinterberg‘s Another Round. DiCaprio is set to produce the remake, and there’s a good chance he might star in the film as well. The 2020 Danish comedy-drama from director Thomas Vinterberg stars Mads Mikkelsen as one of four high school teachers who enter into an experiment to consume alcohol on a daily basis to see how it affects their social and professional lives.
At the Academy Awards last night, Another Round took home the Oscar for Best International Film. And whenever that happens, Hollywood tends to perk up and ask, “Hey, can we remake this, but in English?” Sure enough, Deadline is reporting that Leonardo DiCaprio’s Appian Way, Endeavor Content, and Makeready have won the “hotly sought after” remake rights to Another Round.
In the original film, “Four friends, all teachers at various stages of middle age, are stuck in a rut. Unable to share their passions either at school or at home, they embark on an audacious experiment from an obscure philosopher: to see if a constant level of alcohol in their blood will help them find greater freedom and happiness. At first, they each find a new-found zest, but as the gang pushes their experiment further, issues that have been simmering for years come to a head, and the men are faced with a choice: reckon with their behavior or continue on the same course.”
Mads Mikkelsen memorably leads the cast of the original. And while it’s not official yet, there’s a pretty good chance DiCaprio will take on the Mikkelsen role for the remake. This would be a new kind of role for DiCaprio – he doesn’t play sad-sack, midlife crisis characters that often, save for the recent Once Upon a Time in Hollywood. That said, as is the case with most English-language remakes, I’m not entirely sure we need this. The original film is available for almost everyone to see at this point (it’s currently streaming on Hulu), and the drinking culture in America is much different than that of Denmark, where the original is set. In other words, you can’t just immediately plug American characters into this story and hope it all works out.
Thomas Vinterberg, who directed and co-wrote the original, will serve as executive producer on the remake with Sisse Graum Jørgensen and Kasper Dissing. DiCaprio will produce with Jennifer Davisson, Brad Weston, and Negin Salmasi. A writer for the remake is being sought “quickly.”
