Axel Ahman, Warner Bros. He will star in the series “Body in the Closet”, which is currently being produced for International Television Production Finland.
He will play Staffan, an audience services worker at a theatre. A country boy has found his way into a big city cultural institution and knows its history by heart. He is also in love with Betty, but is painfully clumsy and impulsive in his attempts to get closer to her.
This leads to his accidental death from a chainsaw. However, this is not the end for Staffan, who has been chasing Betty throughout the series.
Åhman said: “I found it funny to play a murder victim. I like it when the characters meet an unexpected end and the writers dare to go darker.” Diversity.
“Comedy is at its funniest when dancing on the edge of darkness,” he added. “We don’t see a lot of dark comedies in the Scandinavian countries. When I got the chance to participate, I just had to follow along and see where it goes. Playing someone else’s script is also a nice challenge. I mostly played characters from my own writing.”
As producer Mia Oikarinen notes, Åhman is best known as a member of the extremely popular comedy group KAJ, but he is also an author, screenwriter, comedian, musician and actor.
“His comedic timing and background in writing make him a particularly good fit for Staffan and the darkly comedic tone of the series. He was delighted that we considered him for the role, and was amused that we immediately imagined him as Staffan.”
Directed by Elin Grönblom. He wrote the series together with Josefin Sonck, who will play the lead role. Grönblom and Sonck are already known for “Bloodsuckers”.
“I love this genre because it allows you to play and have fun. Horror, or in this case black comedy with a little bit of killing, is also a nice form of escapism. We like to see characters do things that we wouldn’t dare to do and probably shouldn’t do,” said Grönblom.
Sonck agrees: Comedy and horror are closely related.
“Both are based on surprise and playing with the audience’s expectations. However, this is not a ‘horror comedy’. It is more about one person’s increasingly desperate life situation, told through black humor and supernatural elements.”
“Body in the Closet” will begin shooting next fall, and Svenska YLE, the Swedish-language division of Finland’s public broadcaster YLE, is already involved in the project.
“Josefin and I are interested in black humor. It allows us to take a serious topic (in this case egocentrism and the relationship between a narcissistic parent and child) and show the absurdity of it through humor,” said Grönblom.
“When you can laugh, perhaps uncomfortably, you can shed light on something serious from another perspective. [The show] It is set in a visually realistic world: the gray Helsinki autumn. “But we exaggerate the characters and action to create a fast-paced, humorous tone.”
The story is about the Swedish-speaking minority in Finland.
Grönblom said, “We, too, belong to this minority, but it is a world that can be recognized everywhere. Especially the theater world, with its prejudiced, flamboyant characters. Since the theme of the series is egocentrism, what better stage could there be to put them on the stage?” wondered Grönblom.
The team believes in the “strong international potential” of the show.
Oikarinen said, “All our characters are driven by their own egos and needs, and they often fail to see others around them. We laugh at the increasingly absurd situations these terrible people put each other through.”
He added: “Sometimes we need to laugh to cope with what’s going on around us, especially in this increasingly self-centered and frankly quite frightening world.”
According to Sonck, the series combines three elements: a universal and topical theme, a twist-filled and exciting plot, and a cast of “funny, interesting characters who portray things we all secretly think about but would never admit.”
“Our series explores selfishness, the search for validation, and our attempts to control how we present ourselves to the world. Theater becomes a symbolic setting for these themes. But it is also a place where secrets come to light.”