Doctor Proctor preview

The children’s fantasy-comedy Doctor Proctor’s Fart Powder premieres in Norway tomorrow. Based on a book by Jo Nesbø, this major production stars some of Norway’s best actor and comedians.

For the children though, what’s more important than celebrities is all the focus on farts and farting. Jokes and gags and stunts and superpowers based on flatulence will make any kid laugh, but the movie will not be only about cheap jokes. The universe of the story is “not at all like our world. In a world where the mad professor is the most sane adult, the dungeons are gloomier, the rich and their sons meaner, the parents much more self-centered, the crazy invention are crazier. And the beast that lives in the sewer system, brooding on revenge, could easily be a giant anaconda. In this world, the friendship between two lonely children is perhaps even more important than it is in our world.”

More specifically, the story is about the mad professor Doctor Proctor who has invented the world’s most powerful fart powder (odor free, of course). When two children one day come for an unexpected visit, Lise with the pigtails and red-haired Bulle decide to help Proctor launching the fart powder around the world. However, that is a dangerous project, as the filthy rich and evil mister Thrane and his creepy sons are willing to do anything to get their hands on the powder, which is so strong that you can actually fly into space with it!

Directed by Arild Fröhlich, the 87 minute film was greenlit in 2012 with a 40 million kr budget (around 4.8 million euros / 6.7 million dollars). The director was chosen thanks to his two previous films, Fatso and Pitbullterje which both were comedy-dramas. -We needed a director who could handle a universe that is not quite realistic. [We talked about] adding animation to the mix, but it will be live action with quite a lot of special effects. One of the characters, for example, is realistically unrealistically small, said producer Synnøve Hørsdal to Dagbladet when the news broke two years ago.

Jo Nesbø is an award winning Norwegian author and musician. As of March 2014 more than 3 million copies of his novels have been sold in Norway alone, and his work has been translated into over 40 languages, selling 23 million copies internationally (2014). Nesbø is primarily known for his crime novels about DI Harry Hole, but he is also the main vocalist and songwriter for the Norwegian rock band Di Derre. In 2007 Nesbø released his first children’s book, Doctor Proctor’s Fart Powder. The 2011 film Headhunters is based on Nesbø’s novel The Headhunters.

In a comment to Dagbladet, actor/comedian Atle Antonsen, who plays the evil Thrane, said: -It’s a very cool universe. I am not really that big a fan of fart comedy, but when that is what the entire film is about, it starts to get fun. The film takes farting so seriously that it will be good. His colleague, actor Kristoffer Joner in the role of the doctor, spent 90 minuntes every day in the make-up chair to become Proktor. -I can feel it on my skin. We spent some time figuring out how Proctor should look, but once we cracked it, the solution was great. Playing a part that is so imaginative and in its own special universe is new to me. I feel a bit like Bambi on ice, he said to the newspaper VG in 2013 during the filming. He added: -We aim high. We’d like this film to be a [Norwegian success like the Pippi franchise]. That’s the scale. So let’s hope the kids like it. I’m doing great with the children who are in this film […] Like Stellan Skarsgård said; sometimes they are so good that they become dangerous!

The film, which was shot almost entirely in studios, stars some of Norway’s best and most famous actors and comedians; Kristoffer Joner, Atle Antonsen, Ingar Helge Gimle, Marian Saastad Ottesen, Linn Skåber, Bjarte Tjøstheim, Emily Glaister, and Christian Skolmen. Written by Johan Bogaeus from the 2007 novel by Jo Nesbø and produced by Synnøve Hørsdal and Cornelia Boysen at Maipo Film.

The film premieres in Norway on March 14, 2014, followed by a Nordic release, and then the rest of the world in 2015.