German director Timm Kröger‘s mystery thriller “The Universal Theory” has started shooting at the ski resort of St. Jakob in Defereggen, Austria. The film’s first image has been released.
The cast is led by Jan Bülow, who starred in “Lindenberg! Mach dein Ding,” and Olivia Ross, a Paris-born, British actress whose credits include History’s “Knightfall,” Netflix’s “The Old Guard,” and the BBC’s “War and Peace” and “Killing Eve.”
Kröger previously directed Venice Critics Week entry “The Council of Birds.” The screenplay was written by Roderick Warich (“The Trouble with Being Born”) and Kröger.
Shot in Cinemascope, in black and white, the 1960s set story unfolds against the backdrop of the Alps. Johannes, a doctor of physics, travels with his doctoral supervisor to a scientific congress in the Alps. A series of mysterious incidents occur on site. He meets his femme fatale, Karin, a jazz pianist who seems to know more about him than she can know. Suddenly, strange deaths happen one after another and Johannes investigates.
The cast also includes Hanns Zischler, Gottfried Breitfuß, Philippe Graber, David Bennent, Ladina Carla von Frisching and Imogen Kogge. The film is expected to be released in cinemas next year.
“The Universal Theory” is produced by Heino Deckert, who recently stepped down as CEO of Deckert Distribution to focus on producing, and Tina Börner of Germany’s Ma.ja.de. Fiction, and Viktoria Stolpe and Kröger at Germany’s The Barricades.
The co-producers are Lixi Frank and David Bohun of Panama Film of Austria, and Sarah Born, Rajko Jazbec and Dario Schoch of Catpics of Switzerland.
The film is being made in cooperation with ZDF/Arte, ORF and SRF, and has received funding in Germany from BKM, Mitteldeutsche Medienförderung, Medienboard Berlin-Brandenburg and the German Federal Film Fund.
In Austria, the project has received funding from the Austrian Film Institute, Filmstandort Austria (FISA), Filmfonds Vienna, the Province of Lower Austria and the Cine Tirol Film Commission, and in Switzerland from the BAK and the Zurich Film Foundation.
