The Danish film producer Miso Film has acquired the rights to film Icelandic author Hallgrímur Helgason’s novel 10 rád til ad haetta ad drepa fólk og byrja ad vaska upp (“10 Pieces of Advice on How to Stop Killing People and Start Doing the Dishes”).

Hallgrímur Helgason. Courtesy of Forlagid.

The film will be shot in English and set in Iceland. It will be directed by Kasper Barfoed, who despite his young age has made three full-length films and is currently working on his first American project, The Numbers Station starring John Cusack and Malin Akerman, a press release states.

Helgason’s novel was released by Icelandic publisher JPV in 2008 and has enjoyed widespread popularity; it has been translated into eight European languages and a Korean version is pending. It is among the ten Icelandic novels that will be published in English on behalf of Amazon.

The story, which features the Croatian assassin Toxic who comes to Iceland disguised as a television preacher, has proven an inspiration to many.

In November the City Theater of Salzburg will premier a theater based on the book and German actor Uwe Ochsenknecht is currently touring Germany reading from the book to the music of the jazz band The Toxic Truth.

On October 2 an Austrian documentary on the author and visual artist, whose most famous novel is probably 101 Reykjavík, which was also filmed, will be broadcast on the German television channel 3sat.

Click here to read more about Amazon’s publication of Icelandic books.

ESA