Friday, March 25, 2011

The Killing Redux


I just noticed that there is a version of the excellent Danish series, The Killing (the original Danish title, Forbrydelsen, actually translates as "The Crime"), being produced for AMC-TV, the U.S. basic cable channel that brings us Breaking Bad and brought us the late lamented Rubicon. It's 13 episodes rather than 20, still one episode per day of the investigation of the death of a teenager. So far, the press is good--and since it starts on April 3, apparently, we'll soon find out if it measures up to the Danish original.

The American Killing is shot in Vancouver, BC, but set in Seattle. It's produced by Fox Television (which thankfully has little resemblance to that other branch of the company, Fox News). The actors who can be seen in the photo pasted in this blog post are Mireille Enos (as "Sarah Linden," the lead detective) and Joel Kinnaman (as "Stephen Holder," the new cop in the team). The pilot was directed by Patty Jenkins, who directed Monster (a good sign). Here's hoping it has even a glimmer of the quality of the original.

Now I've got to finish watching the original before the new version starts...

2 comments:

Maxine Clarke said...

You must watch the original, Glenn, it is absolutely brilliant. I hated the first episode which is an overlong account of the death in question, but once one is over that, the rest is superb in every possible way. I have 4 episodes to go and am so keen to find out if they manage to keep up the quality to the end or if they blow it via the criminal's identity or other standard tv cliches. I have hopes! I think it must rate as the best crime series I have ever seen - not that I have seen that many but I have seen The Wire, Sopranos and Spiral.....I think The Killing is better!

Anonymous said...

I bought the 1st season from an aussie online retailer and I have the 2nd season on my media player. :-)