filmswelike M&M PRODUCTIONS PRESENTS MEN & CHICKEN A FILM BY Anders Thomas Jensen RUNTIME: 100 MINUTES / NOT RATED Canadian Distribution and Bookings Films We Like Mike Boyuk - mike@filmswelike.com Download press kit and high rez images: http://www.filmswelike.com/men-and-chicken SYNOPSIS Men & Chicken is a darkly hilarious slapstick comedy starring Mads Mikkelsen (“Hannibal,” ingeniously cast against type) about a pair of socially­challenged siblings who discover they are adopted half­brothers in their late father's videotaped will. Their journey in search of their true father takes them to the small, insular Danish island of Ork, where they stumble upon three additional half­brothers—each also sporting hereditary harelips and lunatic tendencies—living in a dilapidated mansion overrun by barn animals. Initially unwelcome by their newfound kin, the two visitors stubbornly wear them down until they’re reluctantly invited to stay. As the misfit bunch get to know each other, they unwittingly uncover a deep family secret that ultimately binds them together. This inventively bizarre and outlandish comedy is directed by acclaimed, Oscar®­winning director Anders Thomas Jensen and also stars David Dencik (The Girl With The Dragon ​ Tattoo.) ​ DIRECTOR’S STATEMENT ANDERS THOMAS JENSEN My intentions are to build on the universe that I have worked with in my previous three films: Flickering Lights, The Green Butchers, and Adam’s Apples. I want to make a sterilized narrative, ​ ​ ​ ​ where you can move in and out between genres, to build on the “no time / no place” universe in which I’ve been telling my stories previously. This helps me make the movie I want: it helps tell the story of family tragedies, family love, family values; the story about five brothers, brothers who have to find each other. It’s that simple; that’s the story I want to tell. FILMMAKER BIOS Anders Thomas Jensen – Director, Screenwriter Screenwriter, director. Born April 6, 1972. Self­taught. A phenomenon of creativity and originality, Anders Thomas Jensen won an Oscar in 1999 for his short fiction film Election Night ​ and has since written more than 25 features in a wide variety of genres, including collaborations with directors Susanne Bier, Lone Scherfig and Søren Kragh­Jacobsen. Jensen wrote the screenplay for Susanne Bier's In a Better World (2010), which won an Academy Award for Best ​ Foreign Language Film in 2011. Jensen's own feature films, characterized by dark humor and comical contrasts, create their own universe in which immature and self­deceiving men confront each other, often violently. In his highly popular directorial debut Flickering Lights (2000), a gang of bumbling criminals join ​ forces to open a restaurant. The macabre The Green Butchers (2003) is about two young ​ butchers selling human flesh on the sly. Even more ambitious is Adam's Apples (2005): taking ​ off from the biblical tale of Job, a sorely tried minister and a neo­Nazi form an odd friendship in a fable about the power of evil and the necessity of fellowship. As a screenwriter, Jensen commands an impressive range: from laddish pop to wittily poignant satire to sensitive melodrama, his screenplays are marked always by an uncommon sense of dramatic momentum and a pitch­perfect ear for dialogue. In 2003, Jensen was awarded an Honorary Bodil Award for his overall achievement in Danish film. Kim Magnusson – Producer In 1995, Kim Magnusson founded M&M Productions with his father, Tivi Magnusson. He was later headhunted to run Nordisk Film’s film division as CEO from 2003 to 2009. In the years 1995 to 2012, he produced or executive produced more than 100 films such as: Adam’s Apples, ​ ​ Headhunter, Terkel in Trouble, World Apart, R, Pusher II and Pusher III. He has been Oscar® ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ nominated in the Live Action Short Film category five times, and won the coveted award in 1999 for Election Night and in 2014 for Helium. Magnusson has been the chairman of the Danish ​ ​ ​ Producers Association for nine years, as well as chairman of the Danish Film Academy, a position he has held since 1999. Kim is a voting member of AMPAS® and of The Danish and The European film academies. He recently launched Dansk Film Kompagni, a new company dedicated to developing and producing high­end, commercially driven film, and currently splits his time between Copenhagen, Denmark and Los Angeles, where he has multiple projects in th development including Last Witness, which has been optioned by 20 ​ Century Fox. ​ ​ ​ Tivi Magnusson – Producer In 1995, Tivi Magnusson founded M&M Productions with his son, Kim Magnusson, and from 1995 to 2010 he produced many feature films including Operation Cobra, Albert, Flickering ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ Lights, The Green Butchers, Adam’s Apples and At World’s End. He has been nominated in the ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ Oscar’s Live Action Short Film category twice, and won the coveted award in 2010 for The New ​ Tenants and in 2014 for Helium. He has been nominated for a Robert Award four times for Best ​ ​ Children/Family Film and twice for Best Film, which he won in 2006 with Adam’s Apples. ​ ​ During his career in the film and TV industry, Magnusson has held positions as CEO at Egmont Audio Visual Group, Head of Programming at DR, board member of the European Script Fund in London, board member of the European Distribution Office, vice president of Eureka in Paris, and is a voting member of the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences as well as The European Film Academy. CAST BIOS Mads Dittmann Mikkelsen – Elias Mads Mikkelsen, a Danish actor, was born on November 22, 1965. He was a gymnast as a child and started dancing before moving into acting. Mikkelsen attended the Århus Theatre School, and made his breakthrough in the movie Pusher, directed by Nicolas Winding Refn. Soon ​ ​ thereafter he landed roles in many different Danish films and also in the TV series “Rejseholdet.” These big successes took him to the U.S. In May 2012, he won the Best Actor Award at the Cannes Film Festival for his role in the film The Hunt. ​ ​ David Dencik – Gabriel Raised in Denmark, David Dencik graduated from Teaterhögskolan in Stockholm, Sweden in 2003, and has since become one of the most popular and respected character actors in both countries; he is fluent in both Danish and Swedish, as well as and several other languages. David Dencik’s first screen part, straight out of school, was in Christoffer Boe’s Reconstruction. ​ ​ His big break came with the lead role in Mikael Marcimain’s 2005 telefilm The Laser Man, and ​ ​ as transsexual Veronica in Pernille Fischer Christensen’s A Soap, which won the Silver Bear at ​ ​ the 2006 Berlin International Film Festival and which brought him several prizes, including a Bodil Award nomination and a Robert Award for Best Actor. Nicolas Bro – Josef Nicolas Bro is one of the most popular and respected Danish character actors. Since he graduated from The Danish National School of Performing Arts in 1998, he has played a number of praised roles in film, on TV, and in theatre. Only one year after graduating, both audiences and the film industry noticed Bro’s unique talent, when he starred in Anders Tomas Jensen’s Election Night, which won an Oscar in 1999 for Best Short Film. That same year, Bro ​ ​ won the esteemed Reumert Talent Award and Prince Henrik’s Fund. From then on, Nicolas Bro became one of the most sought after Danish actors. His big breakthrough came in 2001, though, when Bro played the mentally handicapped Otto in the Emmy­Award winning Danish drama­series “Unit 1.” Nikolaj Lie Kaas – Gregor Nikolaj Lie Kaas is one of the most popular and versatile Danish actors. He made his first film at the age of 18 when he starred in Søren Kragh­Jacobsen’s The Boys from St. Petri (1991); and ​ his debut won him both the Danish Critic Association Award and the Danish Film Academy Award. Lie Kaas graduated from The Danish National School of Performing Arts in 1998, and later that year he played Jeppe in Lars von Trier’s film The Idiots, which won him another ​ ​ Danish Critic Association Award. Søren Malling – Franz Søren Malling was born in Denmark in 1964. He applied to the Odense Theatre in 1988 and finished his education in 1992. He had a permanent job at the Odense Theatre until 1994. Since then, he has been a freelance actor. Until 2002 he performed mostly in the theater, until he got his role as Karsten in Polle Fiction. Malling has since appeared in many TV series including ​ ​ “Borgen,” “Wallander,” and “The Dogs of Riga,” with his biggest role being that of Jan Meyer in “The Killing”. He won a Robert Award for Best Male Actor for his role in Kapringen (A Hijacking) ​ and in 2013, he was Bodil­nominated for the same role. CAST Elias Mads Mikkelsen Gabriel David Dencik Gregor Nikolaj Lie Kaas Franz Søren Malling Josef Nicolas Bro Flemming Abbott Ole Thestrup Ellen Abbott Bodil Jørgensen Ingrid Abbott Kirsten Lehfeldt Susan Lisbeth Dahl Sara Rikke Louise Andersson Færgefører Kjeld Nørgaard Mia Maj­Britt Mathiesen Inger Lis Birthe Neumann Tove Inger Lise Larsen Far Lars Lunøe Døds Bo Philip Møller Children Valdemar Bemmann Bredning Tobias Kowalczyk Voice Over Karen Marie Jensen CREW Written and directed by Anders Thomas Jensen Produced by Kim Magnusson Tivi Magnusson Executive Producer Christoph Fisser Carl Woebcken Henning Molfenter Executive Producer Dario Suter Christoph Daniel Marc Schmidheiny Joel Brandeis Director of Photography Sebastian Blenkov, DFF Production Design Mia Stensgaard Art Director Jesper Clausen Cornelia Ott Supervising Art Director