Fassbender's The Snowman to use new Norway filming incentives

“The combination of Norway’s new incentive scheme including a 25% rebate for international feature film and TV series shot in Norway, the work in the city of Oslo – which will financially contribute to the production – and by the Norwegian Film Commission gave us the advantage over Stockholm,” said Oslo’s outgoing culture councillor Hallstein Bjercke, in comments to Screen.

Norway’s 25% filming incentive was made official earlier this month and will be launched in 2016 with a fund of €4.7m for the year. The new production support could help boost Norway’s appeal as an international filming location, along with the weaker Norwegian Krone that is helping reduce regional filming costs.

“Norway has rich qualities for filming locations – in addition to a professional and competent film industry, we have a rich cultural history, and a unique natural and cultural landscape,” said Norway’s culture minister Thorhild Widvey when the filming incentive was announced. “With the incentive scheme, we want to strengthen Norway's competitive advantage.”

Filmmakers have admired Norway’s location options for many years, but the lack of a formal filming incentive has meant shoots have generally been limited. Alex Garland’s artificial intelligence drama Ex Machina (pictured) was a high-profile recent visitor and spent two weeks doubling Norwegian locations for the American Mid-West.

The Snowman was originally planned to be directed by Martin Scorsese, but Tomas Alfredson will now helm, with Scorsese retaining an executive producer credit.

For more on filming in Norway, check our production guide.