Baltasar Kormákur

Birthday: 27 February 1966, Reykjavik, Iceland

Birth Name: Baltasar Kormákur Samper

Height: 186 cm

Baltasar Kormákur is an actor, producer and director whose work spans theater, movies and television. Born in Reykjavik, Iceland, he graduated as an actor from Iceland's National Academy of Fine Arts in 1990. He was immediately signed on by the National Theatre of Iceland, where he worked as one of the leading young performing artists until 1997. During the last two years of his assignment, he also directed several ambitious works, after having produced and directed highly popular, independent stage productions alongside his projects with the National Theatre. In 2000, he wrote, directed, acted in and produced the feature film "101 Reykjavik," which became an international hit and earned the Discovery Award at the Toronto International Film Festival. Subsequently, Variety selected him as one of the "10 Directors to Watch," along with Alejandro González Iñárritu, Lukas Moodysson, Christopher Nolan and other newcomers at the time.Soon after, Kormákur started Blueeyes Productions and since then has maintained his focus on feature film writing, producing, and directing. His films "The Sea," "A Little Trip To Heaven," "Jar City" and "White Night Wedding" have all been very successful in Iceland, and won numerous international awards. Kormákur's "The Deep," which eerily captures the tragic real-life story of the lone survivor of a capsized fishing boat off the frigid Icelandic coast, premiered at the 2012 Toronto International Film Festival and went on to become Iceland's Oscar nominee and was shortlisted for the foreign language Academy Award. It opened in Iceland on September 21, 2012 and took in over 50% of the country's box office receipts that weekend and earned a record number of Edda Awards, 11 in all, including Best Film of the Year, Best Director and Best Actor in a Leading Role.Kormákur has also directed features in the United States, including "Inhale," an independent film produced by the LA based 26 Films, starring Dermot Mulroney, Diane Kruger and Sam Shepard and "Contraband," starring Mark Wahlberg, Ben Foster, and Kate Beckinsale, which took first place at the US box office during its opening weekend, early January 2012. Universal Pictures released "Contraband," which was a remake of Oskar Johansson's "Reykjavik Rotterdam," that starred Kormákur and he produced with Agnes Johansen through his Blueeyes Productions, along with Working Title Films.Kormákur's next film was the thriller "2 Guns," starring Denzel Washington and Mark Wahlberg, which Universal Pictures will release in August 2013. Other projects include the HBO pilot "The Missionary," a spy thriller he will direct and Mark Wahlberg, Steve Levinson and Malcolm Gladwell will produce; "Everest," the cautionary tale and real life adventure on the mountain in 1996 when eight climbers died in the span of two days, due to a series of horrific mishaps and bad decisions. Working Title Films and Emmett/Furla Productions will produce "Everest" with Kormákur. Also, "Viking," a big budget action adventure set in the world of the famed Norse warriors, which will film in Iceland. Kormákur optioned Iceland's beloved, Nobel Prize-winning book Independent People to develop as a feature film and will produce the American remake of "Jar City" along with CEO of Lava Bear Films, David Linde. He is also producing the Icelandic drama "Rocketman," which acclaimed Icelandic filmmaker Dagur Kari is directing.He also partnered with CCP Games, the world's leading independent developer of massive multiplayer games to bring the EVE Universe game to television. The new series will take its inspiration from the millions of people who have left their mark on the EVE Universe via stories submitted to the website. The RVK Studios team, in collaboration with CCP, will create an original concept and story line set in the EVE Universe, a future history of rival societies trapped beyond a wormhole in a dystopian sci-fi world. All of Kormákur's films are made under his Blueeyes Productions, which also includes a television arm, RVK Studios, and an association with Dadi Einarsson and the Icelandic VFX company Framestore. Hide

It doesn't matter where my movies are set. Right now, I have a script that's set in Canada and is in Show more It doesn't matter where my movies are set. Right now, I have a script that's set in Canada and is in English. Just because I was born on the island [Iceland] doesn't mean I want to spend the rest of my life telling stories for 300,000 people. It helps that I'm half-Spanish, because the market I can reach is much bigger. Hide

I don't see Hollywood as the big enemy, because this is where the money is, and not all of the compa Show more I don't see Hollywood as the big enemy, because this is where the money is, and not all of the companies are doing studio movies. I'm not tempted to sell out. If I'm going to become well known, I want it to be for something I'm proud of. Hide

The winters are too long, and there's only one airline, so it's difficult to escape when you feel fr Show more The winters are too long, and there's only one airline, so it's difficult to escape when you feel frustrated or claustrophobic. The audience for our films isn't very large, so it's difficult to support an industry. But, Iceland is beautiful. Sometimes it's hard to imagine living anywhere else Hide

Baltasar Kormákur's FILMOGRAPHY

All as Actor (2) as Director (5) as Creator (1)

The Oath (Eiðurinn) [Sub: Eng]

Reykjavik-Rotterdam (Eykjavik-Rotterdam) [Audio: Icelandic]