DreamWorks has optioned Anders Roslund and Stefan Thunberg’s Swedish crime novel “Made in Sweden,” TheWrap has learned.
Mark Sourian, who has a production deal at the studio, will produce the crime thriller, while Niclas Salomonsson will executive produce along with authors Roslund and Thunberg.
“Made in Sweden” tells the extraordinary true story of the largest wave of bank robberies in Sweden’s history. The heists were pulled off by three brothers and their childhood best friend — a group of irreverent, brash, mischievous 20-somethings known as ‘The Military Gang.’ The novel explores the emotional complexity of this particular band of brothers and how their love and loyalty for each other was forged in a home shadowed by domestic violence and brutality.
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“We were thoroughly gripped by the unbelievable story in ‘Made for Sweden’ and completely floored that it was inspired by real events. It’s an incredibly exciting book and one that will make an exhilarating film,” said Holly Bario, president of production at DreamWorks, whose Jonathan Eirich will oversee the project for the studio.
“This has been a very personal and challenging story to write and it is exciting to know that a studio of such great taste will be responsible for bringing it to life,” authors Roslund and Thunberg said in a joint statement. “We’ve always been avid fans of Steven Spielberg and the fact that our story now resides with his studio is like a dream come true.
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“Made in Sweden” will be published in Sweden by Piratförlaget on May 28. A U.S. publisher is expected to be announced soon.
Roslund is the New York Times bestselling co-author of “3 Seconds,” while Thunberg is one of Sweden’s most successful screenwriters, whose work includes “Hamilton” and “Jägarna 2.”
The deal was brokered by RWSG Literary and Keith Fleer on behalf of the Salomonsson Agency.