Early in "Lilyhammer," Netflix's eight-show original series that launches Monday, we meet Steven Van Zandt’s Frank "The Fixer" Tagliano.
The E-Street Bander and former "Sopranos" star plays a sometime New York mobster who sings on the bosses and is relocated by the FBI -- at his own request, due to his fascination with the 1994 Lillehammer winter Olympic Games -- to the rural Norwegian site of the title.
Consequently, all the other characters we meet early on are played by a cadre of skilled native actors, speaking mostly Norwegian -- which Frank largely understands but can’t speak.
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Van Zandt, who was lured into the cross-cultural project by its uniqueness, told TheWrap that he was impressed that Netflix bit on a series where much of the secondary characters’ dialogue was in the local tongue, with subtitles.
"I even said to (Netflix content chief) Ted Sarandos, 'Ted, you don’t want this dubbed or something?’ And he said, ''No, I love it the way it is, it’s unique and it works.’"
“To have such a familiar character set in a story in such an unfamiliar place, says Sarandos, “made the show very intriguing for us.” In fact, a second season already has been green lighted, without awaiting the first run’s reception.
"Lilyhammer" -- the misspelling is intentional -- is the first of several original series to air that the rental giant hopes will bolster its streaming business. Unlike with network and cable shows, all the episodes are launching at once for instant streaming.
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Other Netflix original-content deals include the David Fincher-produced “House of Cards,” which will star Kevin Spacey in a two-season, 26-episode run, as well as new episodes of "Arrested Development" to air in 2013.
And the new venture isn't cheap: "Cards" will reportedly cost of up to $4 million per episode; "Development," up to $3 million.
Sarandos says the investment is part of an emerging strategy to keep and win subscribers with more original programming. “The more you watch them,” Sarandos told TheWrap, "the more you love the service. The more [subscribers] we retain, the more you tell your friends about it. Shows like this, when they’re done really well, lead to a lot of watching and a lot of consumer engagement.”
"Lilyhammer" was conceived by the husband-and-wife team of Anne Bjørnstad and Eilif Skodvin, and pitched to Van Zandt while he was in Bergen, Norway, producing a rock band for his own label.
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It wasn't lost on Van Zandt that some might find Frank to be perilously close to his much-loved consigliore character Silvio Dante to HBO's long-running "Sopranos."
