Smilla is an outstanding person. Vulnerable, complex, divided, profound, clear. Having read 30 pages of the novel, I knew I was part of her, and I wanted to have more to do with her. I realised immediately there was a great film in this unique story. Besides, I am always fascinated by people who are at point zero in their lives, and this is what happens to Smilla, having found dead probably the only person she has ever loved.
Police examine footprints in the snow, concluding it was a tragic accident.
But Smilla Jaspersen, a part-native Greenland inuit glaciology scientist who literally reads snow, detects murder, uncovering sinister links between bureaucrats and mining companies, eventually to board an unregistered ship for the Arctic and the final confrontation. Twelve-week principal photography from a screenplay by Raphael Iglesias will start early March in the Czech Republic for US producer Mandalay Entertainment. Les Miserables was most recently filmed by French director Claude Lelouch.