BALTIC STORM
Two nuclear warheads are stolen from an ex-Russian military base to be sold on the black market. The trucks are secretly loaded onto The Estonia, a civilian ferry bound for Stockholm.
On board, Henrik and his son Max are celebrating Max’s birthday.
When the ferry suddenly sinks Henrik and Max become separated.
Henrik searches among the survivors in vain for Max. Grieving for his lost son, Henrik tries to find someone who can tell him about Max’s final moments.
He learns about a mysterious group of survivors rumoured to have been whisked away in secret and with the help of a journalist, Henrik peels back the layers of a conspiracy implicating many government agencies at many levels from around the world.
This script was based upon the producer’s outline.
The story was an outgrowth of their documentary series about a real life tragedy in hopes of gaining a wider appeal for their cause - to re-investigate the sinking.
After several drafts, meetings, and notes we had a strong screenplay, an action adventure that quite powerfully exposed the weaknesses in the official investigation.
Jürgen Prochnow (The Da Vinci Code) was interested in the project from the outset and Greta Scacchi (The Player) agreed to portray the journalist based upon her reading the script.
Due to delays caused while raising funding two talented European directors had to bow out of the project. When the financial problems were solved by an American producer, they also attached a director, the producer’s brother, who rewrote the script completely, and filmed that version, which is what was released - a dull film which even the presence of Donald Sutherland (JFK) does not lift. - JAG