Airplane!, Naked Gun Filmmakers David Zucker, Pat Proft to Exec Produce Nordic Noi

 Posted on August 5, 2024  |  5 minutes  |  970 words  |  Reinaldo Massengill

David Zucker and Pat Proft, the veteran American filmmakers behind cult comedy franchises including “The Naked Gun” and “Airplane!,” are set to executive produce a Nordic Noir comedy spoof series called “NoPoFo.” The anthology series is being produced by lkkas’ Creative Studio, a recently-launched Finnish company. BBC Studios Nordics has come on board as a co-producer.

Billed as “Nordic Noir meets ‘Police Squad!,‘” the 10-part series follows three elite agents from the Nordic Police Force (NoPoFo) who are tasked with solving the sort of murders that Nordic psychopaths do so well. Each half-hour episode is set in a different Nordic country and features a different cast of supporting characters, including a serial killer who only murders bad heavy rock bands, and an Instagram obsessive who creates ice sculptures out of his victims.

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The show was created and is being written by stand-up comedians and screenwriters Mika Eirtovaara and Riku Suokas, along with screenwriter Heikki Syrjä (“Lakeside Murders”).

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The creative team behind the show also includes Ilkka Hynninen and Ilkka Rahkonen, and executive producer, Randi Siegel, who represents Zucker and brokered the Zucker-Proft deal with APA and Cohen Gardner LLP.

Zucker is best-known for the comedy classic “Airplane!” and the horror parody of the “Scary Movie” franchise; while Proft is the creator of the “Police Academy” movies and worked with Zucker on several “Naked Gun” and “Scary Movie” titles. Together, their movies have grossed over one billion dollars at the box office worldwide. Their latest upcoming film, “The Star of Malta,” is a period comedy produced by RainMaker Films.

“We’ve been privileged to work working with these two comedy heroes to create a new take on Nordic Noir over the past year,” said Hynninen. “Nordic Noir is a gift to parody, with its fantastical crimes and high doom-and-gloom quotient. The only mystery for me is why it’s taken so long for us to realise its comedy potential…”

Proft said “It was wonderful to be involved with writers and producers who can turn Nordic Noir into a great comedy target.”

“Hynninen and his team are consummate professionals and, being a part of NoPoFo and the chance to deal with gruesome, ritualistic murders by Nordic psychopaths is something that reminds me of my own family,” Proft continued.

Jan Salling, head of BBC Studios Nordics, said he loves the concept of “NoPoFo,” and added that it’s “not just because it’s a stand-out idea that made (him) laugh out loud, but because it’s a genuinely pan-Nordic project that has strong international appeal as well It also has that wonderful left-field vibe that is the hallmark of Finnish creativity.”

“I love that Nordic Noir is now so firmly embedded in the global consciousness that it’s ripe for spoof — and, as is demonstrated by ‘NoPoFo,’ able to attract the best ‘spoofers’ in the business,” Salling continued.

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