Winners Talk: "The Man Who Played with Fire" #MCTVF
TVBIZZ editor Yako Molhov talked to Sheun Adelasoye, Executive Producer of Raw's "The Man Who Played with Fire" which won the Golden Nymph for Best Documentary at the 62nd Monte-Carlo Television Festival earlier this week.
"The Man Who Played with Fire" is a Sky Original revelatory global true crime series which offers fresh and exclusive access into two compelling mysteries – who killed Swedish prime minister Olof Palme and why Girl With the Dragon Tattoo’s internationally bestselling author Stieg Larsson spent decades trying to find Olof Palme’s killer.
In 1986 the Prime Minister of Sweden, Olof Palme, was assassinated on a busy street in Stockholm. The murder sent shockwaves around the world, but years of police investigations amounted to very little. That is, until a former Swedish diplomat accidentally discovered the personal files of the late best-selling crime writer Stieg Larsson, author of "The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo". The files reveal Larsson had spent a decade investigating the murder, and before his sudden death in 2004 was on the brink of a huge breakthrough. This is the shocking true story of Europe’s most high-profile assassination – and the people determined to get to the truth.
"The Man Who Played with Fire" is a Sky Original revelatory global true crime series which offers fresh and exclusive access into two compelling mysteries – who killed Swedish prime minister Olof Palme and why Girl With the Dragon Tattoo’s internationally bestselling author Stieg Larsson spent decades trying to find Olof Palme’s killer.
In 1986 the Prime Minister of Sweden, Olof Palme, was assassinated on a busy street in Stockholm. The murder sent shockwaves around the world, but years of police investigations amounted to very little. That is, until a former Swedish diplomat accidentally discovered the personal files of the late best-selling crime writer Stieg Larsson, author of "The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo". The files reveal Larsson had spent a decade investigating the murder, and before his sudden death in 2004 was on the brink of a huge breakthrough. This is the shocking true story of Europe’s most high-profile assassination – and the people determined to get to the truth.
Sheun Adelasoye, Executive Producer of Raw's "The Man Who Played with Fire"
Sheun, you have been nominated for a Golden Nymph Award at this year's Monte-Carlo Television Festival for "The Man Who Played with Fire". The true crime project investigates the murder of Swedish PM Olof Palme in 1986 and the breakthrough that the personal files of best-selling crime writer Stieg Larsson ("The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo") brought. How did you get involved in this true crime story which eventually turned into a Sky Original docuseries?
I read the treatment, thought it was a fantastic story, with twists and turns and the political element really fascinated me not just because it was a typical political story but one that I thought would be relevant today. As we were making the program, things in the global world space came into fruition that were relevant to the program we were making and I thought "wow, we are really onto something here". It's not just like a historical crime thriller but is something that people can say "things are actually happening now", it has a contemporary edge.
The series delves into two related mysteries - who killed Palme and why Larsson spent decades trying to find his murderer. The mysteries are still unfolding, was it hard to work on a true crime project that was 'ongoing'?
It is always hard when new revelations come as you are making a program or an announcement comes to say that the case is closed but you, as program makers, will say "hold on a second, we are not sure that all of these theories have been properly explored". It is hard but it is not impossible, that makes the program more of a challenge but also makes it really exciting and makes you more determined to do the story justice.
Can you tell us more about your work with Jan Stocklassa, the former diplomat for the Swedish foreign ministry who spent a decade investigating Palme's murder - did he provide new facts and theories for the investigation?
Jan Stocklassa was working from Stieg Larsson's work and he was going thru his boxes, trying to work out where he was investigating, like a lot of people were doing in Sweden at the time but Stieg was unique in a sense that he was an investigative journalist first, he is also known as an author of "The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo" and the "Millenium" series. He was very passionate about fighting the right-wing extremists. When Jan picked up this work, he was trying to understand who Stieg was and why he was so fascinated with this but also some of the things Stieg was investigating and that led him to more and more threads. He was able to go to places Stieg wasn't able to because he sadly passed away.
How did Jan find that material?
He came across Larsson's archive at Expo which was a magazine that Stieg founded in Sweden and he was there for an entirely different reason, investigating houses and murders and then he saw this archive and saw his name and Palme's and people were not interested in it because at that time everybody was looking at that murder and it has been unsolved.
What have been the first reactions from the public and your colleagues at the Monte-Carlo TV Festival following the presentation of the series?
Reactions from my colleagues have been absolutely amazing, they are so impressed with how the program looks, the tone, the different scenes. In terms of the story - it has so many twists and turns and you are conflicted about who might have killed Palme but we do explore several different theories but we do land on one particular towards the end. It still has the Raw flavor but since it is a historical crime thriller it is a little different from the other programs.
In terms of international reception - people love it, we are really pleased that in Sweden, where the story starts (and then goes to South Africa, comes to the UK and also goes to the US) they like it because they have seen so many of these documentaries, they found new things in our documentary, theories that haven't been explored.
Can you reveal where the docuseries will be aired, any deals or discussions currently in place for distribution?
The series is aired in the UK on Sky, in Sweden on Discovery, HBO, Canal 5. The territories have been split between Sky and Discovery.
Raw TV has a slate of true crime projects like "The Tinder Swindler", "Don't F*** with Cats", "Three Identical Stranglers"; etc. How do you find your stories and choose the subjects of your unscripted titles?
We've always hired a lot of talented and curious people and I think it is our curiosity that helps us find amazing stories. We do a lot of reading, we talk to a lot of people, that sparks our ideas - from general research or from hearing a story - if it tickles our ear, we go further, deep research, calling people and developing characters - who are the central characters in the story, what is the narrative arc. Then we go back and decide where to start - in the beginning, in the end and who is the central character. Or there are several - like in "The Man Who Played with Fire" - Stieg who is deceased, we got Palme who is also deceased and we have Jan who is trying to find out who killed Palme using Stieg Larsson's work.
I read the treatment, thought it was a fantastic story, with twists and turns and the political element really fascinated me not just because it was a typical political story but one that I thought would be relevant today. As we were making the program, things in the global world space came into fruition that were relevant to the program we were making and I thought "wow, we are really onto something here". It's not just like a historical crime thriller but is something that people can say "things are actually happening now", it has a contemporary edge.
The series delves into two related mysteries - who killed Palme and why Larsson spent decades trying to find his murderer. The mysteries are still unfolding, was it hard to work on a true crime project that was 'ongoing'?
It is always hard when new revelations come as you are making a program or an announcement comes to say that the case is closed but you, as program makers, will say "hold on a second, we are not sure that all of these theories have been properly explored". It is hard but it is not impossible, that makes the program more of a challenge but also makes it really exciting and makes you more determined to do the story justice.
Can you tell us more about your work with Jan Stocklassa, the former diplomat for the Swedish foreign ministry who spent a decade investigating Palme's murder - did he provide new facts and theories for the investigation?
Jan Stocklassa was working from Stieg Larsson's work and he was going thru his boxes, trying to work out where he was investigating, like a lot of people were doing in Sweden at the time but Stieg was unique in a sense that he was an investigative journalist first, he is also known as an author of "The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo" and the "Millenium" series. He was very passionate about fighting the right-wing extremists. When Jan picked up this work, he was trying to understand who Stieg was and why he was so fascinated with this but also some of the things Stieg was investigating and that led him to more and more threads. He was able to go to places Stieg wasn't able to because he sadly passed away.
How did Jan find that material?
He came across Larsson's archive at Expo which was a magazine that Stieg founded in Sweden and he was there for an entirely different reason, investigating houses and murders and then he saw this archive and saw his name and Palme's and people were not interested in it because at that time everybody was looking at that murder and it has been unsolved.
What have been the first reactions from the public and your colleagues at the Monte-Carlo TV Festival following the presentation of the series?
Reactions from my colleagues have been absolutely amazing, they are so impressed with how the program looks, the tone, the different scenes. In terms of the story - it has so many twists and turns and you are conflicted about who might have killed Palme but we do explore several different theories but we do land on one particular towards the end. It still has the Raw flavor but since it is a historical crime thriller it is a little different from the other programs.
In terms of international reception - people love it, we are really pleased that in Sweden, where the story starts (and then goes to South Africa, comes to the UK and also goes to the US) they like it because they have seen so many of these documentaries, they found new things in our documentary, theories that haven't been explored.
Can you reveal where the docuseries will be aired, any deals or discussions currently in place for distribution?
The series is aired in the UK on Sky, in Sweden on Discovery, HBO, Canal 5. The territories have been split between Sky and Discovery.
Raw TV has a slate of true crime projects like "The Tinder Swindler", "Don't F*** with Cats", "Three Identical Stranglers"; etc. How do you find your stories and choose the subjects of your unscripted titles?
We've always hired a lot of talented and curious people and I think it is our curiosity that helps us find amazing stories. We do a lot of reading, we talk to a lot of people, that sparks our ideas - from general research or from hearing a story - if it tickles our ear, we go further, deep research, calling people and developing characters - who are the central characters in the story, what is the narrative arc. Then we go back and decide where to start - in the beginning, in the end and who is the central character. Or there are several - like in "The Man Who Played with Fire" - Stieg who is deceased, we got Palme who is also deceased and we have Jan who is trying to find out who killed Palme using Stieg Larsson's work.
