Oscar-Nominated Screenwriter Eskil Vogt Lands $1 Million Grant for Psychological Thriller 'Untitled'
Eskil Vogt, the dual Oscar nominee who co-wrote Sentimental Value and The Worst Person in the World with Joachim Trier, has secured a $1 million (NOK 10 million) grant from the Norwegian Film Institute to write and direct his next feature, a psychological thriller currently titled Untitled (The Hollywood Reporter).
The film is described as a story about "art, power and the blurred boundaries between memory and truth." It will be Vogt's third feature as a director, following Blind (2014) and The Innocents (2021) — two films that established him as a distinctive voice in Nordic genre cinema, working in Norwegian with an international reach.
The total budget for Untitled is pegged at $11 million. Maria Ekerhovd and Lars Thomas Skare of Norway's Mer Films are producing. The pair produced Sentimental Value and The Ugly Stepsister, giving them an active hand in both Vogt's writing and directing careers.
Kjersti Mo, CEO of the Norwegian Film Institute, called Untitled "an ambitious project that builds on Eskil Vogt's distinctive artistic vision" (The Hollywood Reporter). The institute's grant — a production subsidy common in European film finance, where national funds invest directly in projects they back — covers roughly a tenth of the budget.
Vogt's profile has been climbing on both sides of the Atlantic. In January, Creative Artists Agency signed him for representation (Variety). CAA is one of the largest talent agencies in the United States, and the signing signalled that Vogt's work was drawing attention beyond the Nordic market. At the time, he was already scripting his next film as a director, though no details had been announced (Nordisk Film & TV Fond).
Those details have now arrived. Untitled moves Vogt back into the director's chair after several years focused on screenwriting — most notably the Trier collaborations that earned him his two Academy Award nominations for Best Original Screenplay.
For audiences, the project joins a wave of Nordic thrillers that have travelled well beyond their domestic markets. Vogt's The Innocents, a supernatural thriller about children with dangerous abilities, drew strong reviews internationally in 2021. If Untitled follows a similar path, it will arrive with a built-in audience already familiar with what Vogt can do behind the camera.
No production start date or release window has been announced.
