Viaplay are back in action and to kickstart their return to US screens is the excellent series Börje – The Journey of a Legend. Directed by the incredibly talented Amir Chamdin (Partisan) and starring Valter Skarsgård as the Swedish Ice Hockey legend Börje Salming.
Now, for those not so familiar with their ice hockey Börje Salming along with his team mate were Swedish imports to Toronto and the famous Maple Leafs. Something that had not been done in the past and incidentally lead to a pathway for European players entering the Ice Hockey leagues – it also unearthed one of the sport’s most legendary players in Börje. Amir Chamdin’s series takes us on that fascinating journey and Nordic Watchlist caught up with the director to discuss how the series came to light.
Nordic Watchlist: What drew you to this story and inspired you to bring the Salming’s story to screen?
Amir Chamdin: In the eighties, when Börje returned from Toronto to Sweden, he started playing in my team in Stockholm. He was considered a troublemaker, a bad boy, because of the some of the business that that blew up here in Sweden.
He had all these scars, and people really looked up to him as a tough guy. On his first game, he scored. Then about 15 years ago, I read this interview with him talking about his brother, which changed my perspective on him. I realised it’s never what you think it is. That led me to develop a story about him growing up with his brother, who was like a father to him. This story is universal – it’s about finding a family, a home. I put that on paper and eventually contacted him. We met, I showed him my idea, and he got his family’s approval.
Nordic Watchlist: The cast is fantastic, in particular Valter Skarsgård, what lead you to casting him. Was he always in your visions to play Borje?
Amir Chamdin: I saw Valter in ‘Lords of Chaos’. His vulnerability just struck me and so we set up a meeting with him and his agent and I asked if he wanted to play Börje.
He was surprised and initially knew nothing about ice hockey, but Börje approved of him after their meeting. So, Valter, Börje, and I became a team. We did it the old school way.
We struggled for years to find producers because people questioned why we wanted to make a biopic about him. But with Valter onboard, they finally saw what I envisioned.
He is one of those actors who can speak without speaking – much like Börje from his younger days.
Nordic Watchlist: What challenges did you face shooting the series and in particular the hockey action? There are some moments when I as thinking to myself am I watching old footage from the game or this part of the shoot?
Amir Chamdin: This was the idea from the start and a lot of people were saying – ‘how are you going to do this?’ Nothing looks the same anymore – so some of the hardest parts were producing some of the hockey sticks and the skates – it wasn’t just one either; it was for the whole team!
When it came to the hockey action I wanted specific games shot from specific angles – so it was very very planned. This was old school film making but it meant it was quite a heavy editing job because sometimes it worked and then suddenly it doesn’t so you need to fix that. As film geek it is great because this is not AI or green screen – this was done in 2D with trick shots.
Then there was the crowd – back in those days people dressed up when they went to watch the hockey, it wasn’t about wearing the team shirts. You would see as many females as you would see men in the audience – so I made sure the extras had seen the footage from the games to really understand the difference between then and now. That was something I enjoyed by a film geek myself – mixing the old footage with the new.
Nordic Watchlist: Where was the series shot? Did you shoot in Toronto and Sweden?
Amir Chamdin: This was the producer’s nightmare because I went to every place where it is scripted. So everything which was based in Kiruna was shot in Kiruna. Everything that’s in Gävle was shot in Gävle. Everything in Stockholm is Stockholm. Everything that’s in Toronto is in Toronto. You get the idea.
Then I went to the Maple Leaf Gardens, and I said we needed to shoot there – we just had to. But there was a huge problem – the Maple Leaf Gardens wasn’t a hockey arena anymore. So I asked some people about the architect who designed it and whether they might know them and whether he designed any other hockey arenas, and they couldn’t find anything until one dude said: “I remember this place when I was a kid”
It was like 1-2 hours from Toronto, so we found the same architecture and built a smaller version of Maple Leafs Garden in Kitchener. We shot all the interior in Kitchener, and all the exterior in Toronto.
Nordic Watchlist: Tell me about the soundtrack as it is such a perfect fit for this series.
Amir Chamdin: A friend of mine called Nicholas Frisk, who is a great musician, he had this band called Atomic Swing from back in the days and I had a meeting with him. He played me some tracks, and I was like ‘Oh Wow! Can you do the whole soundtrack?’
So he ended up doing everything; it felt very organic and I’m very thankful that I could do it that way.
Börje – The Journey of a Legend arrives to Viaplay in the US from the 3rd May – we will keep you posted of future releases in the UK.
