Michael Fassbender has come face-to-face with a great number of cinematic threats – unruly deities, the Knight’s Templar, and the Xenomorph…to name but three – but none quite like The Snowman killer.
Adapted from Jo Nesbø’s nervy page-turner, The Snowman is best described as a Norweigan crime noir that chronicles one detective’s pursuit of a demented serial killer. Legend has it that The Snowman has haunted Oslo for decades, and after a string of dead bodies begin showing up across town – all with their heads removed, we might add – it’s up to Michael Fassbender’s seasoned detective and a rookie (Rebecca Ferguson) to solve the case before the next snowfall.
Also starring Charlotte Gainsbourg, Val Kilmer, and J.K. Simmons, long before Tomas Alfredson (Let the Right One In) signed on to direct, The Snowman actually piqued the curiosity of Martin Scorsese, who originally earmarked Leonardo DiCaprio and Robert De Niro as potential cast members. Alas, those plans started to unravel circa 2014, at which point Alfredson climbed on board.
Fast forward to the present day and The Snowman is looming large on the horizon. Pegged for a timely October release, Universal Pictures has now premiered the film’s haunting first trailer, one which finds Fassbender’s Detective Harry Hole on the case.
When an elite crime squad’s lead detective (Fassbender) investigates the disappearance of a victim on the first snow of winter, he fears an elusive serial killer may be active again. With the help of a brilliant recruit (Ferguson), the cop must connect decades-old cold cases to the brutal new one if he hopes to outwit this unthinkable evil before the next snowfall.
The Snowman haunts theaters (and our dreams) on October 20th. And as the film’s creepy first poster attests, that titular serial killer is about to place Fassbender and Ferguson’s detectives on a knife-edge.
