Orion's Belt (film) - Production

Production

Jon Michelet's novel Orion's Belt was published by Oktober Forlag in 1977. The book's popularity came in part from public interest in why 3,000 Russians were living on the Norwegian archipelago. The title is a reference to that Svalbard was as central located in a potential Cold War war theater as Orion's Belt. The novel also played on the fear of nuclear war and the lack of information from Norwegian media about the issue. The novel received mixed reviews, and was translated to English by Ellen Nations.

The initiative to dramatize the noval was made by two prop masters, Dag Alveberg and Petter Borgli. They both invested half a million Norwegian krone (NOK) in the project, financed by mortgaging their homes. Neither had any experience as producers. Alveberg stated that his main motivation was that he was tired of all Norwegian films being social realism. Alveberg stated that "the story could have taken place, and maybe it has taken place. We all know that the Russians do what they want on Svalbard." Alveberg first attempted to write the screenplay himself, but was not satisfied. He presented the screenplay for the Norwegian Broadcasting Corporation; although they liked the project, they did not feel it feel into the scope of the public broadcaster. Norway did not at the time have screenwriters of international standards, and Alveberg decided not to use his film as a training ground. He therefore hired the experienced British screenwriter Richard Harris.

Harris had a single meeting with Michelet in Oslo. At first Harris did not believe either that there was a significant Norwegian left-wing grouping, nor did he realize that the Russian presence and the conflict in Svalbard was real. Michelet initially wanted Harris to include details such as Jansen's father being a war sailor and that he came from a working-class family, but Harris, with Michelet's understanding, dropped much of the personal backdrop to shorten the storyline. However, the screenplay is loyal to the novel's political stance. Harris never visited Svalbard, although he traveled to Finnmark.

Solum was selected as director based on the producers' experience with him from Carl Gustav, gjengen og parkeringsbandittene. The producers took more artistic decisions than was common at the time; for instance, they felt that Solum's choice of composer was wrong. During this discussion, the team was contacted by Geir Bøhren and Bent Åserud, who had read about the plans the newspaper, and sent a music sample to the team. Thus the duo became the first choice of both the director and the producers. Tristan DeVere Cole acted as an assistant director in addition to directing the English scenes.

Production was organized as a polar expedition. The ferry MS Sognefjord was bought, rebuilt with living quarters and a cutting-room and renamed Orion. After production, the vessel was sold. The reason for this was that there was only one hotel on the archipelago and no place for a film crew. Although it forced supplies for three months to be brought along, it allowed the team to film at various remote location on the islands, and allowed travel while the film crew were sleeping. Up to 60 people lived on board. The vessel SS Listein was bought and used as the protagonist's ship, Sandy Hook. Filming was undertaken both along the Finnmark coast and in Svalbard. Planning of the recording was concluded one and a half years before production began.

The film was made in two versions, a cinematic version in Norwegian and a television version in English. First Solum would direct a scene in Norwegian and it would be shot. After he was satisfied, Cole took over and shoot the same scene with the same actors, but with English dialog. The actors' accents were good enough that it did not need to be dubbed, while sufficiently noticeable to make the film exotic and authentic. A documentary about the production was shot concurrently.

Sandy Hook was blown up and sunk during one scene. This was filmed by placing 30 kilograms (66 lb) of dynamite on board and filming the explosion and sinking with six cameras. Just after the fuse was lit and the crew were abandoning the ship, it was discovered that the Coastal Steamer was going to pass. To not wreck the scene, Borgli ran below deck and cut the fuse. The scene where Sandy Hook is attacked by the helicopter while in a crack was filmed at Honningsvåg, Finnmark. The helicopter used was Norwegian, but painted in Aeroflot livery. The helicopter was only available that day, but the captain on the vessel was drunk and refused to run it into the crack to film the scenes.

Only a single Russian is shown with his face in the film, with the rest of the antagonists being faceless Soviets, particularly the helicopter. The original ending was created as a compromise resulting in a closing deadline and lack of funding, yet keeping the ending open. After the premiere, a new ending was filmed, which weaved the storyline better together. The second version also saw the beginning being trimmed, resulting in the film being 10 minutes shorter.