Production
The film contains several cameos from well-known actors and other celebrities, made possible by Hamer's high standing as a director. His previous film was the international production Factotum, based on the novel by Charles Bukowski, starring Matt Dillon, Lili Taylor, and Marisa Tomei. Some of the appearances are relatively brief; Nørby, for instance, is on screen for less than three minutes, while the well-known Norwegian entertainer Trond Viggo Torgersen appears for only 59 seconds. Before the film's première on Boxing Day 2007, a pre-screening was held for journalists on 22 December. This was followed by dinner, attended by all the protagonists, at the restaurant Valkyrien in Oslo, where Odd Horten is also a regular customer in the film.
Among the more original castings was Anette Sagen, the world's leading female ski jumper, in her first film role. Sagen, 22 at the time, played the part of 70-year-old Owe's ski jumping mother, although in a younger incarnation. Hamer had already considered Sagen for the role, when he ran into her by chance at the Holmenkollen Ski Museum. Without knowing to whom he was talking, Hamer mentioned that he was shooting a film in this location, and was planning to ask Anette Sagen to be in it. The reason the theme of ski jumping was chosen was that Hamer's own mother performed the sport, and the film has been described as a tribute to all female ski jumpers. Sagen herself had also earlier been involved in a controversy over women's access to professional venues and competitions. Incidentally, Sagen and Owe are also both from the Norwegian town of Mosjøen.
The two lonely old men make part of a recurring theme in Hamer's films, as seen also in Eggs (1995) and Kitchen Stories (2003). However, Hamer himself has described the film as equally much about women; "the women who once gave birth to these men." He also cites a great fascination with trains as an inspiration for the film's setting, and claims that he had long wanted to make a film with this theme.
Read more about this topic: O' Horten
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—Charles Darwin (1809–1882)