Things are about to get chilly for director Kevin Macdonald. The BAFTA and Oscar winner has signed on to start a new project alongside Oscar-nominated screenwriter, Jeff Pope (Philomena), and starring actor, Joseph Fiennes (The Handmaid’s Tale), in a film titled, The Iceman.
The Iceman will center around the true story of a Netherlands man named Wim Hof. A married father of four, tragedy strikes for the entire family when Hof’s wife passes away. Working as a postman and struggling to make ends meet, the widower soon becomes hooked on the mental and spiritual practice of cold shock and breathing techniques in order to center himself and draw strength from within.
Things got extreme when folks along his postal route would see the man walking completely barefoot in the dead of a freezing winter, while others witnessed Hof going for swims in frigid lakes. As more people started to spot the father of four’s unusual coping mechanism, his popularity grew, forever shaping the rest of his family’s lives. Now, the skill which Hof — now nicknamed The Iceman — practiced is known as the Wim Hof Method with thousands of people looking to the ritual to better ground themselves as well.
With a sprawling background in film and documentaries, it’s no shocker as to why Macdonald was chosen to helm the soon-to-be film. Over the last 20+ years, the director has spearheaded documentary projects including One Day in September (which earned him an Academy Award), Touching the Void, Marley, and Whitney as well as scripted feature films such as The Last King of Scotland, Black Sea, and most recently, The Mauritanian.
In a statement surrounding the story that he will be showing with The Iceman, Macdonald spoke to the “terrible trauma” that Hof had suffered after losing his wife and his journey out of depression using his cold water technique. Adding to that and speaking about the team that will join him on this new endeavor, Macdonald added,
Jeff Pope has written a brilliant script – full of humour and humanity and emotions. In it we are introduced to the Dutch suburbs – a world of crazy stunts, a broken family, a love affair and an epiphany. This is a film about resilience, second chances and the amazing ability of the human body and mind to heal.
The film will be produced by Debbie Gray and Fiennes under the Genesius Pictures banner. Cornerstone is handling the film’s worldwide sales planning to put it in motion at the upcoming virtual European Film Market.
While there is no release date for the heartfelt and inspiring feature, we do know that production will begin in November 2022.
via Collider