Mikael HafstromBirth Place: Lund, Skåne län, Sweden Date of Birth: July 1, 1960 Heritage: Swedish Contact Mikael Hafstrom | 
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Ondskan Director Background: Swedish film writer and director Mikael Hafstrom started out as an assistant director and a scriptwriter at the Swedish TV station SVT1 before writing and directing his first feature film, "Leva livet" (2001; aka. "Days Like This"), an adaptation of Hans Gunnarsson's novel that won a Guldbagge Award (Sweden’s national film awards) for Best Screenplay. After co-writing Josef Fares' action/comedy film about Swedish police, "Kopps" (2003), Hafstrom got his first big break when he co-wrote and directed his second film, "Ondskan" (2003; aka. "Evil"), which was nominated for an Oscar in the Best Foreign Language Film category. He then co-wrote and directed the conventional slash movie "Strandvaskaren" (2004; aka. "Drowning Ghost"), and went on to helm his American film debut, "Derailed," a thriller/drama film based on a James Siegel novel by the same name starring Clive Owen, Jennifer Aniston, and Vincent Cassel. Moviegoers recently saw Hafstrom's work as a director in his second American film, "1408" (2007), an adaptation of the Stephen King short story of the same name that stars John Cusack, Samuel L. Jackson, and Mary McCormack. He is currently working on his upcoming film, a '40s period piece romantic drama/thriller film called "Shanghai," starring John Cusack, Ken Watanabe, and Gong Li.
Childhood and Family: Son of the Swedish painting artist Jan Hafstrom, Jan Mikael Hafstrom was born in Lund, Skåne län, Sweden, on July 1, 1960. He is older brother of Dan Hafstrom (born on July 15 1972), a former actor who has retired from acting and is working as a journalist. Hafstrom, nicknamed Heffa, studied film in Stockholm and New York. He was married and divorced from Anna Anthony.
Career: After finishing his studies, Mikael Hafstrom found job as an assistant director at the Swedish TV station SVT1, and as a scriptwriter. After writing the storyline for a Swedish soap opera called "Varuhuset" (aka. "The Department Store"; 1987-1989), he began working as an assistant director in a number of Swedish TV movies, including the novel-based crime/thriller sequels "Slavhandlarna" (1989), "Terrorns finger" (1989), which he also directed, "Säkra papper" (1989), and "Offren" (1989). In 1992, Hafstrom wrote and directed the made-for-television movie adaptations of Olov Svedelid's novel, "Giriga, De" and "Botgörarna." He also directed two TV miniseries, "Vendetta" (1995), an action/thriller starring Stefan Sauk based on Jan Guillou's book, and "Skuggornas hus" (1996), a horror/thriller vaguely based on actual events During the 60s when an entire school class disappeared during a school trip. 1997 saw Hafstrom wrote a 29-minute short horror Tv movie called "Chock 2 - Kött" and directed the short horror TV movie starring Lia Boysen, "Chock 1 – Dödsängeln." Two years later, he wrote the Swedish mystery/horror TV series "Sjätte dagen" (1999). Hafstrom wrote and directed his first feature film, "Leva livet" (2001; aka. "Days Like This"), an adaptation of Hans Gunnarsson's novel starring Kjell Bergqvist, Christian Fiedler, and Lia Boysen. The film won a Guldbagge Award (Sweden’s national film awards) for Best Screenplay and earned Hafstrom a Guldbagge's Best Direction nomination as well as Nordic Council's Film Prize nomination. After co-writing Josef Fares' action/comedy film about Swedish police, "Kopps" (2003; starring Fares Fares, Torkel Petersson, Sissela Kyle, Göran Ragnerstam, and Eva Röse), Hafstrom co-wrote and directed his second film, "Ondskan" (2003; aka. "Evil"), which was based on Jan Guillou's 1981 autobiographical book of the same name. The gripping and compelling film, starring Andreas Wilson in his first movie role, as well as Gustaf Skarsgård, Kjell Bergqvist and Björn Granath, was nominated for an Oscar in the Best Foreign Language Film category. It also received nominations at Cinemanila International Film Festival for Lino Brocka Award, at Shanghai International Film Festival for Best Film, as well as at Guldbagge Awards for Best Direction and Best Screenplay. Additionally, the film won Best Non-American Film award at the Robert Festival and FIPRESCI Prize at Viareggio EuropaCinema. Following his big break, Hafstrom went on to co-write and direct "Strandvaskaren" (2004; aka. "Drowning Ghost"), a conventional slash movie starring Rebecka Hemse, Jesper Salén, Sasa Bjurling, Jenny Ulving, and Peter Eggers. About the film's possible remake, Hafstrom explained, "I also think that somebody had acquired the rights for 'Drowning Ghost,' but I could not imagine anything worse than to do a remake of your own film. If somebody else wants to, go ahead. Anyway, the American studios buy a lot of remake rights for European films, but most of them never get off the ground." In 2005, Hafstrom helmed his American film debut, "Derailed," a thriller/drama film based on a James Siegel novel by the same name starring Clive Owen, Jennifer Aniston, and Vincent Cassel. The film opened in 2,443 theaters for an opening weekend gross of $12,211,986 and eventually gained a worldwide gross of $57,479,076. "'Derailed' was a good introduction to Hollywood filmmaking, and I had all that with me when I directed '1408' – I felt I had more experience. At the time there was some interest in a US version of “Evil,” remake rights for “Cops” (aka. “Kopps”), which I co-wrote with Josef Fares, had already been sold." Mikael Hafstrom. Two years later, in 2007, Hafstrom directed his second American film, "1408," which received generally positive reviews and opened in second place at the box office. The psychological drama film, based on the Stephen King short story of the same name, stars John Cusack, Samuel L. Jackson, and Mary McCormack. In the film, Hafstrom also makes a cameo in a deleted scene in which Enslin (Cusack) is on a plane to NYC and Hafstrom is reading a newspaper. The director said, ”'1408' has more visual effects than I have used in any of my previous films, but it was important to me that we never went over the top, but all the time tried to integrate them into the general feeling of the movie. I did not want audiences to be able to say ’oh, there is another visual effects shot.’ The film is shot in London, and the Dolphin is situated in New York, so we used CGI for the scenes outside the hotel, which I don’t think people will consider as visual effects. Then we obviously had to construct some ghosts. But it is more of a psychological drama, a close study of this man who is about to go insane.” About the film's alternate ending (the original ending is available exclusively on the Director's Cut edition), Hafstrom explained, "We couldn’t use the original ending of King’s short story, so it was really up for discussion, while we worked on different ways to conclude it. Also, during the shooting, the film became more emotional than we had thought, so I realized we needed to try several new directions." Hafstrom is currently sitting on the director's chair helming his upcoming romantic drama/thriller film, "Shanghai," a '40s period piece which revolves an American expatriate who returns to Shanghai in the months before Pearl Harbor. It stars John Cusack, Ken Watanabe, and Gong Li.
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