The international hit Nordic noir crime drama, The Bridge, is set to premiere this weekend, and fans of the show have more than murder to look forward to: Bob Dylan.
Music legend Bob Dylan is a big fan of The Bridge (Bron/Broen), so much so that he had his manager reach out to the show’s producers by email.
In an interview with Swedish newspaper Aftonbladet, producer Anders Landström said, “[He] was wondering if there was an opening for Bob Dylan’s music in the series.”
The production team thought it was an interesting e-mail, but didn’t attach great importance to it at first. Apparently, they didn’t really understand what it meant, not to mention that the music used in the series is mostly “traditional film music.”
Landström continued, “But in the end we decided that we had room for another [kind of] music, perhaps [playing] from a car radio or something. So we found a place where a song would fit very well. We took one of his old songs, “The Ballad of a Thin Man,” and tested it to see what Bob Dylan would say of the direction [it takes in the show]. We were told ‘Yes, it’s fine,’ and had to pay a symbolic sum.”
That “symbolic sum” was close to being gratis.
“I’ve heard others have had to pay in the order of half a million kroner [roughly £39,000/€53,000/US $60,000] … or something like that,” Landström said.
With his music now in the show, what about the Dylan’s attending the series premiere? Landström replied, “We invited him to the gala in Malmö, but unfortunately he had to decline. He was in Los Angeles on another project.”
Photo © Baldur Bragason/SVT
So let’s all perk up our ears during car scenes for Dylan’s “The Ballad of a Thin Man” during The Bridge III. (Details about the new series are here.)
Bron/Broen III premieres this weekend, on 27 September 2015, on SVT 1 and SVT Play in Sweden, on DR in Denmark, and on YLE in Finland, followed by NRK in Norway on 28 September.
The Bridge III is one of several new Euro TV series that will debut on BBC Four in the UK during its Fall 2015/Winter 2016 season. It will likely premiere in the US on Hulu or MHz Choice. Stay tuned for updates.
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