Gourmet Club

BACKGROUND

In 2001, Snapper Films' New York office got hold of the English-language original screenplay by Phillip and Raymond Mackintosh. The rights were owned by producer Ben Barenholtz, and negotiations on the appealing script led to an agreement to make a Finnish made-for-television film. The film, based on Pekko Pesonen and Juha Wuolijoki's Finnish-language adaptation, premiered on YLE TV1 on November 29, 2004.

Gourmet Club is in many ways an exceptional Finnish production. There are big international names amongst the cast and crew. The film's executive producer, Ben Barenholtz, "the Godfather of independent film," has in more than thirty years in the industry been behind the Coen brothers' masterpieces "Barton Fink" and "Miller's Crossing," and had his part in bringing Darren Aronofsky's "Requiem for a Dream" to the big screen.

Emmy-Award-winning actor Michael Badalucco (the Coen brothers' "The Man Who Wasn't There" and "O Brother, Where Art Thou?," ABC series "The Practice") stars in one of the central roles in the film. The film, shot in Helsinki in the summer of 2004, is directed by Juha Wuolijoki. The lead role is played by the well-known Finnish character actor Hannu-Pekka Björkman. Other cast members include Antti Litja, Tapani Perttu, Jonna Järnefelt, Aarno Sulkanen, Jan Nyquist, Kari Ketonen and Tommi Korpela.