Toronto: Paradigm Signs Helmer/Actor/Writer Peter Franzen

EXCLUSIVE: Trying to end the Toronto Film Festival with a strong Finnish (sorry for that, this festival has worn me out), Paradigm signed Peter Franzén, one of Finland’s most accomplished actors. Franzen stars in the Pierre Morel-directed spy thriller The Gunman opposite Sean Penn and Javier Bardem, and makes his feature directorial debut this month with Above Dark Waters. That pic opened September 6th in Finland. Franzen wrote the script from his semi-autobiographical 2010 novel of the same name. Franzén continues to be managed by Untitled Entertainment and his co-agents continue to be Laura Munsterhjelm at Actors in Scandinavia. Franzen has been here at Toronto starring in Heart Of A Lion, in which he plays a neo-Nazi skinhead who falls hard for a woman who has a biracial son. Franzen’s next novel, With The Same Eyes, comes out this month. As for me, while I’m Catholic, I might use Yom Kippur this weekend as an opportunity to atone for the first sentence of this story.