Other Icelandic stars lined up so far include Ólafur Darri Ólafsson (“Severance,” “Trapped,” “True Detective”), Þorsteinn Backmann (“True Detective,” “Katla”), and Thorvaldur Kristjansson (“The Minister,” “The Darkness”). The first cast members and plot of the Icelandic/English-language project are set to be announced today by Baldvin Z, writer Matthías Tryggvi Haraldsson and Glassriver producer Gudgeir “Gucci” Arngrimsson at the Nordic Co-Production Market in Haugesund, Norway. Best-known internationally as the helmer of both Hollywood (“2 Guns,” “Beast”), U.S/U.K. (“Everest”) and Icelandic pics such as “Touch” for which he received a Nordic Council Film Prize nomination last year at Haugesund, Kormákur’s initial training came as an actor from Iceland’s National Academy of Fine Arts. After his first steps in theatre, he starred in multiple pics including his own breakout film “101 Reykjavík.” His last screen appearance was in his 2016 thriller “The Oath.” “Baltasar is an amazing actor and I’ve tried to get him onscreen for quite some time, but he’s always very, very busy!” quipped Baldvin Z. “In Dark Ocean,” penned by rising screenwriter Tryggvi Haraldsson, Kormákur will play the charismatic captain of a fishing trawler in the North Atlantic, just boarded by young deckhand Hákon (19). The latter takes on the job to provide for his pregnant girlfriend, but the sea soon turns into a nightmare after a crewmate commits suicide and the captain refuses to return to shore. As Hákon fights seasickness, and the crew’s bullying, he starts to lose it, until a life-threatening accident triggers a shift. “Dark Ocean is a claustrophobic and visceral film about the cost of survival in a hyper-masculine world, and the emotional toll of a culture that teaches boys never to cry, even when the sea takes one of their own,” reads the synopsis. “This will be the most intense film I’ve ever made. I want to throw you on the vessel and only after an hour and a half will you be able to breath,” says Baldvin Z, credited for the realistic hard-hitting dramas “Life in a Fishbowl” (Iceland’s entry for the 2015 Oscars) and 2018 Toronto-selected “Let Me Fall.” The helmer says two things triggered his original idea. First a news article, read in 2015. “20 years earlier, a group of fishermen had gone ashore to dig out people buried alive by an avalanche. After this traumatic experience, they went straight back at sea, and stayed for a month. They were forbidden to talk about it, nor express their feelings. It’s only two decades later that they were able to openly discuss this, asking for mental support.” “I started thinking of my film ‘Let Me Fall’ which deals with trauma inflicted to women by men. I thought why do men do these things?”