There is history in the making here in Finland currently, as we speak.  A very ambitious effort is underway, in the form of a film project named Rendel, which will be the first-ever Finnish superhero movie and in the same breath, the first-ever action movie out of this country also!

Slated for a late 2016/early 2017 pending theater release, Rendel is the vision of writer/director/producer Jesse Haaja, who heads up an advertising agency named Haaja & Arwo Design Ltd. out of the city of Mikkeli.

I was signed for a key role in Rendel, after being approached by Haaja to play the part of a Russian mercenary, who is enlisted in the film to snub out the lead hero.  The filming of the movie is in its final stages now, and one week ago, I traveled up to Kajaani to lay down my parts in the film.  I have to say that I had an absolute blast, especially doing the fight scenes, which were a breeze to pull off!

I really believe that movie goers will be totally blown away by the visual dynamics in Rendel, as Jesse Haaja has assembled some of the most talented people in the Finnish film industry to collaborate with on this landmark project.  The genius of the camera angles, the cuts and the color scheme of the movie is on par with anything out of Hollywood from the same superhero genre, if not better and more intriguing.  Take a look at some of these movie stills from the production process by photographer Juuli Aschan to better understand what to expect…

The one thing that I really have to credit Jesse Haaja and the other producers of Rendel for is the fact that they chose to cast a completely new set of faces for the line-up of this movie, in lieu of the same old names that seem to pop up in nearly every Finnish movie that comes out.  Haaja and Co. went after new talents, people like myself, Renne Korppila, Sami Huhtala, Kris Gummerus and Rami Rusinen, in addition to newer international faces like Bianca Bradey of Australia, Sheila Shah from the USA and Johnny Vivash from Ireland.

Take a look at this stunning teaser trailer for the movie and try to hold your breath in wait afterward!