A Royal Affair

Nikolaj Arcel (25 August 1972) is a Danish filmmaker and screenwriter. He is best known for his 2012 film A Royal Affair which won two prizes at the Berlin International Film Festival and was nominated for Best Foreign Language Film at the Academy Awards. He is currently based in Hollywood where he is working on a feature adaption fo Don Winslow’s The Power of the Dog and a remake of Hitchcock’s Rebecca for Dreamworks.

Early life

Arcel was born and raised in Copenhagen to a psychologist mother and an architect father who divorced when he was seven. His elder sister is the actress Nastja Arcel. He attended Bernadotte School in Hellerup and secondary school at Øster Borgerdyd Gymnasium. He then enrolled at the National Film School of Denmark from where he graduated as film director in 2001. His graduation project, the short film Woyzeck’s Last Symphony, won the Grand Prix at Clermont-Ferrand International Short Film Festival.

Career

Arcel made his debut in 2004 with the political thriller King’s Game, which won him the award for Best Director at the Danish Film Academy Awards. It was followed by the adventure film Island of Lost Souls in 2007 and the generational comedy “Truth About Men” in 2010.

After experiencing an international breakthrough with A Royal Affair, he moved to Hollywood to pursue a career in filmmaking there. —Wikipedia