''Amors Baller'' ( en, Cupid's Balls) is a Norwegian teenage comedy film directed by Kristoffer Metcalfe, starring

Kåre Hedebrant Kåre Hedebrant (born 28 June 1995) is a Swedish actor. Early life He lives in Hässelby, near Stockholm. Hedebrant attended Kungsholmens Gymnasium's Choir Section, and during middle school he attended the Adolf Fredrik's Music School. Career ...

and Eira K. Stuedahl. The film was co-written by Metcalfe and producer Frederick Howard. The film premiered in Norway on 25 March 2011.

Plot

Fifteen-year-old Lucas moves from

Stockholm Stockholm () is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in Sweden by population, largest city of Sweden as well as the List of urban areas in the Nordic countries, largest urban area in Scandinavia. Approximately 980,000 people liv ...

, Sweden, to a small town in Norway. He falls in love with Susanne, the goalkeeper of the local girls'

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

team. To win her love, he joins the boys' football team to participate in the

Norway Cup The Norway Cup is an international youth football tournament in Oslo, Norway. It has been held annually since 1972, with the exception of 1976 (due to a conflicting arrangement), 2020 and 2021 (due to the COVID-19 Pandemic). It is the world's l ...

, a large tournament held in

Oslo Oslo ( , , or ; sma, Oslove) is the capital and most populous city of Norway. It constitutes both a county and a municipality. The municipality of Oslo had a population of in 2022, while the city's greater urban area had a population of ...

. However, Lucas realizes things will be more difficult than he initially thought, because Susanne already has a boyfriend. At the same time, he has to fight for a position on the first team.

Cast

as Lucas *Eira K. Stuedahl as Susanne *Isak Nikolai Iveland Solli as Petter *Jana Opsahl *

Fridtjov Såheim Fridtjov Såheim (born 2 July 1968) is a Norwegian stage director, stage actor and film actor. He has worked for the theatres Den Nationale Scene, Rogaland Teater and Nationaltheatret. Among his characters is the title role in ''Woyzeck'', and t ...

*Harald Weedon

Production

''Amors Baller'' has a budget of around 13.5 million

Norwegian krone The krone (, abbreviation: kr (also NKr for distinction); code: NOK), plural ''kroner'', is currency of the Kingdom of Norway (including Svalbard). Traditionally known as the Norwegian crown in English. It is nominally subdivided into 100 ''� ...

r. It was financed without funding from the

Norwegian Film Institute The Norwegian Film Institute ( no, Norsk filminstitutt) was founded in 1955 to support and develop the Norwegian film industry. On 1 April 2008, it was merged with Norwegian Film Fund, Norwegian Film Development, and Norwegian Film Commission to ...

. The screenplay was developed by Kristoffer Metcalfe and Frederick Howard, alongside Peder Fuglerud and Stian A. Eriksen. According to Howard, they wanted to make a "classic

coming-of-age Coming of age is a young person's transition from being a child to being an adult. The specific age at which this transition takes place varies between societies, as does the nature of the change. It can be a simple legal convention or can ...

story in colorful packaging, where friendship, love and athletic ambition collide in a fireworks display of a movie with and for youth." Director Kristoffer Metcalfe described it as a "youth film, 'boy meets girl' set in a football environment." Metcalfe expressed his satisfaction with securing "such an experienced and skilled young actor" as

, known for his performance in '' Let the Right One In'', in the leading role. "This feels much easier han ''Let the Right One In'' The atmosphere is lighter, also away from the camera," Hedebrant told ''

Aftenposten ( in the masthead; ; Norwegian for "The Evening Post") is Norway's largest printed newspaper by circulation. It is based in Oslo. It sold 211,769 copies in 2015 (172,029 printed copies according to University of Bergen) and estimated 1.2 million ...

''. Many other roles were filled by actors without prior experience. Eira K. Stuedahl, who plays the "dream girl" Susanna, was stopped in the street and invited to audition. Howard emphasized that he wanted to give the actors a lot of leeway, and freedom to improvise. Harald Weedon, who plays Lucas' sex-obsessed friend, came up with the title of the film, "Amors Baller" (literally: "

Cupid In classical mythology, Cupid (Latin Cupīdō , meaning "passionate desire") is the god of desire, lust, erotic love, attraction and affection. He is often portrayed as the son of the love goddess Venus (mythology), Venus and the god of war Mar ...

's Balls"). Filming started on 12 July 2010 in

, and is planned to conclude on 20 August. The entire film will be shot in and around Oslo, mainly in

Ekeberg Ekeberg is a neighborhood in the city of Oslo, Norway. The Norway Cup soccer tournament takes place at Ekebergsletta every summer. "Sletta" means "the plain". The painting "The Scream" by Edvard Munch is painted from Utsikten ("the view"), a p ...

Bekkelaget Bekkelaget is a neighborhood in the borough Nordstrand in Oslo, Norway. Originally, Bekkelaget was the maritime area south of Oslo city, in Aker municipality adjacent to the Bunnefjorden. With the opening of the Østfold Line, Bekkelaget station ...

and

Ljan Ljan () is a residential neighborhood in the borough Nordstrand in Oslo, Norway. It is located in the eastern rolling hillsides of the fjord Bunnefjorden. To the south Ljanselva which begins at Lutvann has its mouth, and where it runs through Li ...

, and will include scenes shot at the 2010

, one of the world's largest football tournaments. It premiered on 25 March 2011.

References

External links

*
''Amors Baller''
on

Facebook Facebook is an online social media and social networking service owned by American company Meta Platforms. Founded in 2004 by Mark Zuckerberg with fellow Harvard College students and roommates Eduardo Saverin, Andrew McCollum, Dustin M ...

{{in lang, no 2011 films 2011 romantic comedy films 2010s sports comedy films 2010s teen comedy films 2010s teen romance films Norwegian association football films 2010s Norwegian-language films Norwegian romantic comedy films 2010s Swedish-language films Teen sports films 2011 multilingual films Norwegian multilingual films