Biography
Nikolaj Arcel (born 25 August 1972; Copenhagen) 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 which was nominated for Best Foreign Language Film at the Academy Awards, as well as the 2017 American film The Dark Tower. Arcel was born and raised in Copenhagen. His mother Libby Tata Arcel is a psychologist from the Greek city Mytilene on the island of Lesbos, while his father, Arne Arcel...
Complete Filmography

The Promised Land
2023
Director, Writer
Denmark, 1755. Captain Ludvig Kahlen sets out to conquer a Danish heath reputed to be uncultivable, with an impossible goal: to establish a colony in ...

Riders of Justice
2020
Idea
Markus returns home to care for his daughter when his wife dies in a tragic train accident. However, when a survivor of the wreck surfaces and claims ...

The Purity of Vengeance
2018
Screenplay
Copenhagen, 2018. A frightening discovery is made in an old apartment. The subsequent investigation of Department Q leads them to an infamous institut...

The Dark Tower
2017
Director, Screenplay
A boy haunted by visions of a parallel world aids its disillusioned guardian in preventing the destruction of the nexus of universes known as the Dark...

A Conspiracy of Faith
2016
Screenplay
Denmark, 2016. A blurred note is found in a bottle that has traveled across the ocean for a long time. After deciphering the cryptic note, Department ...

The Absent One
2014
Screenplay
Denmark, 2014. A former police officer asks Carl Mørck, head of Department Q, to find out who brutally killed his young twins in 1994. Although a loca...

The Keeper of Lost Causes
2013
Screenplay
Denmark, 2013. Police officers Carl Mørck and Hafez el-Assad, sole members of Department Q, which is focused on closing cold cases, investigate the di...

Antboy
2013
Story
12-year-old Pelle accidentally gets bitten by an ant and develops unimaginable superpowers. With help from his friend, comic book nerd Wilhelm, Pelle ...

A Royal Affair
2012
Director, Screenplay
A young queen falls in love with her physician, and they start a revolution that changes their nation forever.

Truth About Men
2010
Screenplay, Director
Mads moves into a house with his lovely girlfriend Marie when a sudden pang of doubt strikes him. Is this the meaning of life? Has he lived out all hi...

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo
2009
Screenplay
Swedish thriller based on Stieg Larsson's novel about a male journalist and a young female hacker. In the opening of the movie, Mikael Blomkvist, a mi...

Journey to Saturn
2008
Writer
A Danish crew of misfits travel to Saturn in search for natural resources. However, the planet is colonized by a ruthless army of Aliens that turn the...

Fighter
2007
Co-Writer
Aïcha, a high-school student, is a passionate kung fu fighter. Her Turkish parents expect her to get good grades so she can get into medical school, l...

Cecilie
2007
Writer
Cecilie sees and hears things no one else does; places suddenly change appearance, people aren´t really there. One night she experiences a rape, but n...

Island of Lost Souls
2007
Director, Screenplay
14-year-old Lulu moves to a small provincial town with her mother and younger brother. One night, her brother is struck by a beam of white light - act...

King's Game
2004
Director, Writer
Starting a new job as a political journalist at a leading newspaper, Ulrik Torp witnesses a brutal struggle for power in the Midparty's ranks -- a str...

Catch That Kid
2004
Original Film Writer
A determined twelve-year-old mountain climber takes drastic action to save her injured father by planning a high-stakes bank heist, using her skills a...

Catch That Girl
2002
Writer
Ida's father suddenly gets a stroke and is rushed to the hospital, diagnosed with a deadly disease with no other opportunity than to travel to USA to ...

Woyzeck's Last Symphony
2001
Screenplay, Director
A tragicomedy, this film is about a world-famous Czech composer who, after emigrating, has to work on a porn movie to make a living.
The Monster of Florence
N/A
Director, Writer
A reconstruction of eight double homicides believed to have been committed single-handedly between 1968 and 1985 in and around Florence, Italy.
Good Mothers
N/A
Screenplay
In a quiet suburban community, three women's friendship is challenged when one of their sons is accused of sexual assault.