“There’s Always Plenty of Action and Drama”

“There’s always plenty of action and drama, even more off the field than on it,” says actress and screenwriter Lilja Nótt Þórarinsdóttir, describing the world behind Boltamömmur, or Football Moms. The Icelandic series follows a newly divorced woman who throws herself, body and soul, into becoming a football mother.

The idea came to Þórarinsdóttir on the sidelines of her own life as a football mom. She wrote the screenplay with Jóhanna Friðrikka Sæmundsdóttir, Sól Hólm, Hafsteinn Gunnar Sigurðsson and Hannes Þór Halldórsson. Halldórsson and Sigurðsson direct the series.

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There’s always plenty of action and drama, even more off the field than on it.

The production attracted attention before filming had finished, after video spread widely showing a group of women involved in a fierce fight at a children’s football tournament. It later emerged that the fight had been staged as part of filming for Boltamömmur.

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We have a fantastic group of people on the team, but the idea of football parents and the drama that overwhelms them has grown, flourished and become a lively world.

Kristín Þóra Haraldsdóttir, Þórarinsdóttir, Þorvaldur Davíð Kristjánsson, Hildur Vala Baldursdóttir, Anna Svava Knútsdóttir, Iðunn Ösp Hlynsdóttir, Ólafur Egilsson, Mikael Kaaber, Sverrir Þór Sverrisson, known as Sveppi, and Katrín Ronja Stefánsdóttir have leading roles.

“We have a fantastic group of people on the team, but the idea of football parents and the drama that overwhelms them has grown, flourished and become a lively world,” Halldórsson says. The series is produced by Atlavík, which also stands behind IceGuys and Bannað að hlæja. Síminn media executive Birkir Ágústsson says the company wants to continue bringing ambitious Icelandic productions into viewers’ homes.

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It is always exciting to premiere new Icelandic scripted content.