Culture News in Brief: Denmark’s best loved dirty old man gets a whopper of a pay check

Elsewhere, Danish parents aren’t locking up their daughters, but they are securing their consoles as the controversial YouTube Kids launches in Denmark

It turns out that the Super Bowl’s most praised advert this year (see video below) used footage filmed by a Dane.

The film director, journalist and Tour de France nut Jørgen Leth, who courted controversy in 2005 when he confessed to having sex with his Haitian cook’s 17-year-old daughter, filmed US pop artist Andy Warhol eating a burger in the early 1980s for his 1982 documentary ’66 scenes from America’.

READ MORE: How this country’s chirpiest commentator became its dirtiest old man

And now an edited version of the five-minute scene has been used by Burger King in its new TV commercial.

A dream come true
“It’s a dream come true,” Leth told DR over the phone from his home in Haiti. “Andy Warhol was crazy about the idea and the simplicity expressed through the scene.”

Leth added that he was unable to reveal how much Burger King had paid for using the clip, but suffice it to say that his pay check was a whopper.

Part of American folklore
Besides the prestige of performing the half-time music show and winning the actual game, the ad breaks during the Super Bowl broadcast have also become part of American folklore.

They are generally seen as a showcase for companies to unveil their new ads for 2019, with the hope they will become the most popular of the year.


Parents concerned as YouTube Kids launches in Denmark
A Danish version of YouTube Kids, a popular children’s program launched in the US in 2015 that has been severely criticised for performing stunts that parents certainly don’t want their little ones ‘to try at home’, is being launched today. Despite its name, the program is prohibited for under-13s, but parents are worried that under-age children will see the stunts and replicate them. For example, one of the hosts controversially drank a can of bleach on a show.

Follow-up to ‘Fireburn’ depicts the sale of the Danish West Indies
Apple Gidley has wasted no time in writing a follow-up to her historical novel Fireburn, which was set during the plantation worker uprising of the same name on the Danish island of Saint Croix in 1878. ‘Transfer’ moves the action on 30 years to coincide with Denmark’s sale of Saint Croix and Saint Thomas to the US, when they ceased to be known as the Danish West Indies and were renamed the US Virgin Islands. The book will be released on March 31, the 102nd anniversary of the sale.

‘Queen of Hearts’ feeling the love in Sundance and Sweden
It didn’t take Danish film ‘Dronningen’ (‘Queen of Hearts’), which made its debut at the Sundance Film Festival last month, very long, but it has already picked up four awards: the Audience Award at Sundance and three Dragon Awards at the Göteborg Film Festival, including best Nordic film and best actress for Trine Dyrholm in a role as a matriarch who seduces her 17-year-old stepson. Meanwhile, Mads Brügger won the best director award under the category ‘World Cinema Documentary’ at Sundance for his new film ‘Cold Case Hammarskjöld’, which also made its worldwide premiere at the event. The two films are respectively being released on March 28 and February 7 (see review here).

Guilty as nominated: Police call centre film cleans up at Roberts
‘Den skyldige’ (‘The Guilty’) was the big winner at the Roberts, the film industry’s annual awards show, on Sunday night. It claimed seven statuettes including best film, best original script, best actor for Jakob Cedergren and best director for Gustav Möller. Spotted among those celebrating the win was the Australian co-composer of the film’s score, Carl Coleman, the former music editor at CPH POST and founding member of the band Palace Winter. The other big winner was the cartoon ‘Ternet Ninja’, which won best adapted script and best children’s and youth film.

No, we haven’t heard the last of Daniel Rye
A film about Daniel Rye, the photographer who avoided being killed by Islamic State in 2013 after his family paid a 2 million euro ransom to secure his release after 398 days in captivity, is currently being shot on location in the Middle East. Just the other day, DR reported how its leading actor Esben Smed was in the Jordanian city of Irbid. The film, ‘Ser du månen, Daniel’, is based on Puk Damsgård’s book of the same name.

Barely a year after giving birth, cancelled headliner is returning to Roskilde
2018 Roskilde Festival headliner Cardi B, who cancelled her appearance because she was pregnant, will be gracing the Orange Stage this year, it has been confirmed. Meanwhile, the festival has also confirmed that US hip-hop act Cypress Hill, US rock band Bring Me the Horizon, Danish signer Mø, British R&B star Jorja Smith, and Danish acts Søren Huss, Barselona and Hugo Helmig will also be performing.

Mariah Carey confirms date in Aalborg
US songstress Mariah Carey will be bringing her ‘Caution World Tour’ to Aalborghallen on June 4. Tickets start at 370 kroner and go on sale on Friday February 8 from 10:00 at ticketmaster.dk.

Popular country singer coming to town
US country singer Brad Paisley will be performing at Royal Arena on October 5, where his special guest will be Chris Lane. Tickets start at 450 kroner and go on sale on Friday February 8 from 09:00 at ticketmaster.dk.

Second show for star of ‘Master of None’
US comedian Aziz Ansari, the star of Netflix hit ‘Master of None’, has confirmed he will be performing a second date at DR Koncerthuset, after tickets to his April 8 show sold out super-fast. Tickets to his April 9 show cost 375 kroner via drkoncerthuset.dk.

Two-horse race in bid to represent Denmark at Eurovision
The Danish Melodi Grand Prix, the qualifier on Saturday February 23 that will decide which song the country selects for the Eurovision Song Contest, is a two-horse race between ‘Love is Forever’ by Leonara (13/10) and ‘League of Light’ by Julie & Nina (6/4), according to bookmakers.