#oskarshamn

The filming team with the producer Stefan H. Lindén and director Amanda Adolfsson at the forefront have gathered at a luxurious villa with a fantastic view over the harbor and the Ocean port. Here, they're going to film several scenes with the actors Yandeh Sallah, Sarah Gustafsson, and Linnéa Persson.

- One of the main characters lives here, says Stefan H. Lindén in the sunshine on the villa's terrace. I can't say the character's name yet for SVT, but the character is played by Sarah Gustafsson.

It's one of the first filming days for the young adult show Eagles, and the first day that 22-year-old Sarah Gustafsson is there. She's previously been seen in another SVT-production, the short film Kevlar, and worked with actors on Stockholm City Theatre. The week after midsummer she was told that she'd gotten one of the leading parts in Eagles, competing with over 3000 other auditionees.

- I was very very happy, says Sarah Gustafsson who remembers that she was at the Sluice area in Stockholm when she got the word. I called my mom and then we went out to eat dinner after that. I think I ran home.

One of the other leading roles in the show is played by 20-year-old Yandeh Sallah from Haninge. She got to do a screen test for the part after Stefan H. Lindén and his colleagues saw her in the short film Fuck you, which is right now being shown at the film festival in Toronto.

- There's an incredible talent and presence with Yandeh, says Stefan H. Lindén who tells us that the 20-year old's character in the show dreams of being a musician.

Yandeh Sallah has only been active as an actor for a year. Eagles is the first longer project that she's in.

- It's fun and exciting. Everything is new to me, says Yandeh Sallah. Everybody is really nice and there's a really nice atmosphere, so it feels good.

She will, among other things, sing in the show which she has some experience of since earlier.

- A little bit. I was in a choir when I was little.

23-year-old Linnéa Persson plays one of the supporting roles. She's raised in Helsingborg but nowadays lives in the US. Oskarshamn has made a good first impression on her.

- It's really cozy, she says.

Yandeh, Sarah, and Linnéa are a few years older than the characters they play in the show, which isn't unusual in TV shows and movies. The young adults in the show are 16 to 18 years old.

- I can recognize a lot of the problems and conflicts that you had in that age, says Linnéa Persson.

- The script is very well written. You feel with the characters, says Sarah Gustafsson.

Eagles is described as a show about hockey, friendship, love, and rivalry.

- It's about an NHL-player who moves home with their two children, one of which plays hockey. Friendships, love relations, and rivalry arise on the ice, says Stefan H. Lindén.

Ten years ago Stefan H. Lindén had already started to think about the story, who's grown up in Oskarshamn himself.

- 2008 I started to think about the idea, 2013 I started to write it down on paper and 2015 I felt mature enough to tell the idea to someone.

This someone was Måns Strömberg, CEO at the production company New Stories.

- It was the first project ever we talked about doing together. It feels fantastic that it's become something, says Måns Strömberg who's also one of the show's producers.

He means that Swedish small towns are often depicted in a gray and boring way, but in Eagles they want to highlight Oskarshamn's best sides.

- I see it as a chance to show a smaller town in Sweden in a nice way.

Havslätt, Saltvik, Badholmen, the ice rink, and Oscar's high school are a few places that will be visible in the show.

A big challenge will be to gather hundreds of extras for a scene that will be shot in the ice rink on October 3rd.

- The fictional team Eagles will be playing an A team match against another team. We want you to get the feeling of a packed Be-Ge Hockey Center, says Stefan H. Lindén.

Interviewer: Here in Oskarshamn the filming of Eagles is taking place, for young adults, which is filmed during seven weeks here in Oskarshamn and will air on SVT in spring.

Stefan (in the background): Let's go... Now!

Maria: How's it going? You look down.

Adrian (sighs): No, no it's nothing.

Stefan: Thank you!

Interviewer: Here, the filming has started for the new youth investment on SVT, the young adult show Eagles which is filmed in Oskarshamn. And now I'm with two of the actors; Adrian Öjvindsson and Maria Alm Norell who plays... Adrian plays the son. And Maria, as you probably heard here in the beginning, plays the mom. So Adrian, one of the actors here, why are you [in the show]?

Adrian: Yeah, it sort of happened by chance actually. It was open casting in Växjö that my friends were going to so I came with them as a kind of day trip, almost. And then I tried auditioning and then they called me and now I'm here.

Interviewer: Have you done theatre or movies or anything like that before?

Adrian: Yes, since I started high school at the C4 school* in Kristianstad. Ever since then I've been in some local musicals and stuff like that.

Interviewer: How does it feel to be here today then?

Adrian: It's exciting. It's completely new to me, film and stuff, so it's fun to see how everything works and... yeah.

Interviewer: Stefan H. Lindén, you are one of the people behind this - what's this show about?

Stefan: Yeah, it's a young adult show that's very much about love, friendship, and rivalry - those are sort of the catchwords, the theme; the core of the show. What you can say about it is that a family returns to Oskarshamn after being away from the town for many years, brings their two children home and they start school here and start playing hockey here, so... So that's the...

Interviewer: And we're in an apartment in Oskarshamn. The show is filmed in both apartments and other places in Oskarshamn. In this apartment - it's a two-story apartment with tenant ownership - there are tons of tripods, cords on the floor, and you really see things are taking place, things are happening here. Where else are you going to [film], Stefan?

Stefan: We'll be all over town, really. And we're going to be in a few houses out by Havslätt* among others, and then we'll also be at the school a lot since it is a young adult show and the characters go to high school-

Interviewer: Oskarsgymnasiet.

Stefan: Yes, exactly, Oskarsgymnasiet. Then we'll also be in the ice rink a lot, of course.

Interviewer: And Adrian Öjvindsson, you're playing this hockey guy. What do you look forward to the most during these seven weeks when you're going to film?

Adrian: Well just to develop and see how things work with filming and everything like that. So yeah... Just to experience this format.

Interviewer: Alexandra Thönnersten, this next scene, what's it about?

Alexandra: Well, our hockey guy is going to wake up after a party and maybe doesn't feel 100% so we'll just see how that goes.

Interviewer: Okay Adrian, are you ready to act hungover here then?

Adrian: Yup! (laughs)

Interviewer: From Oskarshamn, filming for the young adult show Eagles. Sofia Valve for P4 Kalmar, Sveriges Radio.

*Christian's 4 gymnasium, a high school in Kristianstad