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Nick Cave, Thåström behind toon about their teen years from Yellow Bird, Mårlind

Before They Were Gods is a ‘dream project’ for Måns Mårlind

Musician and writer Nick Cave and Swedish rock star Thåström are attached to a new animated series about their imaginary boyhood lives before they became famous, entitled Before They Were Gods.

Award-winning director/screenwriter Måns Mårlind (Midnight Sun), Banijay-owned Swedish production company Yellow Bird and Stockholm-based animation firm Brokendoll are behind the English-language project.

Though Cave and Thåström, both born in 1957, have never met, Mårlind – whose writing and directing credits include global hit The Bridge – has written a show about their fictional lives as teenage boys.

The series is about “their search for the ultimate truth, everlasting beauty and cheap wine. Sometimes they find it, but mostly not,” according to the producers. The blurb specifies that 14-year-old Cave is “a struggling Dionysian agnostic and romantic dreamer who swims in words,” while the young Thåström is “a harsh existentialist, political, and speaks succinctly.”

“This is a dream project that literally came to me in a dream,” Mårlind said. “While asleep, I watched two of my musical heroes as young teenagers, drinking cheap beer while discussing love and the meaning of life. I woke up writing and have been trying to catch up with them ever since.”

Yellow Bird is behind shows including Young Wallander, Rebecca Martinsson, Headhunters, Occupied and Bäckström, while Brokendoll’s creative directors and producers have worked on shows including Searching for Sugarman, Her and The 100-Year-Old Who Climbed out the Window & Disappeared.

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