Pia Tjelta and her daughter Sofia Tjelta Sydness play a mother and her daughter in NRK's upcoming thriller drama "Grønne fingre," VG reports. The series is set on Nesodden and is scheduled to premiere on NRK in summer 2027. Maria Bonnevie also has a central role.
VG attended the 25th day of a 50-day shoot, which took place at a house in Nordre Follo standing in for one character's home. On that evening, rain was falling and the temperature sat just above freezing while a fight scene was filmed inside.
Why it matters
Casting a real mother and daughter as a fictional mother and daughter gives the drama an unusual emotional charge. Both actors told VG that the family bond changes how the scenes play, particularly when one character is in danger.
Tjelta said playing opposite her own child adds another dimension when her character's daughter is threatened. She described feeling genuine fear because the person in peril is her real daughter.
Sydness said she had assumed working with her mother would make things easier, with emotions arriving on their own. Instead, she found the opposite: she becomes frightened and nervous, she told VG, laughing.
Stunt work and the mechanics of a fight scene
The scene VG observed involved two characters coming to blows. Stuntwomen were brought in to handle the most physical moments for Tjelta and Bonnevie, with the actors stepping into position themselves when the cameras moved in close on their faces.
Tjelta said her daughter performs her own stunts. Crew members called for standby before each take, and between shots cameras were repositioned and props reset while makeup staff kept blood, hair and makeup matching from take to take.
The atmosphere among the three actors between takes was warm and full of jokes, in contrast to the violent scene being captured. Tjelta described working with Bonnevie and her daughter as a dream, and praised Bonnevie's enjoyment of the process. Bonnevie, for her part, noted that Tjelta has filmed a great deal and works with control, sometimes suggesting a shot be saved for a later angle.
A close family bond, and its opposite on screen
Off camera, mother and daughter described a tightly connected relationship. Sydness said the two speak on the phone perhaps fifteen times a day, and that if one of them fails to answer within five minutes, messages follow asking whether the other is alive and what has happened.
On screen, the series turns on how little a mother knows about her daughter's actual life, according to VG — a stark contrast to the closeness the two share in reality. Sydness said it feels safe to have her mother beside her, and that she has learned everything she knows from her, not only about acting but about life in general.
The pair have appeared in the same production before: both were in "Rockeulven" at the National Theatre in 2011, where Sydness recalled performing on stage in a goat wig.
Bonnevie joins after a test shoot
Bonnevie plays the owner of a horse farm that becomes important to the story. She landed the part after a test shoot earlier this year, VG reports.
She told VG she wanted to join after reading the script, drawn both by the strength of the project and by Tjelta's involvement. She said the plot and mood felt right, and that the material could just as easily have been a series from another Scandinavian country. She characterised it as psychological drama with a suspense-driven plot.
Bonnevie said this is the first time she and Tjelta have worked on a project together. VG notes that Bonnevie has been the partner of television host Fredrik Skavlan since 2006, and that the couple have three children.
Filming is now at the halfway point. Viewers will have to wait for the summer 2027 premiere to see how the mother-daughter tension plays out on screen.
