NWR next wrote, directed and produced Valhalla Rising, starring his long ‘me collaborator, Mads Mikkelsen. Valhalla Rising is a film inspired by a story NWR’s mother read to him when he was young.
The film premiered at the 2009 Venice Film Festival. NWR has already received two life’me achievement awards (one from Taipei Interna’onal Film Festival in 2006 and the second from Valencia Interna’onal Film Festival in 2007) and was the winner of the Emerging Master Award from the Philadelphia Interna’onal Film Festival, 2005. In addi’on to the films NWR has made, he has been the subject of numerous documentaries and books.
Most prominently, he and his wife Liv Corfixen were the subjects of an acclaimed feature documentary, Gambler, which premiered at the RoAerdam Interna’onal Film Festival in 2005. NWR’s film Drive has been the most successful to date. Premiering at the Cannes Film Festival in 2011, it won for Best Director and was a contender for the Palme d’Or. It has been met with universal praise from both audiences and cri’cs alike earning over $100 million worldwide.