Fritänkaren

In the summer of 1981, Jörn Donner, CEO of The Swedish Film Institute, announced that the project funding of SEK 1 million that Peter Watkins had been granted was now over and that he could not count on additional grants if he did not present any script. When the script was presented, it turned out to be so extensive that Donner considered it unmanageable. Watkins was granted respite until November of that year to lose the script. In November 1981, the situation became tense. Peter Watkins had no script other than what he delivered and the Swedish Film Institute's board did not want to allocate any funds for recording as long as the script was not reworked. It all ended with Peter Watkins leaving Sweden to go to the United States, where he hoped to find financiers for an English-language version.