Ryan Wiik

Ryan Wiik
Born	(1981-09-23) September 23, 1981 Hamar, Norway
Occupation	actor, producer, entrepreneur
Years active	2005 - present

Gunnar Ryan Wiik (/ˈvɪk/; born September 23, 1981), better known as Ryan Wiik, is a Norwegian actor, producer and entrepreneur. In 2007, Wiik made his Hollywood debut with A-Mark Entertainment's thriller, Timber Falls, directed by Tony Giglio. Wiik founded the entertainment company WR Entertainment in 2009. In 2011, the entertainment trade paper Daily Variety reported that Wiik’s WR Films had acquired the motion-picture rights to all 83 books in the best-selling Morgan Kane series by author Louis Masterson.^[1]

The magazine Vi Menn reported on October 1, 2013, that Wiik will star in the coveted role of "Morgan Kane" in the upcoming film Morgan Kane, based on Louis Masterson's best-selling book series of the same name.^[2]

Early life

Gunnar Ryan Wiik was born on September 23, 1981, in Hamar, Norway. He is the only son of Tore Bjærke Johansen, a business owner, and Sissel Elisabeth Wiik, a speech therapist working with children and adults suffering from communication disorders. His parents divorced when he was a child, and he and his older sister lived with their mother in Hamar, Norway. He performed his first lead role as "Francis of Assisi" in the school theater production at age 8, in Norway.

During his teenage years, Wiik played both basketball and golf on national levels in Norway, with ambitions to pursue a professional sports career in the U.S. A major back injury cut his athletic career short.

While living in Spain and working as a real-estate agent in 2002, Wiik became influenced by filmmakers his own age who encouraged him to get in front of the camera for acting roles and television commercials. Shortly thereafter, Wiik quit his job and began a full-time acting study in Brisbane, Australia and later Los Angeles, United States.

Career

In late summer of 2005, Wiik was among the final contestants for Norway’s talent search Filmstjerne (English translation: “ Movie Star”).

In the months following Filmstjerne, Wiik produced and helmed the project “A taste of Hollywood” in Norway, an intensive school program to teach and inspire 90 young filmmakers on the reality of moviemaking. On December 17, 2005, Wiik hosted a film festival and red-carpet award show in his home town Drøbak, Norway.^[3][4]

Wiik partnered with Rakner's production company MCM Europe, to produce and star in a slate of short films directed by Christoffer Lunde: Did You Get the Diamond?; Budbilsjåføren; Life in a Flash; and The Blacklist. It was his work in these films that would later give Wiik an opportunity to move to Los Angeles.

2006–2009: Arrival in Hollywood

With only a fistful of dollars in his pocket, Wiik moved from his native Europe to Hollywood in 2006.^[5] He was a trained actor who had studied in Australia, acted in a number of independent European films known only in festival circuits, and he was a complete unknown in America.

Upon his arrival in Los Angeles, Wiik was cast in a co-starring role in Timber Falls, directed by Tony Giglio. Wiik later received an “Artist of Extraordinary Ability Visa” O-1 visa in the United States.^[3][6]

WR Entertainment Group

Because of his experience in producing films in Europe, Wiik was able to form his own Los Angeles-based production company, WR Films Entertainment Group.^[7] Wiik's partners in the company include industry veterans James Cardwell, former President of Warner Home Video, Alan E. Bell, former Executive Vice President and Chief Technology Officer of Paramount Pictures, Duane M. Eberlein, former Chief Financial Officer of Caesars World, and John Michaels, former President of Production for Magnet Media Group and VIP Media Funds USA.

On May 9, 2011, the trade magazine Daily Variety noted that WR Films had acquired the motion-picture rights to all 83 novels in the best-selling Morgan Kane series, which has sold more than 20 million books to date.^[1]

In August 2011, Dagens Næringsliv (meaning: Today's Business) reported that WR Books, a division of WR Entertainment had also acquired the worldwide eBook rights to the Morgan Kane book library of 83 titles.^[8] By the end of 2011, the newspaper Aftenposten wrote that the Morgan Kane titles published by WR Books where dominating the iTunes best-seller list, outselling all other eBooks available in Norway.^[9]

In the spring of 2012, the Norwegian financial press broke several stories reporting on Wiik's film financing structure, the WR Film Fund. Articles in the daily financial newspapers (Finansavisen) revealed that elite financial institutions, billionaires, and publicly traded companies in the U.S. were interested in funding the WR Films transaction. One of the largest equity investors was Lionsgate Entertainment, which had expressed interest to participate in the $90-million equity transaction.^[10]

Morgan Kane

News of Wiik’s acquisition of the Kane book rights spread quickly. On May 9, 2011, the trade magazine Daily Variety noted that WR Films had acquired the motion picture rights Morgan Kane series.^[1]

Writing under the pen name of Louis Masterson, late Norwegian author Kjell Hallbing began reinventing the Western genre for European readers when he wrote Without Mercy, the first entry in the Morgan Kane series, in 1966. He wrote another 82 books by 1985, with Kane surviving General Custer's last stand at the Battle of the Little Bighorn, fighting alongside Pancho Villa in the Mexican Revolution and encountering Billy the Kid, the Dalton Brothers, Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, Teddy Roosevelt and many other figures of the era.

In an interview with Daily Variety, Wiik explained the power that the Kane series has had since it was published.

"The Morgan Kane stories stand out because they had such great characters and kinetic action scenes that were something out of a James Bond film," said Wiik. "Kane was the ultimate anti-hero who played by his own rules; he was a gunslinger who used martial arts to kill when he ran out of bullets, and was a borderline sociopath. His creator Masterson was a rogue author who reimagined the Western novel the way Stieg Larsson transformed the mystery genre."

Daily Variety noted that Wiik and his production company, which is funded by a consortium of Norwegian investors, planned to commence shooting in either New Mexico or Texas.

During the 2011 Cannes Film Festival, the trade magazine Daily Variety broke a story that newly minted WR Films had acquired the motion-picture rights to all 83 novels in the best-selling Morgan Kane series. The announcement also got 500 words in the New York Times,^[11] and the Hollywood website TheWrap noted that “…the relatively unknown Norwegian actor, Ryan Wiik, hijacked day four [of the 64th Cannes Film Festival].”^[12]

On Oct 1, 2013, it was confirmed that Ryan Wiik will star as Morgan Kane in the upcoming motion picture series.^[13]

Personal life

In 2001, Wiik underwent a major back surgery to overcome complications from scoliosis, an injury which had affected him since childhood.

An untitled documentary closely following Wiik's career and personal life is in production by filmmakers Christoffer Lunde and Patrick Strøm.^[14]

Wiik resides in the West Hollywood Hills in Los Angeles, California.

References

External links

• Ryan Wiik at the Internet Movie Database
• Official Ryan Wiik Website
• Ryan Wiik's fanpage on Facebook
• WR Entertainment Group's website