Trivia / Olsen-banden

• Creator Backlash: Owing to the Troubled Production and the generally cold reception by critics, Erik Balling reported that he regretted having made Olsen-Bandens Sidste Stik (The Olsen Gang's Last Trick).
• The Character Died with Him:
  • Yvonne's actress had passed away before the 14th film of the Danish series started production, and thus she is absent from the film proper. Meanwhile, Kjeld's actor died partway through production, leading to his living partner joining the heist instead of him.
  • The 14th Norwegian movie had the same issue; here it's Kjell who has passed away and Valborg who appears in the movie in a larger and more involved role, since his actor had passed away but hers was still alive. Additionally, Harry (already an Ascended Extra in the Norwegian version thanks to the popularity of his actor) essentially replaces Kjell as the third gang member, much like his Swedish counterpart had many years earlier.
• Character Outlives Actor: Harry in the 14th Danish movie. Benny implies he is still alive as he borrowed some nitroglycerin from him, while Harry's actor died in 1981.
• Critical Dissonance: Happened with the second reboot of the Swedish version, Se upp för Jönssonligan. While it received the most positive reviews of the series ever (which had never received good reviews), it is the one to have received the worst response from audiences with reactions being downright hostile.
• Defictionalization:
  • Since 2014, a Norwegian company called Safe Direkte has been selling safes named after the fictional Franz Jäger company featured in the series.
  • The Swedish version of Harry would occasionally use a specific nonsense phrase, most prominently in one scene where he is trying to order a beer. A brewery called Train Station has named one of their beers "Hadiraja" after this phrase.
• Fatal Method Acting: Averted by Ove Sprogøe. In a scene from Olsen Bandens Sidste Bedrifter where Egon was to be dropped in the harbor wearing cement shoes, he was ready to do the scene himself, but the director insisted on using a dummy — which, due to a miscalculation, was smashed flat in the first take.
• Life Imitates Art: In the Swedish comedy film "Ogifta par – en film som skiljer sig" there is a character played by Johan Ulveson who runs into Gösta Ekman (playing himself) and pitches that he could play Sickan's brother Sven-Ingvar Jönsson. A few years later Ulveson did indeed play the character in the final film of the original "Jönssonligan" - "Jönssonligan spelar högt". Unlike what some sources claim the producers of "Jönssonligan spelar högt" did not use that idea whole cloth from "Ogifta par – en film som skiljer sig". Sven-Ingvar Jönsson was introduced in the first "Lilla-Jönssonligan" which came out one year earlier which probably inspired the joke.
• On-Set Injury: While filming a scene in Jönssonligan dyker upp igen where his character was supposed to travel up a building using a food lift, Gösta Ekman attempted to close a hatch as scripted only to get his head stuck between it and the wall while the lift was still moving. He was hospitalised for some weeks afterward due to neck and face injuries, some which still were visible by the time he returned to set; this led to the directors deciding to shoot some scenes from angles that would make it less obvious which scenes were filmed before and after the accident.
• The Other Darrin: While the Norwegian and Swedish series in their entirety count as this due to being foreign remakes, it happens internally within the series as well:
  • In the Danish series, Bang-Johansen's interlocutor in the later movies (Hallandsen) was played by a new actor in each of his appearances.
  • In the Norwegian movies, Holm went through no less than four actors. The last one went on to play Hermansen Senior in the Olsenbanden Jr movies.
  • In Jönssonligan, Biffen was played by Weiron Holmberg in most movies and both of the games; however, in Jönssonligan dyker upp igen he was played by Lars Dejert instead.
• Real-Life Relative: One of the films had Benny romantically involved with the daughter of an old grocer, hoping to take over the business. The two were played by real life daughter and father, Birgitte and Einar Federspiel.
• Referenced by...:
  • Valhalla references two of the recurring catch phrases from this series in its first album: Loki exclaims "I have a plan!" and Heimdall timidly responds "Is it dangerous?" in a manner similar to Egon and Kjeld.
  • Some of the safe models from PAYDAY 2 are named Frank Yaeger, which is inspired by the company Franz Jäger from this series. The Alesso Heist mission also revolves around timing the detonation of C4 to a concert performed by Swedish DJ Alesso, similar to the scenes in Olsen Banden Ser Rødt and Jönssonligan spekar högt where noisy attempts to break in are masked by orchestral music.
• Troubled Production:
  • Olsen-Bandens Sidste Stik (The Olsen Gang's Last Trick) was considered somewhat of a disaster from a production stand-point, with actors Poul Bundgaard, Benny Hansen, and director Tom Hedegaard all dying during production, in Bundgaard's case necessitating the use of a body double and another actor to do voice over as several of his scenes hadn't been shot yet.
  • To a lesser extent, the production for Jönssonligan dyker upp igen ran into issues after Gösta Ekman got injured on set and had to be hospitalised. His brother Mikael played his role for a few shots, and while Gösta returned to the set afterwards, he still had some visible damage leading the directors to shoot some of his scenes from angles where his face wouldn't be in focus.
• What Could Have Been:
  • In the Swedish version, Harry was originally going to be played by comedian Carl-Gustaf Lindstedt. While he appeared to look forward to playing the role, he was forced to back out of the project merely a few weeks before filming was to start. The crew also considered replacing him with Ernst-Hugo Järegård for a brief period before Björn Gustafson took the role.
  • Vanheden was shown with a moustache like his Norwegian counterpart in some promotional material related to Varning för Jönssonligan, but has been clean-shaven in all of his appearances since.

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