The latest is Stockholm born Daniel Espinosa, a director whose film “Safe House,” starring Denzel Washington and Ryan Reynolds, recently opened in theaters.
“There were three to choose from and I said, ‘If you want to do this in typical American style, then pick someone else.’ I wanted to do it dirtier, with a hand-held camera and such effects, and they liked that,” Espinosa told Swedish metro.se. “Making a movie in America is different because of the budget, you can do practically anything you want. But it’s also a bit backward for a Scandinavian, and at first I experienced that as very nerve-racking. In Sweden it’s the director that counts, in the U..S, it’s the actors. Denzel and Ryan decided to do the film because of [my film] 'Snabba cash' ('Easy Money').”

Espinosa further explained that he liked working with the two stars a lot.
“Working with Denzel was great, he was fine. I was nervous, but I liked to listen to his stories, about the processes he’d gone through as an actor.” When asked why so many Swedish directors are successful internationally, Espinosa said he believes it has more to do with the material than anything else: “Björn Stein and Måns Mårlind (‘Shelter’ and ‘Underworld Awakening’) created their own careers, but me and Tomas Alfredson (‘Let the Right One In’) for instance, made movies based on Swedish books, so perhaps it’s more a question of literature than film? Also, Hollywood has something to offer us, because we have such a small industry in Sweden. It’s probably more so that the U.S. reaches outside its territory, than us Swedes going outside ours.” Does this mean he’s leaving Sweden behind?
“I have my wife here and we have a nice apartment. I have no interest in leaving Sweden at all. But if a good script comes along I won’t turn it down, but the same thing goes if the offer comes from Sweden.”
Daniel Espinoza attended the National Film School of Denmark and graduated in 2001. His third feature film, "Easy Money," was the Swedish film with most admissions in Sweden in 2010.

"Easy Money" is based on the best selling book with the same name by Jens Lapidus, who will be in the U.S. on a book tour later this spring (at New York's Scandinavia House on April 9). "Easy Money" U.S. Edition is released on April 3 by Knopf Doubleday Publishing, ISBN: 978-0-307-37748-7
Lapidus' third book in the series about Stockholm's criminal underworld, "Livet deluxe," was released in Sweden in summer 2011.