A CURMUDGEONLY OLD geezer, cooped up at home, sneering at his neighbours. It doesn’t sound like the most engaging premise, yet Fredrik Backman’s 2012 novel A Man Called Ove was a worldwide bestseller and the foundation for an Oscar-nominated Swedish film. Now, under the eye of Swiss-German director Marc Forster (Monster’s Ball, Quantum Of Solace), Ove is coming to America in English-language remake A Man Called Otto. “It’s a redemptive story,” says Forster. “It’s funny, moving, emotional. It’s about how friendship can save a man’s life.” Here, he tells Empire how to turn a perma-crabby pensioner into crowdpleasing fare.