In the spring of 2018, it was discovered in the media that some of the child actors, both male and female, involved in the film, were subjected to sexual abuse during filming by
Lasse Nielsen and
Ernst Johansen. In particular, Hanne Nohr Sommer (then called
Hanne Olsen) recalled when one morning Johansen came and woke her in the sleeping tent. She got up and followed Ernst, without having the remotest idea of what awaited her down on the beach. "He's brought blankets and we're going to sit and talk. Then he lays me down and I think, 'What's going on here?' But I don't get to say anything. I'm shocked, and he starts reaching into my panties and touching my crotch." Fourteen-year-old Hanne focused on the fact that she must not let herself be marked with anything. She just has to keep up appearances. "'You'll get warm,' says Ernst. 'I don't think I will,' I reply. But my body was cheating on me because he kept petting me. I could't control that," says Hanne Nohr Sommer. It was early in the morning, so they had to go back. Hanne said the same thing happened to her friend and co-star in the film. But both hadn't sexual intercourse with Johansen. "It was enough for him to touch us, our genitals. We didn't have to do anything ourselves. If he had moved on, I honestly have no idea what I would have done."
