His earliest memories stem from Oland, a Swedish Island on the Baltic Sea where his great-grandfather built his home many years back. While he was walking among the huge runestones, his grandfather would tell him stories about Viking history.
Skarsgard isn’t sure if his grandfather’s tale about Skar, a Viking ancestor who owned a farm on the island 1000 years ago is true. It was something that Skarsgard found very interesting as a young boy. It was also where he got the idea for his latest movie, “The Northman,” which is about a self-exiled Prince at the dawn the 10th century. It will be in cinemas across the country on Friday.
However, the Viking dream remained dormant for a while. Skarsgard was invited to a lunch meeting by Robert Eggers in 2017. Eggers was a promising filmmaker just starting out with “The Witch”, a eerily accurate portrayal of 17th-century New England. This film helped Anya Taylor Joy introduce the world. Eggers hated the idea of such “general meetings”.
Eggers stated, “You often just sit down and talk about nothing. It’s usually very awkward.”
It turned out that they had something to discuss. Eggers, who had just returned from Iceland after being inspired by the beauty and brutality of its landscapes, was armed with classic stories. They had already agreed to make a Viking movie by the time they received the check.
Skarsgard smiled and said, “A Viking would certainly say it was fated.”
They would be able to embark on an ambitious quest for the most accurate historical depiction possible of Vikings.
Eggers stated, “Except for one small Icelandic movie in late ’70s that was made about Vikings,” Eggers added. “I had an opening.”
The tale of “The Northman”, a familiar story, is well-known. Eggers discovered that Shakespeare was inspired by a Nordic folktale about Amleth. He sees his father being murdered by his uncle and flees. This simple revenge story was the ideal starting point for Eggers to create a complex mythology and rituals that all his readers could relate to.
Skarsgard played the adult Amleth; Nicole Kidman was his mother, Queen Gudrun; Ethan Hawke was his father, King Aurvandil. Claes Bang was his murderous uncle Fjolnir. Bjork was the seeress. They collaborated with Sjon, an Icelandic poet, to create the script. Olga, an enslaved Slav, becomes close confidant of Amleth, with Taylor-Joy in their minds.
Taylor-Joy stated that they both know that if they get trapped in a room with cameras, we will end up pushing each others into weird situations.
Olga was able to travel to Iceland and Northern Ireland for the shoot. She also offered an opportunity to play someone who has a strong connection to a faith.
She said, “You’re looking out of your eyes at the situation you find yourself in. But you also have an eye that overlooks everything like a bird.” When I thought of Vikings, it was not necessarily the poetry of fate or living your life in this way. It gave me a lot more peace… Not everyone laughs when someone is about cut their throat.”
The Eggers alumni included many others. The cast included Willem Dafoe and Kate Dickie. Ralph Ineson was also part of the crew. The crew was mostly made up of people from “The Witch” as well as “The Lighthouse”, including Jarin Blaschke, Craig Lathrop, Linda Muir, and Linda Muir, who were both production designers and cinematographers.
Eggers also hired a team Viking historians and archaeologists as a support group to ensure he was doing the right thing. This was the first time Eggers had the money to do so. They borrowed boats from museums, built their own, and made weapons by hand. Even rivets were accurate historically.
Eggers’ largest budget before “The Northman” was $11 million. He had $70 million to work from this time. He was able to work with a larger budget, but it also meant that he had to be more resourceful and put more pressure on himself. This resulted in him having to lose the final cut. However, he insists that the film is his director’s cut.
The shoot was seven months long and grueling. It took place in the second half 2020 before COVID-19 vaccines were available.
Taylor-Joy said, “We really swung to the fences on that one,” and recalled being barefooted in the mud as gale force winds threatened the mountaintop. “While most people were miserable, I was happy as a cloud nine. I had the best time of my entire life. It’s a great feeling to be physically challenged.”
Eggers prefers to shoot long takes using only one camera. This allows him to capture everything from simple dialogue scenes to complex set pieces like a brutal Berserker raid. Although it was extremely taxing for everyone, they shared a common sense of purpose.
Skarsgard stated that the choreography was perfected months in advance of shooting the scene to ensure the best flow between the camera’s movements and those of the characters. It was difficult, but also very exciting.
He said that what drove him to continue was his hope that they had created something special and that audiences would be immersed in the action in ways that they could not with hundreds of edits and post-production fixes.
He felt that the end result was worth all the pain and exhaustion and years spent talking about a movie that would be serious about Norse mythology.
Skarsgard stated, “It’s beyond what I imagined, beyond my dreams.” “I am incredibly grateful and proud.”
