00:00 I do feel compelled to ask, have you ever had the debate
00:03 with your brother Bill about Randall Flagg versus Pennywise?
00:07 - We have not, no.
00:08 - Well, I mean, where do you stand?
00:12 - You must choose between kindness for your kin
00:15 or hate for your enemies.
00:18 - When it came to the Northmen,
00:23 did you go out to make a Viking movie
00:25 and then the legend of Amleth came to you
00:28 or was it a matter of you knowing that you wanted
00:30 to tell this legend in this backdrop?
00:32 - No, no, I had a lunch with Alexander Skarsgård
00:36 and we shook hands saying that we would make
00:37 a Viking movie together and then I came across Amleth,
00:42 which inspired Shakespeare's Hamlet and realized,
00:44 this is perfect because I have a story that everybody knows
00:48 so I can make like a movie for a big audience
00:50 and not lose them while still like sharing with an audience
00:53 what I love about Viking mythology and culture
00:56 in a way that you can't usually go so deep and detailed
00:59 in that stuff in a movie this size.
01:01 - I brought it to the conversation, but not intentionally.
01:04 I had about four or five years prior
01:08 to that fated lunch that we had, Rob and I.
01:13 I teamed up with Lars Knudsen,
01:14 the producer who ultimately produced the movie with us
01:19 and with the intention of making a big epic Viking movie
01:23 based on the Icelandic saga,
01:25 something that was historically accurate
01:27 with a goal of trying to kind of capture
01:29 the essence of the Vikings.
01:31 And when Rob and I met, it turned out
01:34 that he had just returned from Iceland
01:37 and was fired up and excited about Icelandic culture
01:41 and Norse mythology and we started talking
01:44 and then I mentioned that I was actually trying
01:48 to develop a Viking project, but hadn't quite nailed down
01:52 which saga to base it on, but we started kind of just
01:56 bouncing around ideas and that became the genesis
01:59 of the Northmen.
02:00 - I will avenge you, father.
02:03 I will save you, mother.
02:05 I will kill you, Fjallr.
02:07 - Well, I mean, how much knowledge about that era
02:10 did you have coming in and how much did you learn
02:12 through the process of making the film?
02:13 - I mean, I didn't have a ton of knowledge
02:15 'cause originally I wasn't interested in Vikings.
02:18 I didn't like the macho stuff
02:20 and the right-wing misappropriation of Viking culture
02:23 put me off even more.
02:25 But when I took a trip to Iceland,
02:26 the landscapes were so brutal and inspiring
02:29 and epic that it made me pick up some Viking sagas
02:33 and learn about them.
02:34 But I had a lot of learning to do
02:36 and I enlisted Icelandic poet and novelist, Shon,
02:41 to help me write this thing.
02:43 And then once the movie became real,
02:46 we had the finest historians and archeologists
02:48 in the field of Viking studies working with us.
02:51 So that was really exciting.
02:53 I learned lots to learn.
02:54 - It's interesting to think about this movie
02:56 and Vikings kind of just as a prototypical vision
02:59 of masculinity and given that the definition of masculinity
03:03 has changed a lot over the course of history
03:06 and especially in what we're living through now,
03:09 was that something that was in the back of your mind
03:10 that was used as a filter
03:12 for how you were telling this story?
03:15 - I think that I always try to present the worldview
03:18 of the culture that I'm telling the story about
03:21 without judgment, you know?
03:23 But it's tricky because like the ending of the film,
03:26 it needs to be a happy ending
03:28 for Alexander Skarsgård's character,
03:30 but like I don't necessarily personally see it that way.
03:34 You know, so it's a tight rope.
03:37 - I cannot escape my fate.
03:41 - This does strike me as a performance
03:44 that really just requires a lot of trust in your director.
03:47 I mean, you are putting just so much out there.
03:49 It's gotta be exhausting just so physically and emotionally.
03:53 What was it about Robert Eggers that earned your trust
03:55 and just let you know that he was going to make the film
03:58 that you wanted to make?
04:00 - Well, at the time he hadn't made "The Lighthouse,"
04:02 he just, the witch was playing in theaters when we met.
04:07 And I was very impressed by the witch and his filmmaking.
04:12 It really felt like I was transported back in time.
04:16 And it was such an immersive experience
04:19 and it felt so authentic
04:21 and rich, the world he was able to create there
04:27 on a very, very limited budget.
04:29 So, and again, those were elements I felt
04:33 were essential to the Viking movie.
04:35 I wanted it to feel authentic
04:38 and not take too many creative freedoms
04:41 but actually stay true to the sagas.
04:45 And again, capture that essence.
04:47 So, and I knew that Rob would take that seriously
04:51 and work really hard with Viking scholars on
04:55 and try to shape that world.
04:56 - And imagine your confidence only grew
04:58 with "The Lighthouse."
04:59 So, yeah, again. - Yeah, 100%.
05:01 - Over the course of development,
05:02 I'm curious just where would you say
05:04 the most evolution happened?
05:05 Would you say it happened through,
05:07 like from the first draft to the shooting script,
05:09 through production or in the editing room?
05:12 - No, it's always in the writing for me.
05:13 Like, and even, you know, this movie was the first movie
05:16 I didn't have final cut on.
05:17 And I would say like, you know,
05:19 maybe this changed more than my other two films did
05:22 in the post-production process.
05:24 But even still, it's not changing that much.
05:26 And I'm shooting single camera.
05:28 So there's, you know, only so much that can be done.
05:32 - And night by night,
05:34 we will carry out my pledge of vengeance.
05:37 - And this is kind of out of left field,
05:38 but I am actually a huge Stephen King fan.
05:41 And I loved your performance as Randall Flagg
05:43 in "The Stand."
05:44 - Oh, thank you.
05:45 - But I do feel compelled to ask,
05:46 have you ever had the debate with your brother Bill
05:49 about Randall Flagg versus Pennywise?
05:52 - We have not, no.
05:54 - Well, I mean, where do you stand?
05:57 - I don't want to sound cocky, but probably Flagg.
06:04 - Yeah.
06:05 - I mean, he's kind of the devil in a way.
06:07 - He has kind of a lot at his disposal.
06:09 - Yeah, he's pretty powerful.
06:12 - Fate has no mercy.
06:16 (crowd cheering)
06:19 (dramatic music)
06:22 (dramatic music)
06:24 [BLANK_AUDIO]
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