'The Northman' Interviews With Alexander Skarsgård & Robert Eggers

Cinema Blend

From Robert Eggers and Alexander Skarsgård comes the brutal Viking epic, “The Northman,” and CinemaBlend’s own Eric Eisenberg got the chance to dive into the nitty-gritty of the project with its creators and star.

Transcript

00:00I do feel compelled to ask, have you ever had the debate with your brother Bill about

00:05Randall Flagg versus Pennywise?

00:07We have not, no.

00:09Well, I mean, where do you stand?

00:12You must choose between kindness for your kin or hate for your enemies.

00:21When it came to the Northmen, did you go out to make a Viking movie and then the

00:26legend of Amleth came to you?

00:28Or was it a matter of you knowing that you wanted to tell this legend in this backdrop?

00:33No, no.

00:33I had a lunch with Alexander Skarsgård and we shook hands saying that we would make a

00:37Viking movie together.

00:39And then I came across Amleth, which inspired Shakespeare's Hamlet and realized this is

00:45perfect because I have a story that everybody knows so I can make like a movie for a big

00:50audience and not lose them while still like sharing with an audience what I love about

00:55Viking mythology and culture in a way that you can't usually go so deep and detailed

00:59in that stuff in a movie this size.

01:01I brought it to the conversation, but not intentionally.

01:04As I had about four or five years prior to that fated lunch that we had, Rob and I, I

01:13teamed up with Lars Knudsen, the producer who ultimately produced the movie with us

01:20and with the intention of making a big epic Viking movie based on the Icelandic saga,

01:25something that was historically accurate with a goal of trying to kind of capture the essence

01:30of the Vikings.

01:31And when Rob and I met, it turned out that he had just returned from Iceland and was

01:38fired up and excited about Icelandic culture and Norse mythology.

01:42And we started talking and then I mentioned that I was actually trying to develop a Viking

01:49project, but hadn't quite nailed down which saga to base it on.

01:54But we started kind of just like bouncing around ideas and that became the genesis of

02:00the Northmen.

02:01I will avenge you, father.

02:03I will save you, mother.

02:05I will kill you, Fjallraven.

02:07Well, I mean, how much knowledge about that era did you have coming in and how much did

02:12you learn through the process of making the film?

02:13I mean, I didn't have a ton of knowledge because originally I wasn't interested in

02:17Vikings.

02:18I didn't like the macho stuff and the right wing misappropriation of Viking culture put

02:23me off even more.

02:25But when I took a trip to Iceland, the landscapes were so brutal and inspiring and epic that

02:31it made me pick up some Viking sagas and learn about them.

02:34But I had a lot of learning to do.

02:37And I enlisted Icelandic poet and novelist Shon to help me write this thing.

02:43And and then once the movie became real, we had the finest historians and archaeologists

02:49in the field of Viking studies working with us.

02:51So that was really exciting and a lot to learn.

02:54It's interesting to think about this movie and Vikings kind of just as a prototypical

02:59vision of masculinity.

03:01And given that the definition of masculinity has changed a lot over the course of history

03:06and especially in what we're living through now, was that something that was in the back

03:10of your mind that was used as a filter for how you were telling this story?

03:15I think that I always try to present the worldview of the culture that I'm telling the story

03:21about without judgment, you know, but it's it's tricky because like the ending of the

03:26film, it needs to be a happy ending for Alexander Skarsgård's character.

03:30But like, I don't necessarily personally see it that way, you know, so it's a it's a tight

03:37rope.

03:37I cannot escape my fate.

03:41This does strike me as a performance that really just requires a lot of trust in your

03:47director.

03:47I mean, you are putting just so much out there.

03:49It's got to be exhausting just so physically and emotionally.

03:53What was it about Robert Eggers that earned your trust and just let you know that he was

03:58going to make the film that you wanted to make?

04:00Well, at the time he hadn't made The Lighthouse, he just the witch was playing in theaters

04:07when we met and I was very impressed by the witch and his filmmaking.

04:14It really felt like I was transported back in time and it was so such an immersive experience

04:19and it felt so authentic and rich the world he was able to create there on a very, very

04:28limited budget.

04:29So and again, those were elements I felt were essential to the Viking movie.

04:36I wanted it to feel authentic and not take too many creative freedoms and but actually

04:43stay true to the sagas and again, capture that essence.

04:47So and I knew that Rob would take that seriously and work really hard with Viking scholars

04:54on and try to shape that world.

04:57And imagine your confidence only grew with The Lighthouse.

04:59So yeah, 100% again.

05:01Over the course of development, I'm curious just where would you say the most evolution

05:05happened?

05:05Would you say it happened through like from the first draft to the shooting script, through

05:09production or in the editing room?

05:12No, it's always in the writing for me.

05:14Like and even, you know, this movie was the first movie I didn't have final cut on and

05:18I would say like, you know, maybe this changed more than my other two films did in the post

05:23production process.

05:24But even still, it's not changing that much and I'm shooting single camera.

05:28So there's, you know, only so much that can be done.

05:32And night by night, we will carry out my pledge of vengeance.

05:37And this is kind of out of left field, but I am actually a huge Stephen King fan and

05:41I loved your performance as Randall Flagg in The Stand.

05:44Oh, thank you.

05:45But I do feel compelled to ask, have you ever had the debate with your brother Bill about

05:50Randall Flagg versus Pennywise?

05:52We have not.

05:53No.

05:55Well, I mean, where do you stand?

05:58Uh, I don't want to sound cocky, but probably Flagg.

06:04Yeah.

06:04I mean, he's kind of the devil in a way.

06:08He has kind of a lot at his disposal.

06:10Yeah, he's pretty powerful.

06:12Fate has no mercy.

Category

Transcript

Recommended