'The Northman' Interviews With Alexander Skarsgård & Robert Eggers
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
00:00 I do feel compelled to ask, have you ever had the debate with your brother Bill about Randall Flagg versus Pennywise?
00:06 We have not. No.
00:08 Well, I mean, where do you stand?
00:12 You must choose between kindness for your kin or hate for your enemies.
00:18 When it came to the North, then did you go out to make a Viking movie and then the Legend of Amleth came to you?
00:28 Or was it a matter of you knowing that you wanted to tell this legend in this backdrop?
00:32 No, no. I had a lunch with Alexander Skarsgård and we shook hands saying that we would make a Viking movie together.
00:39 And then and then I came across Amleth, which inspired Shakespeare's Hamlet and realized this is this is perfect because I have a story that everybody knows.
00:48 So I can make like a movie for a big audience and not lose them while still like sharing with an audience what I love about Viking mythology and culture in a way that you can't usually go.
00:58 So deep and detailed 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 to that fated lunch that we had, Rob and I.
01:12 I teamed up with Lars Knudsen, the producer who ultimately produced the movie with us and with the intention of making a big, epic Viking movie based on the Icelandic saga.
01:25 Something that was historically accurate with a goal of trying to kind of capture the essence of the Vikings.
01:31 And when Rob and I met, it turned out that he had just returned from Iceland and was fired up and excited about Icelandic culture and Norse mythology.
01:43 And we started talking and then I mentioned that I was actually trying to develop a Viking project, but hadn't quite nailed down which saga to base it on.
01:54 But we started kind of just like bouncing around ideas and that became the genesis 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 did you have coming in and how much did you learn through the process of making the film?
02:13 I mean, I didn't have a ton of knowledge because originally I wasn't interested in Vikings.
02:18 I didn't like the macho stuff and the right-wing misappropriation of Viking culture put me off even more.
02:25 But when I took a trip to Iceland, the landscapes were so brutal and inspiring and epic that it made me pick up some Viking sagas and learn about them.
02:35 But I had a lot of learning to do.
02:36 And I enlisted Icelandic poet and novelist, Shon, to help me write this thing.
02:43 And then, you know, once the movie became real, we had the finest historians and archaeologists in the field of Viking studies working with us.
02:51 So that was really exciting and a lot to learn.
02:54 It's interesting to think about this movie and Vikings kind of just as a prototypical vision of masculinity.
03:01 And given that the definition of masculinity has changed a lot over the course of history and especially in what we're living through now,
03:09 was that something that was in the back of your mind that was used as a filter for how you were telling this story?
03:15 I think that I always try to present the worldview of the culture that I'm telling the story about without judgment, you know?
03:23 But it's tricky because like the ending of the film, it needs to be a happy ending for Alexander Skarsgård's character.
03:30 But like I don't necessarily personally see it that way, you know?
03:34 So it's a tightrope.
03:38 I cannot escape my fate.
03:41 This does strike me as a performance that really just requires a lot of trust in your director.
03:47 I mean, you are putting just so much out there. It's got to be exhausting just so physically and emotionally.
03:53 What was it about Robert Eggers that earned your trust and just let you know that he was going to make the film that you wanted to make?
04:00 Well, at the time he hadn't made The Lighthouse, he just...
04:04 The Witch was playing in theaters when we met and I was very impressed by The Witch and his filmmaking.
04:13 It really felt like I was transported back in time and it was such an immersive experience and it felt so authentic and rich.
04:25 The world he was able to create there on a very, very limited budget.
04:29 So, and again, those were elements I felt were essential to the Viking movie.
04:36 I wanted it to feel authentic and not take too many creative freedoms, but actually stay true to the sagas and again, capture that essence.
04:48 And I knew that Rob would take that seriously and work really hard with Viking scholars on and try to shape that world.
04:57 And imagine your confidence only grew with The Lighthouse.
04:59 So yeah, 100%.
05:01 Over the course of development, I'm curious just where would you say the most evolution happened?
05:06 Would you say it happened through, like from the first draft to the shooting script, through production or in the editing room?
05:12 No, it's always in the writing for me.
05:14 Like, and even, you know, this movie was the first movie I didn't have final cut on.
05:18 And I would say like, you know, maybe this changed more than my other two films did in the post-production process.
05:24 But even still, it's not changing that much 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, we will carry out my pledge of vengeance.
05:37 And this is kind of out of left field, but I am actually a huge Stephen King fan and I loved your performance as Randall Flagg in The Stand.
05:44 Oh, thank you.
05:45 But I do feel compelled to ask, have you ever had the debate with your brother Bill about Randall Flagg versus Pennywise?
05:52 We have not. No.
05:55 Well, I mean, where do you stand?
05:59 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.
06:08 He has kind of a lot at his disposal.
06:10 Yeah, he's pretty powerful.
06:11 Fate has no mercy.
06:17 [Screaming]
06:19 [Explosion]
06:24 you