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.
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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.