After defining the recent trend of so-called “elevated horror” with his arthouse chiller The Witch, Robert Eggers proved he wasn’t a one-trick pony with his surreal black-and-white psychological thriller The Lighthouse late last year, curiously combining Ingmar Bergman references and toilet humor. The director is now hard at work on his third directorial effort, The Northman, continuing a career of delightfully simplistic “The...” titles.
Shooting is currently underway for The Northman, despite the ongoing global pandemic, so unlike a lot of current movie productions, it could be releasing sooner rather than later. Here’s what we know about the project so far.
10 It’s A Viking Revenge Story
After the critical success of The Lighthouse, Robert Eggers was quick to note that his next movie will be an epic Viking revenge saga set in Iceland at the turn of the 10th century.
The hero of the story will be Amleth, who was the direct predecessor to Prince Hamlet, made famous by the eponymous Shakespeare play.
9 A Nordic Prince Wants To Avenge His Father’s Death
The Northman will tell the story of the Nordic prince Amleth’s quest to avenge his father’s death after he’s murdered, tracking down the killer at any cost. Amleth will be played by Alexander Skarsgård from True Blood, Big Little Lies, and, unfortunately for his career, Battleship.
There are a few different versions of this story in Scandinavian legend, so it’s unclear if Robert Eggers will be drawing from one of them or coming up with his own version of the tale.
8 Actors From Eggers’ Previous Movies Are In The Cast
Willem Dafoe, who delivered some breathtaking monologues as Thomas Wake in Eggers’ previous movie The Lighthouse, has been cast to play Heimir the Fool in The Northman.
Anya Taylor-Joy and Ralph Ineson, who both appeared in Eggers’ debut feature The Witch, have also been cast in The Northman in unspecified roles.
7 The Cast Also Features Newcomers To Eggers’ Company Of Actors
While Eggers is reteaming with Dafoe, Taylor-Joy, and Ineson from previous collaborations, drawing on pre-existing working relationships, he’s also forging new working relationships with a handful of actors he’s never worked with before.
Alexander Skarsgård is leading a cast that includes Nicole Kidman, Ethan Hawke, and Björk (of all people). Bill Skarsgård (brother of Alexander Skarsgård) was also set to appear in the movie but had to pull out due to scheduling conflicts.
6 Filming Was Delayed By COVID-19, But It’s Back On
Filming for The Northman was supposed to begin in March 2020, right around the time that the COVID-19 pandemic went global, so production had to be postponed.
The production finally began in August in Torr Head, County Antrim, and Ballygally near Larne in Northern Ireland. Then, in September, the cast and crew moved over to Malin on County Donegal’s Inishowen Penninsula.
5 Eggers Co-Wrote The Script With Sjón
Robert Eggers wrote the screenplay for The Witch on his own and co-wrote The Lighthouse with his brother, Max Eggers. He’s working with a new co-writer, Sjón, for The Northman. Sjón is Icelandic, so his knowledge of his home country will undoubtedly help Eggers’ portrayal of it in the movie to feel more authentic.
Having worked as a poet, novelist, and lyricist, Sjón has more than proven himself as a gifted writer, but his only previous screenwriting credit is the Icelandic horror film Reykjavik Whale Watching Massacre.
4 Jarin Blaschke Is Doing The Cinematography
Jarin Blaschke has been hired as the cinematographer for The Northman, having shot both of Robert Eggers’ previous movies. He even scored a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Cinematography for his work on The Lighthouse, although he lost to Roger Deakins for his seamless long takes in 1917.
Outside of his work with Eggers, Blaschke has also lensed such movies as Oren Uziel’s Shimmer Lake and Rodrigo Cortés’ Down a Dark Hall, but his big break was definitely The Witch.
3 Eggers’ Go-To Editor Is Back In The Cutting Room
A lot of the creepiness in The Witch and The Lighthouse can be attributed to creative editing, from the shot-reverse-shot in the fateful game of peekaboo in The Witch to the disturbing imagery spliced throughout The Lighthouse.
Both movies were edited by Louise Ford, and Robert Eggers has tapped her to return to the cutting room to piece together The Northman.
2 It Has A Bigger Scale Than Eggers’ Previous Movies
While The Witch and The Lighthouse were both confined mostly to a single location with just a handful of actors, Robert Eggers has said that the scale of his new movie is enormous.
It’s so big that he’s had to change his pre-production process: “The scale is so huge and there are so many more locations and things that I couldn’t do everything or know every prop myself. That’s been a challenge with the new movie.”
1 There’s No Official Release Date Yet
No release date has been confirmed for The Northman, but with shooting underway, a 2021 release could be on the cards. Many movies have been removed from the release schedule during the COVID-19 pandemic, with studios waiting to see how the virus situation pans out before committing their movies to specific dates.
But there’s a big difference between low-budget semi-arthouse movies like The Northman and big-budget tentpoles like Wonder Woman 1984 and No Time to Die.
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