“The Northman” stars Alexander Skarsgard, Anya Taylor-Joy, Nicole Kidman, Ethan Hawke, Willem Dafoe, and Björk. It’s an epic revenge thriller that explores how far a Viking prince will go to seek justice for his murdered father. The film is directed by Eggers, who also co-wrote the screenplay with Icelandic poet and novelist Sjón. Producers are Lars Knudsen, Mark Huffam, and New Regency. The Northman is a co-production of Focus Features and New Regency. Production wrapped on the film in December 2020, as IndieWire reported exclusively. Filming actually began on “The Northman” in late summer in Ireland. The Belfast Telegraph reported in August that film crews were spotted at the Antrim Hills near the seaport and market town of Larne (check out some of the film’s constructed sets here). The coronavirus pandemic delayed the crew from their original start date in March. Eggers was just days away from the start of filming when he was forced to quarantine in Belfast, Ireland following the production shutdown.
During an interview with Film Independent in April of 2020, Eggers touted “The Northman” as his most ambitious production to date. “There’s a very small crew that is continuing to work on things,” Eggers said at the time. “Armor makers are working on armor for the characters. Prosthetics are being made. I’m doing my work with the DP [Jarin Blaschke] and the storyboard artist. There are things that need to be happening. Our location manager is constantly checking in on the locations, some of which are just now semi-built sets.” Eggers added, “There’s many locations in the film, so we were constantly going on scouts to find places or reassess places that we have found and we’re building sets there. We’re designing all these worlds, building these villages, we’re making thousands of costumes and props, training the horses the things they’ll need to do, designing the shots of the films.” Co-star Ralph Ineson, who also starred in “The Witch,” also teased the movie earlier this year. “It’s an enormous movie,” Ineson told NME. “I saw a four-minute montage of some of the stuff they’d already shot and I was really blown away. The marriage of Rob Eggers’ imagination and Viking folklore…Jesus, man.” Sign Up: Stay on top of the latest breaking film and TV news! Sign up for our Email Newsletters here.
