With the fantastic first trailer forThe Northmannow online, I recently got to speak to directorRobert Eggers(The WitchandThe Lighthouse), about making his action-filled epic that follows a young Viking prince (Alexander Skarsgård) on his quest to avenge his father’s (Ethan Hawke) murder. During the interview, Eggers talked about how they tried to make the film as accurate as possible, why he had to have people speaking English instead of Old Norse and Old Slavic, whoAnya Taylor-Joyplays in the film, what they cut out in the editing room and why, how he worked with cinematographerJarin Blaschkeon the color scheme and camera placement, how the COVID shutdown actually helped the film by allowing them to finish storyboarding and let the sets feel more lived-in and authentic due to them being exposed to the weather, how it’ll be R-rated, whoBill Skarsgardwould have played, the final run time, and more. In addition, he talked about what he might do next.
If you’re a fan of Robert Eggers, or just curious aboutThe Northman, you’ll enjoy what he had to say. Isuggest watchingThe Northmantrailer before reading this interview. Co-written by the Icelandic poet, novelist, and lyricistSjón, the film also starsNicole Kidman,Claes Bang,Gustav Lindh,Björk, andWillem Dafoe.
COLLIDER: I am very happy to be talking to you. That trailer is awesome.
ROBERT EGGERS: Awesome. I’m glad you feel that way.
This is my kind of movie. I am very excited. So I normally don’t ask this question, but because the film is months away and no one really knows that much about it, what do you want people to know about the movie?
EGGERS: As little as I can get away with. Look, my biggest hope is that people will feel confident and comfortable going to movie theaters in April, because this movie really deserves to seen on the big screen because it quite literally is an epic, and the scale of the landscapes and some of the action sequences, and also just it’s more immersive when you’re there.
You want to be with the characters. You want to be in the Viking longships with the Viking’s rowing. You want to be on the side of a volcano. You want to be in these environments. Also, because it is a classic tale and an adventure story, it’s much more enjoyable to experience that with other people. That’s something that I would like people to take away or to know about the film, months ahead. But I can’t control COVID.
You’re known for being very accurate to the time period that you’re filming. Did you ever debate having the characters speaking in the native language, or was that really just not something that you could consider with the budget you were playing with?
EGGERS: Yeah, it would be my preference for them, for the characters to speak in Old Norse and Old Slavic, and they do in some ritual situations, they do. But I knew that it was a non-starter. Unless I’m Mel Gibson, financing my own movies, that’s not going to happen with a budget like this.
One of the many reasons why I turned to the Icelandic poet and novelist Sjon, was his deep understanding of the Icelandic saga, was to work with him to develop a way of speaking that would be in English, but give the flavor of a very good saga translation. I hope you found it.
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I’ve been wondering this for a long time. What role would Bill Skarsgard have played, had he been in the movie?
EGGERS: The role of Gustav Lindh. Gustav Lindh’s playing Thorir, who is Fjolnir’s son, who would be Alexander Skarsgard’s half brother.
I completely know which character you’re talking about after watching the footage. You’re known for being as accurate as possible and I’m curious how you achieved that in this film, specifically with the action set pieces and anything else you want to talk about.
EGGERS: Well, look. I mean the Viking Age was a thousand years ago. It’s a lot easier to know, quote, how accurate you’re being if you’re doing a 19th century White House movie, because there’s so much photographic evidence, so much written evidence, it’s really easy. But with the Viking Age there’s a lot more interpretation. But, luckily, I was working with the finest Viking historians and archeologists consulting on the film, and many people who are all part of the experimental archeology and living history community.
So there’s a lot of things that were kind of like what most people agree upon. And then at times you’d have to kind of dig deeper and ask certain questions that maybe they’ve never asked themselves, because they didn’t have to realize everything in three dimensions and play out a scene.
But we tried, in all aspects, to consider things. There’s a lot of people who do writing about how they think that Vikings used swords and shields, and why are their shields a certain size when the cross guards on their swords are very small. It must have meant that their fighting style was like X, Y, or Z.
So, I mean, that’s kind of minutia that’s boring. But I think that when you see Berserker warriors kill militia people, and then brute Vikings against villagers, it might be exciting, but something that you’ve kind of seen a version of before. But if you see two elite Vikings fighting each other, it might be something you haven’t quite seen before.
Where are you in the editing process right now?
EGGERS: We’re done. I mean, I’m doing the final mix right now. There’s one VFX shot that’s not finished. We’ve got to do some color correcting, but we’re done.
I love asking this of filmmakers: How long was your first cut and where is the cut now?
EGGERS: The director’s cut was somewhere north of two hours and thirty-three minutes or something like that, and we’re at it’s two hours and eighteen minutes. But with credits, it’s going to be over two hours and 20 minutes.
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With the stuff that you ended up cutting out between your director’s cut and the theatrical release, was it stuff that you were sort of like just taking the fat out of scenes or did you end up removing anything of substance?
EGGERS: We removed a lot of stuff that wasn’t about Alexander Skarsgard. Basically, if it didn’t have to do with Alex, it mostly didn’t get in the movie. But I’m really happy with the cut. And by the way, director’s cut, just to be very clear, is the technical term for the first cut that’s not a piece of crap that you turn into the studio under a certain time period. The director’s cut isn’t, “This is my cut that I approve and prefer.” It’s just like the first cut you do.
Completely.
EGGERS: Yeah.
If I’m not mistaken, you were about a week away from filming when COVID shut everything down. I’ve spoken to a lot of filmmakers, and they talked about how that additional time helped them make a better movie because they just had more time to look at the script, plan shots, and I’m curious if that ended it up being the case with you?
EGGERS: Completely the case. This is a big movie and we would’ve been continuing to storyboard while we were shooting had we gone when we would’ve gone, and it would’ve been rough. We basically had everything, except for one sequence, all good to go by the time we were shooting, which was great.
And also, some of the sets that we built needed to be repaired somewhat, or all of them did, but only one of them in particular was able to gestate and just look so much more lived-in and authentic with that extra time of just having to live in the environment that we built it on, which was great.
There’s a shot in the trailer of Alexander jumping down from this ledge and killing someone, and another where he’s catching a spear and then he throws it back. I’m going to go out a ledge and say the film is rated R.
EGGERS: Yeah. I mean, it hasn’t been rated yet, but it can’t be NC-17, so.
Right. No, but those shots are awesome. I just want to give you compliments on those.
EGGERS: Well, thank you. And that throwing the spear, catching it and throwing it back at the person who threw at you, comes from the sagas.
Yeah. It’s great. How did you get Bjork to appear in her first movie in forever?
EGGERS: I don’t know. Luck. But she’s known Sjon since they were kids and they have a relationship, and I’m sure that helps.
How would you actually describe Olga in the film, the character being played by Anya Taylor-Joy?
EGGERS: She is a Slavic woman who’s been enslaved by Vikings, but she’s what you would call a cunning person or a white witch. So the Vikings didn’t know that they were getting themselves into.
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In the trailer, there is several shots of the volcano, and one specifically where it looks like it’s going to erupt everywhere. Should audiences be worried about this volcano?
EGGERS: It’s a central location in the movie, but we’ll leave it at that.
One other thing, you’ve worked with cinematographer Jarin Blaschke on your films. I’m curious how you both discussed the aesthetic that you were trying to go for with this film, in terms of the use of colors and where the camera would be placed?
EGGERS: Well, the colors are, for the most part, coming from the work that I’m doing with Craig Lathrop, my production designer, and Linda Muir, the costume designer. Of course, it’s the 10th century and so you’re thinking a lot about the environment and nature and how do the different color palettes of the different worlds go into one another.
Vikings were really into color and were very expressive with color, and we needed to do that in a way that was not too saturated and too distracting and had some subtlety, but also was accurate to how we understand Viking culture to be today.
I think the night look that Jarin is very responsible for is something that is fairly unique to this film and is something that I’ve enjoyed honing with him as we’ve been grading the film, but I think the camera placement… But basically, more or less, within what Craig and Linda have established, Jarin and I are trying to have something that looks naturalistic. Our interpretation of the naturalistic moonlight might look strange compared to other movies, but it is something that is attempting to be like how we see nighttime. How successful we are, I don’t know.
But the camera placement in these movies… This is a big movie to have shot single camera. The second unit stuff, we directed remotely and were very particular. And Jarin, more than on my other films, is even more responsible for the cinematic grammar of the film, because my plate was so full that he was taking on a lot of the work and getting into it first.
But basically, we’re just trying to be intense and visceral, while having something that still feels very classical and composed. Let’s hope we pulled it off.
I’m going to bet that you did. I’m a very big fan of your work and I’m curious if in the last few months as you’ve been racing towards the finish line, have you been writing? Have you been thinking about what’s the next thing that you want to do?
EGGERS: Yeah. When I’m in post I’m always trying to find time to write the next thing. I’m going to be super guarded and secretive, but I hope to be going into production with something next year.
Is it something that you have previously talked about or is it something completely new?
EGGERS: It could be the project that you’re ghosting around, or it could be something new. It just kind of depends on actor availability and all kinds of stuff.
I’ve heard that from many director friends. I think the actor availability and scheduling is the thing that nobody outside of Hollywood truly understands.
EGGERS: Exactly.
This is a much bigger film for you in terms of everything that went into it compared to the first two. Is playing in this kind of arena what you’re looking to do in the future, or do you think the next thing could be something smaller?
EGGERS: I think I would prefer to do something smaller next. I would make a movie even bigger than this, as far as the experience of doing it, but I would want to have total control from the beginning. I’m very proud of the film and I’m very proud of my collaboration with the studio and everyone’s mutual support in the end, but it’s a lot harder working that way, I have to say.
Every director I know says the same thing; the more money you play with, the more people you have to answer to.
