Interview: The Northman director Robert Eggers on his Viking epic

This morning, Focus Features dropped the trailer for Robert Eggers’ Viking epic The Northman. Based on the Norse legend that inspired Hamlet, the film is a major departure for The Witch and The Lighthouse director Eggers in that it’s an epic done on a grand scale. I was over the moon for the footage I saw at CinemaCon in August, so I was happy to talk to Eggers recently about his plans for the film.

I saw the trailer for this, well, not the trailer, but I saw some footage for this at CinemaCon back in August. Seeing that on the big screen was incredible and it was really fun to watch the trailer just now. But I want to ask you about how this is a pretty big stylistic departure for you, particularly in the terms of the aspect ratio. Cause you’ve always used this really kind of narrow aspect ratio.

Well, you know the film is literally an epic. And the scope is of this, of the storytelling, is much larger where we’re using a larger canvas… We’re dealing with these immersive epic landscapes. And so we felt that we needed to go wider in order to do that. And also for staging some of the battle sequences, you know, shooting in 2:1 felt right. Yeah. Uh, but it was definitely an adjustment I’m most comfortable, like in 1:33:1…I think for the story we were telling we needed to go wider. 

Well, can you tell me a little bit about the story? So it’s based on the Norse legend, I think that inspired Hamlet, right? 

That’s right. Simply put it is Viking Hamlet, although The Viking Amleth came before Hamlet. So it’s a classic, simple story told in what we endeavor to be a unique and original way, but it is a story of Viking who’s avenging his father’s murder. And, that’s the core of it. These Archetypal mythic family dramas are kind of the most potent material I find. So it was exciting to interpret that in a in a new way.

Well, I mean, there haven’t been many great Viking movies. I mean, there was the show Vikings, but then, I mean, in terms of movies though the only one I can think of off of the top of my head is The Vikings starring Kirk Douglas and Tony Curtis, but I’m not sure if it holds up sixty years later.

It’s a fun movie and actually for the period it’s a pretty accurate depiction of the understanding of the Viking age in 1950s minus the fact that Kirk Douglas doesn’t have a beard, he would have been highly ridiculed as a Viking without a beard. But no I mean, honestly there hasn’t been a lot of great Viking movies. I hope this is one.

And it looks like you’ve got the only actor that could ever really star in it. I don’t know if you could really choose anybody but Alexander Skarsgård for a Viking epic. Who else has got the look and the presence, you know?

Yeah, he’s a big Swedish guy (laughs). I mean, Alex is really incredible in the film and truly transforms cause you know if you’ve seen him on talk shows and stuff his persona is kind of a big sweet goofball. But he becomes like a machine in this movie. He completely becomes Hamlet. This impassioned, serious Viking with incredible fire. I mean, I think that there’s some scenes of rage in this movie that are among the most rageful things I’ve seen in movies. It was crazy. It was crazy because yeah, I guess like Alex is six, four, and so is Claes Bang who plays the murderous uncle. And you know, Alex needs to at times be losing or be in peril. So I’m constantly trying to find people who are like 6’6, 6’8, 7 ft, 7’1.

The Witch put Anya Taylor-Joy on the map in a big way. And now, with The Queen’s Gambit and Furiosa she’s in a lot of stuff. And I was just wondering if you could talk about what it was like working with her again a couple of years later.

I mean it was so great because we’ve both grown a lot since we worked together on The Witch. I love repeat collaborations. She’s not the only repeat collaborator on the film, but you know, Anya and I are also friends and we know each other real well.  I mean, look, she’s an incredible actress. She’s also so professional and, you know, she was a real cheerleader for the film and, and we were shooting in cold inhospitable conditions and her extremely supportive attitude was helpful for the entire cast and crew. But also as far as her work in the film when you’re working with someone who you already trust, like we can push each other further and get to better results quicker. And also we can take things further. So it was, it was really great. 

I also wanted to talk to you about, you know, some of the more atypical casting in a movie. Beause when I think of a Viking movie, I don’t necessarily think of Ethan Hawke and Nicole Kidman, but then watching them in the trailer, it looks like they’re both amazing.

I mean, Nicole really is one of the best actresses around and also, you know, she’s like a tall, strong, red headed woman, and I knew she could look like a Viking, but also Gudrun is, you know, based on all these really strong Viking characters. The easiest cultural reference would be like a Lady Macbeth.

And I think, you know, anyone can easily imagine Nicole playing a really fascinating Lady Macbeth. And so here we have like, you know, a Lady Macbeth on steroids more or less. But I also knew that Nicole wouldn’t play it like a scenery-chewing Shakespeare actor, she would do it with great subtlety and intensity and in a quiet way. And I think it’s much more powerful. 

And then Ethan, I’ve seen Ethan do Shakespeare. And so, I remember when we talked about the role, I said this: “You, and I both know that this is in your wheelhouse, but nobody else does”. And obviously when you see him in the trailer, I mean, he looks like he looks exactly like a Viking should look and was great working with him. 

Can you tell me a bit about the soundtrack? Your soundtracks are always pretty interesting. And I was looking at who you have signed up for this, and it looks like a pretty interesting collaboration.

Well Robin Carolan and I have been friends for quite a while now. And, you know, we spent a lot of time looking into modern interpretations of what Viking music might have been in an academic sense, but there’s also all these Neo Folk Viking inspired bands out there. I feel like they found their own take on it and it’s super intense and aggressive, but also at times, very beautiful. And they’re able to give it a huge cinematic presence with some symphonic underscoring under the Viking instruments that kind of carry the story.

The Northman hits theatres April 22nd, 2022.