With his second film, THE LIGHTHOUSE, set to reach theatres this weekend, THE WITCH director Robert Eggers is now moving forward with his third film. It's not the NOSFERATU remake he's been developing for a while, but it is a project that will keep him working on period pieces. THE WITCH was set in the 1630s and THE LIGHTHOUSE is set in the 1890s, and Egger's third film THE NORTHMAN will be
a Viking revenge saga set in Iceland at the turn of the 10th century.
The screenplay has been written by Eggers and Icelandic poetic / novelist Sjón.
I'm sure Eggers has been doing thorough research so his 10th century film will be as historically accurate as possible, with the dialogue written just like people were speaking at that time. That's his thing.
Eggers has already assembled one hell of a cast for THE NORTHMAN. The film is set to star Alexander Skarsgård and Nicole Kidman, and in talks to join them are THE WITCH's Anya Taylor-Joy, THE LIGHTHOUSE's Willem Dafoe, and Alexander's brother Bill Skarsgård – who is known to horror fans for playing Pennywise the Dancing Clown.
THE LIGHTHOUSE star Robert Pattinson has said he has talked to Eggers about working together on a medieval project, and THE NORTHMAN fits that description, so I was somewhat surprised to see that he's not on the cast list… Then I remembered that playing THE BATMAN is going to keep him busy for a while.
THE NORTHMAN is being produced by Lars Knudsen, with New Regency providing the financing.
We'll be keeping an eye on this one, but in the meantime THE LIGHTHOUSE will be in theatres as of tomorrow, October 18th.