account the director Robert Eggers (The Witch, The Lighthouse) that he had never been interested in the Viking world until he set foot Iceland for the first time in 2015. He went there as a tourist and as soon as he arrived and saw the landscapes he decided that one day he would shoot there and began to read everything he could get his hands on about Icelandic sagas, legendary stories and Viking myths and folklore. Thus and because of the Swedish actor's Viking obsession Alexander Skarsgård was born north man (Theatrical release April 22); according to Eggers himself, "The Viking Movie".
With "a documentation close to fanaticism", the help of archaeologists and historians and the collaboration of the famous Icelandic writer Sjón, the director who already stood out for his thoroughness and visual style in his two previous films sought to achieve "The most historically correct and realistic Viking film in all of cinematic history."
The young Amleth.
north man it is realism, it is history, it is legend, fantasy, myth, it is auteur cinema and action and spectacle cinema. It is a very ambitious and demanding film because it does not leave a second of rest. He lives, breathes and suffers the mud, the rain, the cold, the blood. "The Norse creation myth says that the world arose from the body of a giant that was killed," says Eggers. “We were each of those elements: the blood, the bones, the teeth and the brain. By bringing them together, and only then, were we able to create the flawed giant called The Northman."
Inspired in the legend of prince amleth, on which Shakespeare already based his Hamlet, with elements of the icelandic Sagas, the movie is a revenge story located in Nordic lands in the 10th century.
Water, cold… a complicated shoot.
The young monarch participates with his father of him (Ethan Hawke) in a rite to secure his passage to the throne and just after the latter is killed at the hands of his his own brother (Claes Bang). Amleth manages to escape in a small boat, vowing to avenge his father, rescue his mother (Nicole Kidman) and kill his uncle. 20 years later, Amleth is a berserker warrior (Alexander Skarsgard) who travel the rivers of Eastern Europe pillaging villages. When he finds out, thanks to a Slavic seer (Björk), that his uncle has lost the kingdom and has settled in the new and remote territory of Iceland as a farmer, he decides to go there, hidden as a slave and helped by another slave, Olga (Anya Taylor-Joy), to fulfill her plan.
Aurvandil arriving at Hrafsney (Torr Head).
NORTH ATLANTIC
Although Eggers' initial plan was to shoot the majority of the film in Iceland, covid changed his plans and they had to concentrate production in Northern Ireland. Many of the locations you will recognize from other series or movies, such as Game of Thrones. In the fictional prosperous island kingdom of Hrafsney King Aurvandil (Ethan Hawke) rules. He is supposedly located somewhere between Orkney and Shetland. Actually they shot it at Torre Head, on the north-east tip of Ireland, it is the closest point to Scotland, with spectacular views of the Mull of Kintyre.
THE LAND OF RUS
The Eastern Europe through which the adult Amleth travels was also placed in Northern Ireland. They sail by Ban River, the longest in the region, until reaching to Clandeboye, one of the oldest private estates in which they built the Slavic village that they assault with extreme violence. Later, the triumphal dance of the berserkers was shot in Clandeboye Woods. Where they also took the opportunity to build the temple in which Amleth receives the maturity ceremony from him.
Amleth is half bear, half wolf.
And finally, the warrior poses as a slave and sets sail for Iceland From the Maine River at Shane's Castle, 14th century ruins on the shores of Lough Neagh, the largest in all of Great Britain (and which also appeared in Game of Thrones).
ICELAND
Iceland in the year 914 when the action takes place had only been colonized for a few decades. It was an almost experimental territory, without kingdoms, a republic of farmers, where kings expelled from their kingdoms reinvented themselves, as is the case with Fjölnir, Amleth's uncle.
Nicole Kidman, Queen Gudrun.
The only scenes that were shot in Iceland were those of the path of the arrival of the slaves to Fjölnir farm, passing through all the extreme landscapes of the island: volcanoes, glaciers, valleys, mountains…
However, the Fjölnir farm was built in a Bronze Age settlement in Antrim, Ireland, where they found the perfect orography and climate for what they were looking for. In fact, the first confinement came when they had just built traditional houses with grass roofs. Returning to the set, weeks later they found them just the way they wanted them.
Amleth and Olva at Gleniff Horseshoe, Sligo.
THE WARRIOR'S REST
During his time as a slave, Amleth has to participate in a violent Viking game for which they had to be transferred by helicopter to the depths of the Morne Mountains in southern Northern Ireland.
In exchange, the dethroned prince has a moment of relaxation and healing with Olga in a thermal pool they built in Gleniff Horseshoe in Sligo.
And, furthermore, in the film there are scenes of Five Fingers Strand, a beautiful Atlantic beach. And the Bonghill Quarry, also in Antrim, they make it go through the volcano Mount Hekla, in Iceland.
At Five Fingers Strand.