Alexander Skarsgård: "It was horses and things that flew"

For Alexander Skarsgård, the project began ten years ago, when he had a dream of making a Viking film based on the Icelandic fairy tales.

Together with a Danish producer, he contacted director Robert Eggers, known from cult films such as The Witch and The Lighthouse.

When Eggers said yes, production started.   

- Not only did we get to do it, it is with one of the best directors in the world.

I was so full of joy and gratitude that it became almost surreal. 

Based on the legend of Amleth

Alexander Skarsgård plays the main role, a dark and violent portrait of Prince Amleth, who after a tragedy is driven by a desire for revenge.

The script is written by director Robert Eggers together with the Icelandic author and poet Sjón and is based on the Icelandic legend of Amleth, which inspired William Shakespeare to write the play Hamlet.  

The film is told with long camera runs without clips, which meant that many scenes had to be re-recorded up to thirty times.  

- In the big scenes, there can be forty actors, forty stuntmen, horses, things that will fly and burn, so there is a lot that can go wrong.

It will be a challenge as an actor to keep the energy up in the shots again and again, says Alexander Skarsgård and continues: 

- But once you put it, it was like winning World Cup gold, it was tears!  

The Northman has its Swedish cinema premiere on 13 April.