With The Northman opening in theaters this weekend, I recently spoke to director Robert Eggers about making his action-filled epic. During the interview, Eggers talked about how he filmed the invasion of a village as a oner, and how it was like choreographing a musical but with a “lot more blood,” what were the toughest aspects of making the story as authentic as possible, the challenges he ran into in the editing room, how the release is his director’s cut and why you won’t see a longer cut on the Blu-ray, writing the screenplay with Sjón, and why he thanked Ari Aster, Chris Columbus, and Alfonso Cuarón in the credits. In addition, he talked about his desire to do a third New England folk horror film at some point and why he loved the immersive quality and audio separation of the Dolby Atmos mix.
The Northman follows a young Viking prince (Alexander Skarsgård) on his quest to avenge his father’s (Ethan Hawke) murder. The fantastic film also stars Nicole Kidman, Claes Bang, Anya Taylor-Joy, Björk, and Willem Dafoe.
Check out what he had to say in the player above, or you can read our conversation below. Finally, I strongly recommend seeing The Northman in a movie theater. Eggers has crafted an epic that deserves to be seen on the biggest and loudest screen in your area.
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