Hey, did you know that Shakespeare's "Hamlet" is based on an older Viking story about a guy named Amleth? If you did, great! If not, maybe don't think about it as Alexander Skarsgård cuts his way through swaths of other guys as Amleth in THE NORTHMAN. This new movie from the director of THE WITCH and THE LIGHTHOUSE is a Viking movie unlike any we've ever seen — dirty and bloody but also so wonderfully made that there's a real beauty in it.
We talked to Skarsgård and Eggers to get their take on Viking revenge, very old tales, and making an unusual movie. The star tells us that Amleth has very simple motivations after the murder of his father by his uncle: "His dream is to be reunited with his mother. He's been alone for 20 years; he's now a Viking berserker in Eastern Europe, very emotionally closed off and incredibly alone."
"It was shocking for me to know that Shakespeare's 'Hamlet' is based on an old Norse tale called 'Amleth,'" said Eggers. "I was really excited when I found this because I realized, wow, I can make a [Viking] movie for a broad audience because everyone knows the story of 'Hamlet,' everybody knows THE LION KING." (That's because the Disney movie itself is a reworked version of "Hamlet.")
So that became a way for the filmmaker to "share a whole new world they've never seen before without getting lost because this is a plot that everyone knows."
Watch our full video interview with Alexander Skarsgård and Robert Eggers:
THE NORTHMAN opens on April 22.
All images courtesy of Focus Features.