Robert Eggers has quickly established himself as one of the industry's foremost must-see directors. Indeed, with only two films under his belt, his work is already recognizable. His directorial debut film The Witch earned high praise from critics and a 90% rating on Rotten Tomatoes for its unique style, story, and aesthetic. His 2019 follow-up The Lighthouse earned the same rating. Both films were made under the A24 umbrella, an independent production company that earned a reputation in the 2010s for its marketing expertise and support of filmmakers' creative expressions.
In 2022, he will release his third and biggest project to date: the sure-to-be epic The Northman. Eggers has been working on it since 2019, though without A24 this time around. The film was temporarily put on hold due to the COVID-19 pandemic but has since gotten back on track and is ready for release in April 2022. The picture sees his aesthetic this time in the form of an action thriller instead of horror. With big names attached and an estimated budget of $60 million, the young director has a lot riding on this film. With that, here is what we know of the cast, the plot, and everything else in The Northman.
The Plot: What The Northman Is About
Eggers is once again turning to real legends for cinematic inspiration. Based on "The History of the Danes," found in Books 3 and 4 of Saxo Grammaticus' Gesta Danorum, The Northman follows Viking prince Amleth (Alexander Skarsgård), who is ready to fulfill this life-long goal of avenging his kingly father, after witnessing his murder by his uncle, and reclaiming his birthright: a seat on the throne. (This story, in fact, is said to have inspired William Shakespeare's Hamlet.) Of course, Eggers' film won't be an exact retelling of Amleth's tale. Instead, he'll be taking some of the darker elements from the source material and forging a new kind of story.
The Northman will follow one theme: bloody, brutal vengeance against those who have wronged Amleth. His journey will not be cut and dry, however. There is expected to be an internal struggle as he is presented with two paths he can choose from: love for his family, or hatred towards his enemies.
The Confirmed Cast of The Northman
Alexander Skarsgard leads this Viking bloodbath as Amleth, the uncrowned king. Anya Taylor-Joy plays Olga, a woman who helps Amleth on his path to revenge. Incidentally, The Northman will mark Taylor-Joy's second role in an Eggers film and in a Viking-related part (the first being Viking Quest). Academy Award winner Nicole Kidman will reunite her with Skarsgård, her Big Little Lies costar; she will play Amleth's mother, Queen Gudrun, who may be in for a harrowing ride after being forced to marry the man who killed her husband.
Other big names involved in the film are Ethan Hawke as King Horwendil and The Lighthouse's Willem Dafoe as Heimir the Fool. Claes Bang (BBC's Dracula) will play the film's primary antagonist Fjolnir. Other names in the film include Ralph Ineson and Kate Dickie, both of whom starred in The Witch, and Hafþór Júlíus Björnsson, whose most notable role was as The Mountain in Game of Thrones. Finally, musician and actor Björk will also have a role as the Slav Queen. Whether her part will be big, small, or significant is unknown.
Here's What Else To Expect
Eggers co-wrote The Northman with Sjón, an Icelandic writer, to help the script feel authentic to its original environment. Sjón has worked as a poet, novelist, and lyricist and has proven to be a great writer. His only previous experience with screenwriting came from his work on the Icelandic horror film Reykjavik Whale Watching Massacre. Eggers' cinematographer Jarin Blaschke also returned for this film. His work has previously earned him an Academy Award nomination. If it isn't apparent from the trailer and the pictures, he is excellent at his job and knows how to make a scene. He is the man behind some of the best shots in Eggers films, from the grim peekaboo game in The Witch to the disturbingly spliced imagery seen in The Lighthouse. These films were edited by the same editor that will cut this new film, Louise Ford.
Having built his reputation on historical and cultural accuracy, moviegoers can expect the same thing with this Viking epic. There are glimpses of similar emphasis on verisimilitude throughout the trailer. It can be seen in the way the warriors wear their outfits and the decomposed severed heads a particular leader has as a prize. In addition, Eggers tries to emulate Norse cycles and myths that much of Northern European mythology is based on. All of this could indicate more fantastical elements in the film. Taylor-Joy's character, in particular, seems to hear ethereal voices in her head, and Kidman's character seems almost mythical from what is seen.
Eggers has a penchant for sowing doubt into his films as if we are watching them inside the character's heads as they start to lose their grip on reality. For sure, The Northman can be expected to have the same mind-boggling aspects everyone has come to know from Eggers' films.