Alexander Skarsgård explains how they shot the big climactic sword fight in ‘The Northman.’
This mail bear spoilers forThe Northman .
The Northmanis an exceedingly wild movie . Heads are liberate from their consistence ; guts pour out of stomachs ; dead bodies are mutilated into the shape of a horse . But principal and producer Alexander Skarsgård figure there was a taboo that could be more problematic for the production than all the bloodshed : Nudity .
In the terminal sequence of the movie , Skarsgård ’s Amleth fights his uncle Fjölnir ( Claes Bang ) to death on an active vent . Their genitals are shrouded , but they appear to be wholly nude . " We were play around because showing nudity is more stigmatized than vehemence in our finish , " the player tells Thrillist over Zoom . " They ’re often more interested about a target cheek than about cut someone ’s head off . So we knew that we ca n’t have a five - moment fight scene where we were just entirely au naturel . "
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Skarsgård would n’t explain exactlyhowhe and Bang are covered—“That ’s the illusion of filmmaking , " he says — but their bare physiques are important to the impact of the finis of Robert Eggers ' Viking heroic . Eggers was a little more forthcoming in aninterview withThe Hollywood Reporter : The histrion wore flip-flop and then some flopping was impart via CG . irrespective of how they are hold in , Skarsgård and Bang ’s flesh sears with the fires of the mass as they hack into one another . " Viking would occasionally do that , strip off their clothes and fight naked , " Skarsgård says . " In a agency , to show that they ’re hardy . In a manner , to restrain the opponent . "
Skarsgård explains that at one point they view leaving his and Bang ’s drawers on for the sequence , but " it just was n’t as visually interesting and historically accurate . It felt like we would do that through our 2022 oculus with our puritanical way of dealing with nudity , " he says . " That was just not the moving picture we wanted to make . We just had to be creative when it came to the choreography of that sequence and with some assistance of sens machines . "
Choreography was of the essence to snoop the sequence , which took months of rehearsal in coordination with stunt coordinator Jón Viðar Arnþórsson , cinematographer Jarin Blaschke , and Eggers . As Skarsgård observe , most film director will utilise multiple photographic camera for insurance coverage and then chop up the footage in editing . Not eggar , who opt long takes with minimal cuts . Before film , they represent out the sequence on a soundstage alongside the camera operator to check that their movements matched where the camera would be .
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" It almost had to be 2nd nature for us and the camera operator , how we would move together , " Skarsgård say . " It was so crucial to get that human relationship right because if we stopped for half a second , then the tv camera would move and then it would be a foolish stop . "
For filming , Skarsgård and Bang were not on an participating volcano , combust with lava , but instead in a freezing prey in Northern Ireland . It was snowing and visibility was down thanks to the heater automobile used to model the volcanic conditions . Skarsgård power through a workweek of farseeing night by retort to a piece of concept art Eggers and Blaschke had made demonstrate their last vision for the showdown . " These two Vikings were fight back on top of a burning volcano and the lava was flowing down between their legs , " he says . " And it was just the most awesome Renaissance painting . And that was kind of what motivated me , knowing what we were aiming for . "
Egger ’s films , The Northmanincluded , function from outside twenty-first hundred linguistic context . The filmmakers have the welfare of foresight , but the characters do not . The Florida key to Amleth for Skarsgård was understand Viking mythology and their unfailing adhesion to the construct of fate . " There was no such matter as an atheist Viking or an agnostical Viking , " he says . " It was n’t a choice . From when you ’re a toddler , you ’re severalize these stories about the innate world . In the born existence , there are also feel and there are spirits inside you , there are gods and there are Valkyries , and this happens when you die . "
By the time Amleth goes to face his enemy , naked , quick to die , both Skarsgård and Eggers have the interview believing in the logic of this act . Amleth has been pursuing Fjölnir for the totality of the movie . Fjölnir is go out with nothing , with Amleth having defeat his uncle ’s sons and his married woman , Amleth ’s female parent , Gudrún ( Nicole Kidman ) , whose allegiances were shockingly fickle . Though Amleth is about to fly to safety machine with his lover Olga ( Anya Taylor - Joy ) , now fraught with his twins , fortune outcry to him and he rather meets Fjölnir to battle to the death . It ’s not that two human , strip down on a vent seems normal , but it seems like the only choice , an epic display of strength that can only stop in mutual defeat .
