The Hardest Day on Set: The Northman
New York magazine|April 25-May 8, 2022
Dozens of extras, nonstop rain, and a village full of animals— what could go wrong?
Nate Jones
The Hardest Day on Set: The Northman

WHEN THE DIRECTOR Robert Eggers announced that his next film, The Northman, would be a loose adaptation of the medieval Icelandic saga that inspired Hamlet, fans knew they were in for an exhaustively researched Viking epic: nasty, brutish, and long. Eggers’s first two films were chamber-piece time capsules. The Witch (2016) takes place in Puritan Massachusetts, while 2019’s The Lighthouse is a psychodrama about turn-of-the-last-century lighthouse keepers. But shooting The Northman across Ireland and in Iceland meant working at a scale he never had before. As Eggers puts it, “We did not have the experience to be making this film.” Besides the painstaking period detail and battle sequences that demanded everything from Alexander Skarsgård, who plays the lead, Eggers’s aesthetic added to the complexity. He and his cinematographer, Jarin Blaschke, prefer long takes, dense with action, to make the audience “feel like the world exists well beyond the limits of the frame,” Blaschke says. If something went wrong, they just had to start again from the beginning. Another hurdle? It was one of the first movies to start production under covid protocols. And they did it all while navigating one more treacherous obstacle: Irish weather.

The Day We Raced Against the Tide

Eggers did not grow up a Viking fanboy. Warriors were a little too macho for a kid who loved history and the theater. As he got older, he says, the “right-wing misappropriation of Viking culture” was an added turnoff. But then he took a trip to Iceland and became fascinated by the landscape. That led him to the sagas, and those led him to making The Northman.

This story is from the April 25-May 8, 2022 edition of New York magazine.

Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 8,500+ magazines and newspapers.

This story is from the April 25-May 8, 2022 edition of New York magazine.

Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 8,500+ magazines and newspapers.

MORE STORIES FROM NEW YORK MAGAZINEView All
Good One: Ramy Youssef
New York magazine

Good One: Ramy Youssef

The comedian on the first Israel-Palestine joke he wrote after 10/7.

time-read
4 mins  |
March 25 - April 07, 2024
Not Your Average Heartthrob
New York magazine

Not Your Average Heartthrob

Nicholas Galitzine can play himbo, Prince Charming, and Gen-Z queer iconsometimes all at once. Now, he's coming

time-read
8 mins  |
March 25 - April 07, 2024
Northern Mexico, Just Below Canal
New York magazine

Northern Mexico, Just Below Canal

Corima has potential-and excellent tortillas

time-read
3 mins  |
March 25 - April 07, 2024
A Tree House for Two Architects
New York magazine

A Tree House for Two Architects

Phu Hoang and Rachely Rotem built the indoor-outdoor \"Mini Tower One\" extension of their Carroll Gardens home.

time-read
1 min  |
March 25 - April 07, 2024
THE ERIC ADAMS SMASH - AND - GRAB
New York magazine

THE ERIC ADAMS SMASH - AND - GRAB

It's a brazenly transactional era of government here in New York City.| FRANK CARONE is its master practitioner.

time-read
10+ mins  |
March 25 - April 07, 2024
JEFF ZUCKER'S FLEET STREET MISADVENTURE
New York magazine

JEFF ZUCKER'S FLEET STREET MISADVENTURE

The former CNN and NBC boss wants a new media empire. Is that even possible in 2024?

time-read
10+ mins  |
March 25 - April 07, 2024
MECHANISMS of CONTROL
New York magazine

MECHANISMS of CONTROL

Andrew Huberman has attracted millions of acolytes by preaching self-discipline and healthy lifestyle habits. But those closest to him suggest there is a darker side to his appeal.

time-read
10+ mins  |
March 25 - April 07, 2024
Streetscape: Mark Jacobson
New York magazine

Streetscape: Mark Jacobson

Charging Ahead Baruch Herzfeld wants to end the rash of e-bike battery fires.

time-read
5 mins  |
March 25 - April 07, 2024
461 MINUTES WITH...Hanif Abdurraqib
New York magazine

461 MINUTES WITH...Hanif Abdurraqib

The MacArthur-grant winner's unclassifiable new book is as idiosyncratic as the author himself.

time-read
6 mins  |
March 25 - April 07, 2024
Neighborhood News: The 'SNL' Guys' Ferry Isn't Adrift
New York magazine

Neighborhood News: The 'SNL' Guys' Ferry Isn't Adrift

Colin Jost and Pete Davidson's architect has a real plan.

time-read
2 mins  |
March 25 - April 07, 2024